I have 3 1.0 GB hi-MD if you can use them.

regular 5 packs x7 + 3 single all 80min

how about just shipping?

Might as well resurrect this thread since I finally got a Hi-MD recorder. An MZ-NH700. It's not the top of the line MZ-RH1 or MZ-RH10 (those still go for a LOT of cash), but it will do for now.

So far, I like the playback as it is louder than any of my regular MD portables and has better sound (for the price these originally went for, they better have good DACs and amps!) Haven't tried to do any recordings with it yet. But at least now I can use those Hi-MDs you sent me xtempo!

I hope you enjoy them.

Wanted to resurrect this point, because I remember many many years ago a story on the TV news, something about Sony selling a tiny Discman for a 3 inch CD. It would also play a 5 inch CD, but clumsily a good portion of the disc would be spinning outside of the player. I wanted to prove to myself that I wasn't crazy and made that up I did a search. Found this article:

Sony Plans Cd Player To Fit In Your Pocket

Which gave me the model number of the player, D-88. So I then did an Ebay search, sure enough . . .

Sony D-88 Portable CD Player

Sony D-88 Ultra Compact Size 3in or 5in CD Convertible Discman



I kind of want to get one just for the crazy novelty of it!!!

Did Sony ever sell a mini-disc system that let you transfer the digital recording directly from the disk? My Brother-in-law is still annoyed because the only way he can do it is to play and capture the audio, with a loss of quality. Which is a problem because some of his recordings are VERY rare stuff, performances that were never released on disc.

I've never used the software, but from what I understand, SonicStage software would let you do that if you used a NetMD capable Minidisc recorder (I believe all Hi-MD units were NetMD capable.)

If that's untrue, probably the best bet would be to use a deck with a good DAC (the Yamaha MDX-793 has a 20-bit DAC, but only supports MD SP--no LP2 or LP4 support.) Then use some device that records either lossless WAV or CD quality audio. Some DVD recorders can audio record at 1536kbps PCM (even higher than Redbook CD audio) in XP mode. That way there is no loss in quality.

I've recorded some Vinyl that way and ripped the tracks to my computer as a lossless WAV. Sounds pretty darn good!

The only MD single I've ever seen was Suede - Electricity - it had a sticker on the front that said 'The UK's first ever minidisc single!' Given it was released in 1999 and pre-recorded minidiscs seems to have disappeared in the early 2000's I don't think you missed very much!



It was a 6 track EP combining all of the tracks featured on both CD singles + the cassingle.
Interestingly there is no mention of the MD format of the Electricity single on Wikipedia even though it is very easy and inexpensive to get hold of in the UK.





Here is a link to some of the main pre-recorded titles available on mindisc:
http://laserdiscplaza.fr/site_Mini_Disc/MDBBD.html

As you can imagine it is predominantly Sony releases although some other record labels did release material as well.
I've seen others on Ebay not on this list so it needs updated but it is a decent starting point which I've been using to track down some titles I wanted to get hold of.

Here is a better list (likely incomplete too!):
http://www.discogs.com/search/?format_exact=Minidisc

that list is interesting it shows Cyndi Lauper's "SHE'S SO UNUSUAL" but not Sisters of Avalon which I have. Would this list only be what was available in France?

I'm nearly certain I saw the sisters of Avalon on the second discogs list when checking it.
With Cyndi signed to Sony I'd expect most (if not all) her albums to be issued on MD.

I'll just have something to hunt for then. I got Hat Full of Stars sealed from the UK. Funnily I bought the CD years before from Harrods for 8.99 pounds I still have the sticker on it. I hope there she only has one SACD since those tend to be expensive and kinda hard to find.

I always wondered why I could find almost no pre-recorded MDs produced from 2002 onwards.

Here's why:
http://www.musicweek.com/news/read/reta ... mat/025223

I think MDs are set to be highly collectible in the near future given the tiny quantities sold and the very short timeframe during which pre-recorded titles were produced (about 10 years?). In many cases the MD format seems to be the toughest version to find.

