I can remember back to the early 90's and the first advert I ever saw for Minidisc. The band Reef were having one of their demo tracks played on minidisc to a crusty record exec. He didn't like what he heard and threw the disc out of the top-floor window. After falling all the way to the road, a likely lad found the disc, popped it in his player and started rockin'. The message that sony was trying to get across was of the durability and robustness of their new format. It is claimed that minidiscs can be recorded onto a million times over with no detectable decrease in sound quality. Another advantage is that these discs are less prone to skipping when the player is jolted, which is a real boon for runners and the Magic Roundabout's Zebedee alike.Boing!
Minidiscs are a lot smaller
than cd's, about 7 cm square. They have a disc contained within a plastic casing, imagine a smaller version of a 3.5" floppy disk on a computer. The casing means that the actual disc is not prone to scratching like can be a problem with cd's. Minidiscs vary in recordable length from 74 to 80 minutes depending on which brand you buy.
On to the actual player.
This particular model is very reasonably priced, at about £80 if you look around on the web. It is a player and recorder which means that you can use it to record music from cd's as well as play them on the move. Recording onto the discs is via digital input. You WILL need a digital output from your stereo if you want to record onto minidisc. Alternatively, all Playstation 2's have a digital output, so owners can use this to help them record. This model gives you the option of either stereo (left and right channel) recording, or mono (one channel). Mono frees up more space on each minidisc. However, this model has a Long Play function. Similar to LP on a vhs recorder, this means that you can double or even quadruple the amount of space on each minidisc.
So an 80 minute mindisc on LP2 would become a 160 minute minidisc, and on LP4 would become 360 minutes long. So, one can fit about 5 or 6 albums (depending on their length) onto one minidisc. This is really handy for long journeys, instead of carrying around 5 cd's, or 5 minidiscs even, you can fit plenty of music onto one. This probably causes a minute decrease in sound quality, but for the purpose of a portable music player, exquisite sound quality is not essential When recording however, make sure you use the provided AC mains adaptor, as it uses a lot of juice. Purists can still record one album per minidisc if they want to, but one would have to question why someone would want to do this.
On the playing side, there is a digital bass boost and an AVLS (auto volume limiting system), repeat 1/all/shuffle/program/group and three digital sound presets. These are all quite handy features for talioring your playing needs, especially if you've got more songs than Oklahoma.
Battery life last for about 50 hours, which is quite good. I've had mine for two months now and haven't had to change the battery even though I use it a lot. One feature that could be handy is the ability to recharge the battery, although this is available on more expensive models.
Another feature that this recorder doesn't have is NetMD. This is a fancy name for recording from your computer via a USB cable. This is a lot quicker than recording from your stereo/Ps2. Again, more money will give you this ability, but if you don't have a PC anyway then it is irrelevant.
I've also road-tested this player while out running, and the g-protection jog proofing meant there was no skipping of tracks. The only problem was the headphones falling out of my ears. The 'phones provided are adequate, but can be exchanged for a 'sport' version which have bands to keep them on your ears. Alternatively, there are more expensive 'phones with extra bass and sound quality. Both of these are about £20.
There are also some editing functions available, which can be handy for removing lengthy pieces of silence between tracks etc. but it's capabilities don't extend far beyond that. You can also name each track through pressing the buttons on the front of the player. One thing that I would have liked is a remote control on the headphone cable, this is a function available on more expensive models.
All in all this is a very good budget model, which will suit all the needs of someone restricted to this price level. Obviously with the advent of MP3 and things like Apple's Ipod, there is competition for which format is best, but for those without a computer, minidisc is the only choice. And anyway, MP3 sound isn't as good as Minidisc
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Recording functionality of a Notetaker with all the flexibility ofMini Disc - divide ... more
combine erase title move and with MDLP youcan record for over 5 hours onto a single 80 minute disc. With abuilt-in microphone and speaker for playback you will be a
Postage & Packaging:£4.39 Availability:Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days......
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