Do minidisc players go wrong more than most equipment?

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I know that CDs are said to record better and that there are other better ways of recording music now, but I just love minidiscs. They seem to be have been invented just for me, and I was ready to go with them for the rest of my (or their) life.

My first minidisc deck - quite expensive - went wrong after about a year, gotr it mended, went wrong again, got it mended, went wrong again. Bought a new one, went wrong within three months, had it mended on guarantee, went wrong again. Mended. Now it's gone wrong again. What goes wrong isn't anything mechanical, just the programming gobbledygook.

Meanwhile my CD player has never gone wrong, nor the one before that. Nor my telly, video, and computer. Nor even my tape decks from years ago. So have I just been unlucky, or is there something about minidisc players? It looks like I'm going to have to move on.

― Baravelli. (Jake Proudlock), Thursday, 8 April 2004 11:12 (twenty-one years ago)

i have two minidisc players and they've always been fine

― ipsofacto (ipsofacto), Thursday, 8 April 2004 11:16 (twenty-one years ago)

I've had three portables and a hi-fi deck over the years, and have never had a single problem.. I still have the deck and the most recent portable, and have had them for five and four years respectively.

― Sick Nouthall (Nick Southall), Thursday, 8 April 2004 11:36 (twenty-one years ago)

so no

― Jaunty Alan (Alan), Thursday, 8 April 2004 11:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Baravelli, do the players go wrong on all discs? I've heard of discs corrupting (too much deleting and re-recording leading to corruption of the TOC).

― David (David), Thursday, 8 April 2004 11:40 (twenty-one years ago)

I have had problems with my two (Sharp) minidisc walkmen. Skipping and grinding.

― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 8 April 2004 11:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Mine are both sony so I couldn't tell you bout any other brands

― ipsofacto (ipsofacto), Thursday, 8 April 2004 11:43 (twenty-one years ago)

My Sharp portable died after five years of heavy use and several hefty falls. My Sony deck needed to be repaired (for free, under warranty) after 13 months probably due to my getting caught up in the overrecording craze of '99 - going into service mode and fooling the deck that a 74min blank was an 80min blank and so getting a few more minutes on there before...CRKKK, it hit the hub of the disc. Sorry, Mr R*cher. No problems so far with my second Sharp portable.

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Thursday, 8 April 2004 11:49 (twenty-one years ago)

I have had all sorts of minor problems, as catalogued elsewhere on ILE. 4LP is a no-no now.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller), Thursday, 8 April 2004 12:03 (twenty-one years ago)

my sony portable is dying (well the remote with the radio on it is) after two years of daily misuse, the sad thing is, it's replacement doesn't sound quite so good and has no radio, plus the remote is far more fiddly and far less intuitive (although it has far more functions)

― chris (chris), Thursday, 8 April 2004 12:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Sharp portable still going strong after 3+? years, been hidden in my underpants on a few occasions, been dropped loads of times, but despite dents & one of those tiny screws missing from the casing its fine.

Sony deck has never given me a problem in last 2? years. However I really only ever use the former for recording gigs & the latter for editing the md's produced & transferring them to the CD recorder.

I hope the portable lives forever: all the new ones look so thick compared to my nice slim case. Do they only design them to take AA size batteries now or something? Or is it the new fangled net md bollocks that has made them so porky?

― Mooro (Mooro), Thursday, 8 April 2004 14:26 (twenty-one years ago)

My old Sharp one used to 'stop' suddenly, then continue. A mini drag if playing, a major drag if recording.

Then it got nicked, and I was able to get a Sony 'upgrade' off insurance plus a small extra amount. And that is great. Net downloading at fast speed, 4* capacity, etcet.

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 8 April 2004 14:30 (twenty-one years ago)

DM, my new net MD is infinitely smaller than my old one? no batery casing you see, it's got an internal rechargable, mind you, screw on the normal battery housing thing and it looks very odd indeed

― chris (chris), Thursday, 8 April 2004 14:52 (twenty-one years ago)

I got a Sony portable MD player for my birthday two years ago; it was my second. About a year after I got the thing it wouldn't record and started deleting discs. But it was so tiny and portable and great in all other respects. It's still under warranty, but now I have an iPod.

