Mini Disc Advice

[Sherwood]

Hi,

continuing to discover more things I had forgotten about from my long term storage.

The latest is a couple of Sony Minidisc players and a large number of blank minidiscs, mostly unrecorded.

Any idea of what is a reasonable price for the blank discs. I will probably keep the players for the few discs that I used to record live concerts.

Geoff

[struth]

Standard ones can be from 50p to 2 pounds. Fancy himd ones can be £20

[Sherwood]

Standard ones can be from 50p to 2 pounds. Fancy himd ones can be £20

Thanks, I seem to recall buying mine at around £1.50 to £2 each in the early to mid 90s. Rather foolishly I bought a large number intending to make digital "mix tapes" and then never got around to using them. By the late 90's I was an early adopter of CD-R despite the ridiculous price of the blanks and the high failure rate on attempted burns!

Geoff

[walpurgis]

MiniDisc was generally bypassed by Hi-Fi enthusiasts for some reason. I don't see why though. The recordings I make sound way better than anything Compact Cassette ever achieved in my system. I can record from my CD player and get playback quality that is virtually identical. I'll not be parting with my Pioneer MJ-D707. I've noticed that asking prices for MD equipment seem to be rising recently. Is there a renaissance?

[M6NTL]

I had a Sony Minidisc player in my car years ago. It was stolen by (probably) some low-life junkie needing a fix. I remember actually laughing to myself that a) he left the detachable front in the glove box, and b) nobody else on the planet used Minidisc, and therefore the player was worth feck all to anyone..!!..


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[struth]

Still got quite a few discs.. maybe 40 at a guess. Only got my portable machines now.. sony walkmans. 1 recorder.. one web enabled recorder and another player only type. The 2 fancy recorders are damn good, and still viable for on the go etc. I,d keep em for a while..they can only gobup in value

[Sherwood]

I bought my mini disc player already being the owner of a sony pro walkman wm d6c and the smaller sony pro walkman wm d3. I used the former as my domestic tape deck and to make compilation tapes and the latter as my travelling unit. Whilst I found the quality of both sony tape decks to be superb I started to do a lot of short term assignments in the developing world at that time. I bought the mini disc players for two reasons! The first was portability: 20 minidiscs and player was more compact and weighed less the the cassette tape equivalent. The second was durability and robustness: leave a cassette in the car in the tropics for an hour and you have stringy liquorice! I think the wm d6c was slightly more musical than the minidisc though!

Geoff

I still have both Sony cassette machines!

[Sherwood]

I had a Sony Minidisc player in my car years ago. It was stolen by (probably) some low-life junkie needing a fix. I remember actually laughing to myself that a) he left the detachable front in the glove box, and b) nobody else on the planet used Minidisc, and therefore the player was worth feck all to anyone..!!..


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Or possibly a banker with a drug problem! Even lower life you say?

[walpurgis]

I never got on with the Sony portable MD's. I found the Sharp MD-MT88H(S) and the others in the series better and very good for sound and reliability. I still have a couple.

[struth]

D6C,s still make good money.. pro version. Ive just got the little ones. But both work well..they were well made

[Sherwood]

I found both types of device made excellent recordings with the right microphone.

I have one of these (somewhere) and made some fantastic live recordings with it.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-ECM-MS907-Stereo-Condenser-Microphone/dp/B00005QBUW

Geoff

[Sherwood]

D6C,s still make good money.. pro version. Ive just got the little ones. But both work well..they were well made

Agreed but the DM3 (mine included) suffered from a frequent problem. One of the internal parts failed so that although the unit still performed OK it made a an annoying mechanical clicking noise in use! :steam:

[Kit1cat]

I sold my Sony mini disc player/recorder, portable player and about 30 blank discs for about £50 last year. I used it mainly for ripping cd's to listen to on the bus coming home from work, great sound quality. Did not get a great response from my ad at the time.

[struth]

You got lots of accessories like battery packs etc too. Just i dont get out now so no real need for em lol

[Sherwood]

I sold my Sony mini disc player/recorder, portable player and about 30 blank discs for about £50 last year. I used it mainly for ripping cd's to listen to on the bus coming home from work, great sound quality. Did not get a great response from my ad at the time.

Ooer! maybe I shall just put them back in the cupboard for now. I think there must be around 200 mini discs. Shame, I thought I might raise a few quid to go towards fixing my ceiling. Just had a water pipe leak and need to replace half of my lounge ceiling.

Geoff

[Sherwood]

You got lots of accessories like battery packs etc too. Just i dont get out now so no real need for em lol

I've got the battery packs too as well as some dodgy adapter to link to pc. I do go out and I am continually amazed at how much music I can bring with me on my Sony HD music player (with 128gb micro sd). It's witchcraft I tell you!

[struth]

Been a cheapskate and using an old android samsung phone with a nice 32gb card in with my fav spotify stuff on, for if in car and want music rather than my usual fare of Flashman audiobooks. Im adicted to flashy :eyebrows:

Often stream from it to a chromecadt indoors too then its going to my dac if the pc isnt on

[agk]

Stick them back in the cupboard for now Geoff, in a couple months once I've got my wedding out of the way I shall be looking to buy a Sony MD unit and a raft of blank discs.

