Which portable media? (FORUM: MiniDisc VS MP3)

Member Name: The Duke

Product:	FORUM: MiniDisc VS MP3
Date:	23/05/01 (2794 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Small, Good Quality Sound

Disadvantages: Expensive, Future proof?

First of all, I would like to say that the title to this forum is a tad misleading. Mp3 versus minidisc? One is a file format whereas the other is a technology for storage. It's like trying to compare monitors against JPEG images or ".exe" files against hard drives. Personally, I think the question should be referring to the various audio file formats out there like Windows Media (wma), Real Audio (rm) and perhaps even Apple's Quicktime format, but I digress.

Sony announced the minidisc back in 1991 as a disc based digital medium for recording and distribution of audio that is "near CD" in quality. A few years later, Sony also announced MD Data for computer storage use which required special equipment and to this day is essentially defunct technology. The mp3 compression format was devised by the Moving Pictures Expert Group in a way to reduce the sizes of audio files for distribution.

I shall be referring to two main points on each side of the argument – the player aspect, and the file format. The player aspect is easy. To buy a half decent minidisc recorder or mp3 player these days will set you back between £150 and £200 depending on make, and comparative price shopping. So no format really stands out here – both are now freely available from most good electronics shops and the technology is at a stage where both pieces of equipment are advanced enough to offer good features and a decent standard of reliability.

One thing that bridges the gap between player and file format is the actual storage media. For minidisc recorders these are the actual minidiscs themselves, and for the mp3 players this is some form of memory – compact flash media, for example. Mp3 players come with a set amount of memory as standard, and usually have the option of upgrading. A difference between the two storage formats is the way in which data storage is measured. A minidisc hold a certain amount of music, measured i
n time. Minidiscs come in two "flavours" – 74 minutes and 80 minutes. Mp3 players however hold memory like a computer – typically 64MB or 128 MB would be a good starter these days.

So what does this mean in terms of storage? Well, with a minidisc, you know exactly what you're getting. Just like the old cassettes, you know exactly how much you can fit onto one piece of media. Minidiscs are usually 74:59 for a 74-minute version. The memory on an mp3 player, on the other hand, works slightly differently, and this is due to the way that mp3's operate.

Sony uses a file format called ATRAC (Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding) and, like mp3, is a lossy compression format. What this means is that not all the data from the original audio file is used. The compression algorithms actually try to remove redundant data from the source as it is being converted. Redundant data may be sounds which we are not capable of hearing, but are recorded at master (i.e. in the studio etc.) Mp3 is a more popular file format given it's computer and internet based roots, and in fact the only other equipment I know of that currently uses ATRAC is the Sony Stickman (I think it's called).

The mp3 compression algorithm works on a slide scale. That means it can be compressed to variable levels of storage space, but at the expense of sound quality. In order to achieve near CD quality from a source, you need to compress the original at a bit rate of at least 128kbits/sec, although 196kbits/sec does give better results. I shall refer to mp3s created using 128bkbits/sec, simply because the sums are easier. Now with 128kbit/sec compression what you are basically talking about is 1 minute of audio per 1MB of storage space. From what I can tell, there's is practically nothing to choose between these two file formats in terms of sound quality – both can deliver near CD quality that will be so close that you'll not really care. r>
OK, so you have an mp3 player with 64Mb (and you've bought an extra 64MB) which gives you a total of 128MB. With the previous mp3's I mentions that means 128 minutes of music – or just over 2 hours, approximately. As of 22 May 2001, 64MB of compact flash media was priced at www.scan.co.uk at £49.00 ex VAT. That's a total price of around £58, give or take a few pence. Now, on top of your £200 mp3 player, that's another £57 making a grand total of £257 for a player and two hours of storage.

For two hours of storage on a minidisc recorder you need, well, two minidiscs. Priced at approximately £1 per disc, that's £2 pounds.

So, what other differences are there? Well, the mp3 player, being solid state (i.e. no moving parts) uses a fraction of the power required to operate a minidisc player which is essentially a laser product. A "proper" battery can get you about 6 hours play from a minidisc player (about 4 from a rechargeable battery) while an mp3 player can get a lot more playing time out of one battery.

The mp3 player can be filled with music as fast as your computer can get the information into the player's memory, whereas the minidisc has to be recorded in real time at 1:1 (no high speed dubbing here) so recording a full minidisc could take 74 minutes whereas an mp3 player could be filled in a matter of seconds.

As another point on the same facts above – the minidisc recorder cannot take a lot of movement. Jogging with one, for example, would make the recorder prone to jumping. While this may not damage the recorder or disc, it would be an annoyance. With no moving internal parts, the mp3 player does not suffer from the skipping, and in fact should be a lot lighter due to consisting of circuit board and flash memory modules.

So, they both seem to be head to head at the moment in this debate with the minidisc being cheaper, but the mp3 player being lighter, and faster ac
cessed. Well, i think with my final point, I will swing in the direction of the minidisc recorder. Why is this?

Well, it follows partly from what I've said above regarding recording times, partly from what one of these devices is called, and partly what's going to happen in the future.

Mp3 players can hold only mp3's (although a few posh ones can also play Microsofts Windows Media, or wma files). In the future, there is bound to be some sort of copy protection on mp3's restricting the amount of times you can copy them (if at all!). The minidisc on the other hand can be attached to almost any audio equipment – vinyl record players, cassette decks, computers (via soundcards), radio tuners, microphones etc. This means that the minidisc can record music/sound regardless of it's origin or file format. It's simply a matter of connection, and then playing the source while recording.

It's for this reason (and price to a certain extent) that I have to come down on the side of the minidisc recorder over the file format of the mp3.

I hope that this has been of some help to you.