It depends on what you're talking about exactly. Pretty much every MD recorder you'd ever want had a TOSLINK input. With this you could record from any digital source that was 16-bit 44.1khz. of course, as you record this you are losing quality as the player compresses the data to fit the ATRAC format. HiMD can record in PCM format, and that's really really cool, but by the time HiMD was out there were lots of ways to record CD quality or better PCM on the go.

Now, to record from one MD to another with a digital connection you need a pro deck. Pro decks have SCMS disabled and because of that were hugely overpriced. Its the same deal with "music" CD-Rs, if you can even remember that BS. However, while this does allow for a digital connection, its not a 1-1 copy. The copy you make will be a copy of a copy so it gets ATRACed twice. Do this four or five times and the compression artifacting starts to sound unbearable.

You're always going to lose quality recording an MD unless you are using HiMD, its just a matter of controlling the loss. This was pretty much always going to be the case because as much as Sony liked to sell expensive as hell MD units, they also were paralyzed with fear of people bootlegging anything from their record label. This balance knee capped MD at every turn and, IMO, is a huge part of why Sony is where it is now. In 1999 Sony OWNED the chic portable music market. They absolutely ruled at it with the only other contenders being Aiwa (a division of Sony) and Sharp and the MD units they sold all payed a fee to Sony. Now...I bet you can't even recall what a current day Walkman even looks like, they are so off the radar.

Regarding confusing CD3s with MD...I don't think that was ever an issue. The largest market for CD3 by FAR was Japan, and they were also the largest market for MD. In the US it was extremely hard to even find a CD3. All the ones I own are imports. I did get a free one with a 12 pack of Coke in the late 80s, and my local record store had this killer Glen Miller set of CD3s sequenced like the 78s were. It was too expensive for me though.

As for prerecorded stuff...I knew a guy that had Pearljam's 10 on MD, that's about it. Everyone else I ever knew just made their own copies from CD. There really wasn't much point in ever buying a prerecorded MD.

I remember when I walked into best buy to buy I think another Cyndi Lauper MD and they didn't have anything. I even talked to a worker but for some reason I don't remember what he said...

I was so mad they stopped carrying them.

That is precisely why pre-recorded MDs failed. Sony stopped the sale of pre-recorded albums once the cost of buying the original CD and then recording it to a MiniDisc became cheaper than buying the pre-recorded MD.

I have about 20 prerecorded MD's that I got at Best Buy back at the formats launch - the Cyndi Lauper stuff, Michael Jackson, Meatloaf, Sade, Natalie Cole, etc. the prerecorded MD's were recorded with Sony's ATRAC Pro which is the same system used in their SDDS 8-channel theatrical sound system - although lossy compressed, it had the same audible fidelity as CD and could actually sound better since it could do 20-bit encoding and all decoders in consumer players were compatible since ATRAC contained the decoding instructions in the disc bitstream and not in the decoder.

That's not entirely true..
It's not lossless.
And you can hear the difference between CD and ATRAC.
But ATRAC (MD) sounds a lot better than it's competitor: DCC wich had less compression...

The later Hi-MD can do lossless

I didn't say it was lossless... I said ATRAC PRO, which was never released for consumer recording, was AUDIBLY lossless on the prerecorded titles, not bit-for-bit lossless like DAT or CD-R. Sony never claimed that consumer ATRAC was audibly lossless but they did claim that for ATRAC PRO prerecorded titles.

DCC's PASC compression was just MPEG-1 MUSICAM with some compatible changes.

Another nice TechMoan technology review about Minidisc.



Julien

Thank you I watched that with interest.

Kind Regards

Cool I bought an MZ-RH1 and 10 discs retail in Japan back in 2010. Teamed with my MDR-EX700 IEMS it was the best sounding anything I have ever heard, portable or home. It was pure bliss. I sold it along with 15 discs in 2014 when I was unemployed. Got over $2000 for the lot, most of the value in the discs. Unbelievable. I've never heard of a piece of electronics that actually appreciated in value before. Is there any other example? Still, I wish I still had it.. it was so amazing..