― Brooke Pannell (Brooke Pannell), Thursday, 8 April 2004 17:30 (twenty-one years ago)

five months pass...

so...should I get a minidisc?

― alex in montreal, Tuesday, 28 September 2004 19:15 (twenty years ago)

I’ve had two portables that worked fine for varying lengths of time before eventually dying three times, all in all. I still love the format, but I’m pretty sick of the flimsiness.

― Orange, Tuesday, 28 September 2004 20:14 (twenty years ago)

MiniDisc is steadily becoming anachronistic. Sony could save it by letting people copy any MP3 directly to MD, but I think it's all clogged up with copy protection shite. This alone will kill the format.

My component MD deck is a few years old and has never gone wrong. My portable unit is a couple of years old and has only ever gone wrong. I think perhaps I just copped a lemon.

― Sexual Air Supply (Autumn Almanac), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 20:59 (twenty years ago)

Get a minidisc? yeah, they cool. Get Sony, for reasons mentioned above...

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 06:12 (twenty years ago)

I'd love a component MD deck.

My Sharp minidisc recorder has never caused me any problems in the 4 or 5 years I've owned it (and I bought it second hand, so it's upwards of 7 years old now).

― Andrew (enneff), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 06:24 (twenty years ago)

Only bother if your goal is recording, for listening to music hdd MP3 players are superior.

― Jarlr'mai (jarlrmai), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 11:22 (twenty years ago)

I have a component MD deck. I never use it anymore. I expect it would be quite expensive to ship it to Australia, though.

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 11:24 (twenty years ago)

My component MD deck and portable are making a comeback due to the dodgy sound of MP3s finally getting to me occasionally. I have never had any problems with any of them.

― Rasputin Kitten (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 11:25 (twenty years ago)

High bitrate MP3s are better than shitty Sony ATRAC.

― Jarlr'mai (jarlrmai), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 11:29 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, but how high bitrate?

― Rasputin Kitten (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 11:30 (twenty years ago)

mark I don't see any clear consensus for Sony over Sharp. I've always been partial to Sharp myself.

― You've Got to Pick Up Every Stitch (tracerhand), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 11:36 (twenty years ago)

In the bitrate question - through headphones I reckon anything at 192kbps sounds fine. Through a system? As high as you can go.

― ___ (___), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 11:40 (twenty years ago)

i think vinyl recorded onto minidisc sounds really really nice.

― You've Got to Pick Up Every Stitch (tracerhand), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 11:42 (twenty years ago)

sharp are virtually sonys now - same cases, same software...

― Vicky (Vicky), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 11:42 (twenty years ago)

Are there considered to be serious quality issues with full-fat SP mode ATRAC in any gear after about 1998? I'm not aware of any. It's probably as good as 192k MP3 (or a VBR equivalent), maybe better.

Of course, it's a little outdated now in terms of the scale of compression possible and nothing like as flexible or universal as MP3, but sound-wise I think it's splitting hairs to compare them.

(Vicky: do Sony portables still do that mental thing of not automatically appending a new recording until you tell it to? In other words, overwriting from the point you're at is the default mode. And do they still not allow recording level adjustment on-the-fly? These were always the two big strikes against Sony portable gear.)

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 11:50 (twenty years ago)

tbh I haven't done any recording for so long that I can't remember!

― Vicky (Vicky), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 12:03 (twenty years ago)

It's a young man's game.

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 12:07 (twenty years ago)

i think the big strike against sony now (as well as maybe the two that already exist, pains that they are) is lack of ports - don't some of them eschew either line out or mic in in favour of the usb port now?

my sony mzr-30 still going strong after 7 years (ok, 7 years in december). battery doesn't hold charge as long as it did and the remote built into the headphone lead is borked but otherwise...

― koogs (koogs), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 12:17 (twenty years ago)

three months pass...

are these cheap?

― cºzen (Cozen), Friday, 31 December 2004 16:40 (twenty years ago)

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