[Sherwood]

Been a cheapskate and using an old android samsung phone with a nice 32gb card in with my fav spotify stuff on, for if in car and want music rather than my usual fare of Flashman audiobooks. Im adicted to flashy :eyebrows:

Often stream from it to a chromecadt indoors too then its going to my dac if the pc isnt on

I am a long standing Audible subscriber. You can't beat a riveting audiobook to keep you alert on a 10 hour journey through the Namib desert. However, as I get older and grumpier I begrudge paying for life's simple pleasures. I was pleased with myself when I discovered that my local library subscribe to this free audiobook application.

Oneclickdigital has apps for the pc and android devices and allows you to check out a title for 21 days at a time. You can download the files to your phone and listen to them offline for the specified period. Recently listened to Max Hastings epic account of WW1 (Catastrophe), Tracey Borman's excellent biography of Thomas Cromwell, and Bernard Cornwell's extensive account of Waterloo. Currently catching up on Orwell and reminding myself of the rules of Nuspeak in this post truth alternative facts era. If your local library is part of the scheme you just have to register with your library card number and pin number. Your "cheapskate" heart will delight in the fact that this is completely free, compared to the typical £10 or more for an audible title. I will send you my address so you can send the appropriate quantity of Chateau de Chaselet!

[jollyfix]

I never got on with the Sony portable MD's. I found the Sharp MD-MT88H(S) and the others in the series better and very good for sound and reliability. I still have a couple.
Same here Geoff, still have my Sharp, top of the range when i bought it. My mate had the Sony top of the range, and when comparing using the same phones ,the sharp won hands down, better sound, better looks etc. Great for live recording, even using a dirt cheap stereo mic.

[agk]

I am a long standing Audible subscriber. You can't beat a riveting audiobook to keep you alert on a 10 hour journey through the Namib desert. However, as I get older and grumpier I begrudge paying for life's simple pleasures. I was pleased with myself when I discovered that my local library subscribe to this free audiobook application.

Oneclickdigital has apps for the pc and android devices and allows you to check out a title for 21 days at a time. You can download the files to your phone and listen to them offline for the specified period. Recently listened to Max Hastings epic account of WW1 (Catastrophe), Tracey Borman's excellent biography of Thomas Cromwell, and Bernard Cornwell's extensive account of Waterloo. Currently catching up on Orwell and reminding myself of the rules of Nuspeak in this post truth alternative facts era. If your local library is part of the scheme you just have to register with your library card number and pin number. Your "cheapskate" heart will delight in the fact that this is completely free, compared to the typical £10 or more for an audible title. I will send you my address so you can send the appropriate quantity of Chateau de Chaselet!

Overdrive is a good app for library books and I think does audible books too.

[Sherwood]

Overdrive is a good app for library books and I think does audible books too.

The thing about Oneclickdigital is that it is part of the library network. It links to public libraries and allows one to search the catalogue of audiobooks, check out a title, and then play it back on multiple devices.

Geoff

[agk]

Ditto Overdrive Geoff.

[dave2010]

I could hardly believe this ebay listing - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-Hi-MD-MDLP-ONKYO-World-AC-110-220-240V-MINIDISC-Rec-MD-133-HiMD-Sony-DECK/292328037365?hash=item44101bdbf5:g:0wwAAOSwiBJaITK m when I noticed it a day or two ago.

There was/were hardly any HiMD Minidisc decks ever made - maybe this was the only one, which I felt was a shame. Nevertheless, I'm surprised that anyone is still interested. I have had quite good results making recordings to MD - both HiMD and regular, but compared with digital recorders they are a real faff. I suppose the only real merit would be that perhaps the recordings would last a long while on the discs - whereas we don't actually know how long memory cards etc. will last - though if recordings are copied accurately to other back up media there shouldn't be a long term problem.

[Minstrel SE]

There is still a steady market for minidisc players and discs.

I just wanted to dabble with it and a key point is I didnt spend too much. I managed to get a Pioneer 707 in minty condition for £20 (bereavement clearance) and that was bargain of the year. I also have two mini sized Teacs as back up and my Sharp portable. I do have over 100 discs with many bought in bulk on the used market

Personally I think going for the top of the range Sonys is a bit much when they have no guarantee on them. However I appreciate quality equipment and thats up to others. I do not think there would be any significant difference over this well reviewed 707

Its just very handy to have a selection of music which can be wiped If I decide to move on. I make no claims about the sound quality but it sounds very good to me. Its more than good enough for what I do with it and what I expect from it

Some dont understand it but Ive been sensible and hardly spent anything for the fun its given me. I use my Phone for portable music now but a minidisc sounds better than a cheap phone.

I had video 8 Track PCM and I will take minidisc as a logical step from any cassette tape. Time moves on and we all know what happened, Its still nice to rescue a mindisc player and give it a good home :)

[walpurgis]

My Pioneer MJ-D707 was bought new way back and although I don't use it often, I am certainly not parting with it. The recordings are extremely good. I still have mountains of new discs too.