Taking Sides: MiniDisc vs. MP3

Loving Jonesey's science upthread.

Aw, this thread.

Still have boxes of MDs. Sony MD deck was taken out of my system in the grand hi-fi sell-off of last summer but then reinstated when I realised I still needed optical and coaxial connections for playing back stuff from the laptop or the Akai HD multi-track. So it gets used every day, just not necessarily with a MiniDisc inside it.

Still a fantastic format for field recording, live practice, etc, with a decent stereo/binaural mic.

Also: for reasons I don't fully understand, the internal connections around the phono stage in my 25-y-o Cyrus amp are so crummy that one channel of vinyl playback occasionally drops out, but this *isn't* apparent (as often) if I listen to vinyl through the MD deck (Cyrus set to "record phono", Sony MD set to "analogue" and rec-pause). So I listen to a lot of LPs through the MD deck. Which finally fully invalidates my audiophile credentials. Oh well, I had a good run.

I still have a bow or two and two working MD player - recorder walkmans. To me the appeal has always been being able to record on the fly.

I knew only one person with an MD player. I think I saw it at his house a week after reading about it the first time and being surprised that he knew about it. It seemed like the greatest thing in the world, like a smaller version of a CD that was also re-recordable and even more durable as a portable device - I remember vigorously shaking it for a few seconds just to see if it would skip. (It did NOT.) MP3's came soon after and then once I got an iPod, MiniDisc really did seem like a relic, but it was pretty awesome for a short while.

i have a minidisc with an interview with wendy james on it.

unfortunately i have no idea re whats on it as my MD player died soon after the chat (around the same time she was releasing her first racine album).
also, i had no idea re gadgets and setting things up, so pretty sure it has none of my side of the interview on it.
all that said, we had a cracking chat once she had got home and opened a bottle of bubbly.
(i originally called at the designated time, she answered : 'darling, i am in a taxi, call me back in 15 mins yeah ..' )

I'd be happy to make it into a mp3 if you want to mail it to me

thats not the half of the story.
at the time i was a support desk monkey.
as the time approached re the interview, i decided to come clean with my boss.
soon as he heard the words 'wendy james' he was all 'go into the executive boardroom and do what you need to do'.
i dont think i have ever had such an easy hour off work.

ta for the offer LG, that's very kind of you, but i have lots of minidiscs, and no idea which is the one that has the half sided interview on it.