Minidisk as A2D convertor

I still have a couple of portable Minidisk players and was wondering about the possibility of using them in an analogue to digital convertor mode. I know that when I record to a minidisk that the file is saved as an ATRAC file. However, if I use the player in a monitoring mode without recording to disk, what is the format and bit rate of the digital signal that is output via the optical out socket? In other words, does the player output a cd quality 44khz. I know I could check this out myself, but I'm being lazy and wondered if the AoS digital gurus can advise.

Geoff