i want to buy a minidisc but im not sure which ones are able to put mp3s onto a disc. i heard that if it has an optical cable it can. im not sure if it has to be a net minidisc.

There's a few ways to put mp3s onto a mini disc, firstly if the minidisc player/recorder has an optical input on it and your sound card has an optical output. Or, if you have a cd burner just burn the mp3s onto a disk and then transfer them via your cd player, (if fairly new it should have an optical output). Another option for getting mp3s onto your minidiscs is to get a net md. This way the songs are transferred upto 32 times quicker than real time, (in LP4 mode). I've got a non-net md at the moment and put my mp3s onto the disc by burning onto a cd and then transferring through my stereo which has a minidisc recorder in it as well. However, i'm getting a net md next week - looking forward to that

Go to http://www.minidisct.com/forum/ and look around at posts made.

Anyway, I highly reccomend getting a mini disc homer911.


Rich.

thanks for the information. what net md are you planning to get.

They're fantastic. All you do is put the fire wire into the audio output, and it should record.

do i have to get a net minidisc player to put mp3s onto a minidisc or can i use a normal recordable mini disc player.

I'm getting a Sony N1.

To transfer the mp3s quickly you need to have a net md but if you connect any minidisc up to your pc you can put the songs onto your disk.

thanks.
i was thinking about getting either the SONY
MZR501or the SONY MZN505 but im not sure where to get them for the cheapest price. is MZN505 a netmd or not. i think you can put mp3s onto the MZR501 but im not sure.

I've actually got the 501 just now - great little unit. I'm not sure if the 505 is a net md.

Do you have a cd burner?

I've actually got the 501 just now - great little unit. I'm not sure if the 505 is a net md.

Do you have a cd burner or optical output on your sound card?

im not sure if it has optical output. can i check if it has. seeing as you have got the 501 can i put mp3s onto it and has it got a remote. how many tracks can i fit on a minidisc.

get a cd player

Better quality and why do u want to listen to mp3's as well????

YOu're polluting your ears, let them listen to quality.

Yes the 505 is a fully functional net md. Very good value too.

I don't think Minidisc is much worse than CD....they certainly beat CD players hands down on size....

A carefully recorded MD can sound almost as good as a CD through headphones, even though a half decent Hifi system it's still pretty good..

I'm not so sure MP3 is a great hifi medium but for personal headphone playback it's good enough....

Lot's of people seem to belittle Minidisc, I have to wonder if they've really had much use of a player....they'd probably be surprised how good they actually are!

An optical output on your soundcard will look like the black square under the yellow input. If your pc doesn't have this you could still put mp3s onto the md by buying a cable that'll go from the md to the speaker output on your sound card.

The 501 doesn't have a remote unfortunately.

Recording normally will give you ~80mins of music. However, if you record in LP2 you get twice this, (so you can put a double cd album on one md). If you don't care much about high quality sound you could record in LP4. You can get ~90 tracks, I think, in this mode.

Whatever mini disc player you buy, I'm sure you'll like it. Portable CD players are too bulky.

if i get a net md will my sound card still have to be optical. if not how does it connect to the pc.

If you get a net md, (highly recommended by the way) the mini disc will connect via USB - so no, an optical output won't be needed.

thanks.

I am a qualified Electro-acoustic engineer, so trust me I spend many dull hours listening and studying various audio playback and recording systems.

Minidisk is not as good quality as CD........FACT

The thing is if you are happy with just 'good enough' sound quality then sure listen to mp3's recorded onto MD.

That may be so, but besides the fact that they are much smaller and versitile than CD (thanks to the LP2/LP4 modes discussed earlier) and that they still produce output suitable for audio broadcast (a large number of radio stations still make at least some use of them on-air), it's also a much more reliable medium to duplicate your download music collection in a portable manor than a CD-R.

I work for the largest radio station in the world and we very rarely use mini disks.

But do you think because radio stations use them that that makes them good quality?????????????

All radio stations care about is cost. All will compromise sound quality if they can save money. Which is why today the quality of music broadcasted from radio stations is extremely poor quality.

Unfortunately, there are far too many people that are prepaired to listen to these radio stations and I dont doubt they are the same ones that hail the greatness of mini-disk.

MD is great though, for timeshift purposes.
I use it all the time for shifting R4 progs which I would otherwise miss, then listen to them either on the portable [Sony MZR900], or in the car if it suits.
The audio quality of R4 from DAB to MD is almost as good as the source on the MZR unit, ie not wonderful - it is DAB after all - but certainly worth it for speech.

I suspect that using it as a base for creating a music library would be less satisfying, but who needs top notch audio in a car? It's not the environment for hi-fi.

Which station is that then pray tell?

And its Mini Disc. At least learn to spell the thing right while your slagging it off.

Insomnia

Mini Discs are great!!!

I know. Just that I refuse to take seriously a "qualified Electro-acoustic engineer" who can't spell the name of a popular audio format correctly

Insomnia - on his 3rd (soon to be 4th) portable Mini Disc recorder