is there a quick way of getting a minidisc to a MP3 - or is it just a matter of recording an analog play back in real time?

Yes it is.

Not necessarily.

It depends on the minidisc player. If you own or have access to a HI-MD player it's possible to use sony's 'sonic stage' software to convert the recordings to mp3.

no its not HD minidisc

I have a full format sony minidisc player, and a small portable one - but there is no easy way of linking the HiFi to the POC I think. But I can take a line from the portable to the PC.

Its a bind though if its real-time isnt it - you get so used to quick ripping!-

Only the very latest Hi-MD device (Sony MZ-RH1) would allow quick transfer from the device to the PC, and even then I think it was only for recordings actually made on the MD player/recorder.

No it works for older recordings made on the earliest of machines too. I've converted stuff made on an old Sharp 722.

thought I'd better point out the conversion is to WAV and as such further conversion is neccessary to to achieve the mp3 format using other software.

There's a slight additional quality loss when converting to mp3 due to transcoding, how ever you do it. Going via analogue is yet another slight quality loss. Both might be benign / inaudible, so not matter - or you might not care even if it is audible.

Far better and quicker to go back to the original CDs (if the content is available on CD).

Cheers,
David.