MP3/MD Players--The Final Words

"In response to Jim Stoneburner's comments about Minidisc (MD) quality, I must emphasize that 'most MD users consider the sound quality of modern MD equipment to be essentially the same as CD' Minidisc FAQ, a statement which I wholeheartedly support from my own experience. Though I don't know how much experience Mr. Stoneburner personally has with MD's, I must disagree with him when he says that MD's are just 'a bit better than the average audio cassette player'.

When properly recorded, MD recordings using post-1996 MD recorders (with ATRAC version 3.5 or later) are virtually indistinguishable from the original CD or 128kbps MP3 for the majority of listeners (cf. FAQ). For that reason, I consider such MDs to be 'CD-quality' because they *sound like the CD original*, and I think I can safely say that that's what's important for most listeners - not 'CD-quality' as defined by bits, resolution, compression, and the such. That's also why I consider and highly recommend portable MD's as a currently available and viable alternative for Mac users who would rather not wait for the costs associated with the Rio."

"In response to the Mini Disc vs. MP3 posted by Jon McConnell. While I agree with several of Jon's points, there still are many compelling reasons to buy a MP3 player over a MD player. To review Jon's points:

1. MP3 media costs more.
It is true that MP3 flash cards cost more than MDs now, but as with all new technologies prices continue to fall. Plus, you don't need many flash cards to store your music mixes. You can store music mixes on your computers hard drive and download them to the Rio player whenever you want to change what is on your flash card.

MP3 flash cards store less music.
It depends on how you look at it. True, the MD can store 72 min. and the flash card can hold only 32 min. at the present time. Looking ahead as you should with any technology, MDs are stuck at there maximum of 72 min per disc, while flash cards have not come close to their maximum yet. A 128 mb flash card has been announced for release soon, and that is over 2 hours of music per flash card! Plus the Rio player has a 64 min. built in memory and you can add 32 min per flash card at present, for a total of 92 min in the player right now!

2. Size and Portability.
True the length and width of the two players are comparable but the depth of the MD is 3 1/4" while the Rio is only 5/8". Much slimmer. Plus the weight of the Rio is only 70 grams or 2.5 ounces and the MD player is 219 grams or 7.3 ounces. But the most important point in choosing the Rio player over the MD player is that the Rio has no moving parts. That means no skipping ... EVER! You can go running, biking, hiking, use the stair master, treadmill and any sport where constant motion is required and no skipping. Unlike the MD player that only has 10 to 40 sec anti skip memory, which is ok if you plan to workout for 40 secs or less.

3. MDs are available for sale in stores.
So? MP3s are everywhere on the internet and you can make your own MP3s from store bought CDs. Why would you want to buy MDs anyway? Both MDs and MP3s have less sound quality than CDs. Buy the high quality CD and make your own portable music.

4. You can re-record on both formats.
True.

5. MD players can be used as a tape recorder and MP3 players can't.
If you really need to hear your own voice, record it through your computer and download it to your MP3 player. True, this method is not as portable as just using your MD player to do the same job.

6. MD players are available for Macs now and MP3 players are not.
False. Pontis makes a MP3 player for the Mac right now. However, if you want a Rio player you will have to wait for a short period of time.

7. MP3 players cost less than MD players initially.
True.

To sum up, the biggest advantages of the MP3 players over the MD players are; no skipping for those of you who want to take your music with you while playing any kind of sport and the expanding size of flash card media that will soon dwarf the amount of music that can be stored on a MD."