Three's a crowd (FORUM: MiniDisc VS MP3)

Member Name: utero

Product:	FORUM: MiniDisc VS MP3
Date:	02/09/01 (318 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cost of minidisc, ease of use

Disadvantages: MP3 tinny effect, record company piracy measures

Why debate over MP3 against MiniDisc. In my view they are differnt formats designed for different ways of accessing music.

I've had a minidisc deck for about 2 1/2 years now and soon bought a portable player as well. The reason I have one is so I can have very good quailty recordings of music compilations. You know in the old days you would make mix tapes or exchange albums with friends and tape them. Well if I happen to like a few songs from an artist but don't want the album then I'll get my favourites and whack them on a minidisc. The cost is also on the way down with blank discs around 79p as a starting price. They're small and easy to store and the ease at which you can record, edit and re-arrange without loss of quality is a real bonus.

To me the sound quality isn't that much different to a cd. Dut to a slightly different rate of compression some may hear a slight difference in quality. But I am talking slight and either way it's a darn sight better than an audio tape. The quality can also be affected by the grade of cables use use in your set-up. Use some cheap ass cables and you'll get cheap ass results.

Now MP3 is basically a form of MPEG compression. The technology has now evolved to the point where quality is higher and the file size smaller. The same kind of theorys have been employed in creating the dvd format. Now I don't care what anybody says MP3 isn't as good as the CD format unless the sampling rate is high and then you have bigger film sizes as a result. Either way i can hear imperfections in the sound with a background noise deep in the mix and some occasional tinny effects as a result of the compression. Of course these file sizes come in handy when you can transfer many tracks to a memory card and then be on your way around town. But these cards aren't cheap and of course it takes time to do the necessary downloading and tramsferring.

Rumour has it that some record com
panies are developing a way to press cd's with a measure to stop MP3 files being made. Of course they'll be a way around it but it hinders the validity of the format as a force in the music industry.

Do you know what I do, I simply transfer my MP3's onto blank minisdiscs, the quality isn't that bad if you have a decent set-up and a decent MP3 version. Then they are there for keeps and the expense isn't as much.

It's minidisc all the way for me.

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