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Topic: Minidisc Or Solid-state Mp3 Player? (Read 4557 times) previous topic - next topic
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Minidisc Or Solid-state Mp3 Player?

I really want a solid state MP3 player for the gym...but the price for those is still overwhelming, especially in Canada with the exchange rate...

The salesperson was really pushing me to try the cheapest Sony MiniDisc isntead, about the same price, but easier to swap songs in/out, reads WAV, MP3, WMA, etc.

I recall hearing that MiniDiscs convert everything to their own format and it has quality issues...can anyone enlighten me on that?

Thanks in advance.

Minidisc Or Solid-state Mp3 Player?

Reply #1
MiniDisc for sure. You can have as many discs you want .
And you can record also. Look for some models of sony that support directly connection with the pc with usb.

Minidisc Or Solid-state Mp3 Player?

Reply #2
>reads WAV, MP3, WMA, etc

That is the uploading program converts a lossy format such as mp3 to an even more lossy format (ATRAC)...

Ask to have a try of Sonys OpenMG uploading program...if that will not put you off MD nothing will

Minidisc Or Solid-state Mp3 Player?

Reply #3
I just got this refurb Nomad II from Creative, and I'm liking it a lot (put my SlimX on vacation for the time being). If you happen to have some SmartMedia around I think it's a no-brainer. But then I don't know how much it'll be for you with the exchange rate and shipping. For me it was a total of $61 with sales tax (shocked about that, since I'm in a different state) and UPS 2nd Day Air.

Minidisc Or Solid-state Mp3 Player?

Reply #4
I just grabbed a brand new nomad IIc from A&B sound for $180 cdn.  64 mb, their price on the 128mb ones was ridiculous.  seems like a nice player so far.  the headphones are even decent, although they aren't big enough to be that comfortable for me.  Creative playcenter isn't as annoying as I thought it would be for uploading tracks, but I wish it was like the Creative Muvo, and just show up as another drive in My Computer.

Biggest annoyance so far?  doesn't include a 'true' random mode.  It will randomly play tracks, but it won't exclude a track once its done playing, so you have to constantly skip songs that have already played.  I'm going to email creative about it, maybe it can be a feature in later firmware (doubt it though, knowing creative).  Oh yeah, the 3 month warranty doesn't inspire confidence either...

And a related question..  Anyone know a cheap place to get a 128mb smartmedia card in Canada?  Thanks.

Minidisc Or Solid-state Mp3 Player?

Reply #5
Is ATRAC really that bad?

Minidisc Or Solid-state Mp3 Player?

Reply #6
Quote
Is ATRAC really that bad?

Depends on your definition of "bad." If you are going directly from a lossless format (WAV, WV, FLAC, SHN) to ATRAC3 (which is what modern MiniDisc players use; the original ATRAC algorithm is no longer in general use), you may not be too dissatisfied. Personally I dislike it, but you might enjoy experimenting with the actual sounds before you make a decision.

  Try this ATRAC3 ACM codec. After you've downloaded and extracted the *.zip, double-click on the *.inf file to register the codec. You should be able to use any standard ACM-compatible program to do a few simple encode-decode tests - be sure and use whatever sort of music you would normally be listening to on the player - and that ought to give you enough of an idea what quality you can expect.

  Hope this helps!
    - M.

Minidisc Or Solid-state Mp3 Player?

Reply #7
Quote
Is ATRAC really that bad?

Compared with LAME alt-presets mp3, it is worse, in general. In particular, much worse when it comes to pre-echo.

The only advantages over mp3 players I can see are:

- they are smaller, compared with CD/HD based players.
- they do not skip, compared with CD/HD based players.
- hardware quality: I think that good MD players have better audio hardware, than most mp3 players.
- they can record realtime.