iPod or minidisc?
I am seriously looking for an upgrade to my ageing panasonic CD player. It has served me well but I really need something that offers either more capacity or smalller size, etc. I also have a huge CD/record collection of mostly electronic/classical music.
The iPod seems perfect, but it also has the sound quality issue. If I convert all my vinyls and CDs to MP3, there will be a huge hit in quality. A minidisc player can't hold as much but it has a great sound and the ability to record digitally anywhere.
What does everyone think?
The iPod seems perfect, but it also has the sound quality issue. If I convert all my vinyls and CDs to MP3, there will be a huge hit in quality. A minidisc player can't hold as much but it has a great sound and the ability to record digitally anywhere.
What does everyone think?
Comments
the decision would be MUCH easier if the iPod had line-in!
-minidisk compresses sound with its own compressor
-ipod uses standard mp3's
-minidisk uses a ...aeh... minidisk
-ipod uses a hd
-all minidisk-player i know connect with usb
-ipod uses firewire
-minidik has standard usability (navigation through songs/basic handling)
-ipod has "apple-usability"
for sound-quality and compression:
i would compare hands on.
minidisk is to proprietary imho.
i would get myself an ipod.
I was immediately disappointed by the sound quality, but it turned out that it was just the headphones that were supplied. I tried my Sony MDR-888s and the difference was unbelieveable! Far better quality than the Creative DAP Jukeox that I was using before.
I'm lucky I suppose, I can't tell the difference between a CD and an .mp3 at 192kbps with VBR. I can't tell the difference in a quiet room, nevermind whilst I'm out walking around on the street or on a bus. As my friend says "only a dog can tell the difference".
iTunes, Firewire, drag and drop, ease of use, battery life, capacity. You don't need to keep hauling it out of your pocket to change the disc.
Oh, and I installed Mac OS X on my iPod. I can plug it into any Firewire Mac and boot up into my OS with my applications, e-mails. fonts etc.
It's the best piece of kit I've ever bought (and that includes a 22" Cinema Display).
Hope this helps a little!
Regarding the quality, I think if you record at 192kb/s it will be very nearly the same as the original CD.
Anyway, i have both a minidisc and an iPod. iPod is better, because of the LOUDER headphone amp and the ease of use. I love to hear music the loudest i can and the iPod definetely beats the living shyt out of the minidisc.
[ 06-05-2002: Message edited by: nx7oe ]</p>
Maybe not as bad as mp3 but it is still lossy compression.
I tried to read up on it on the Sony site but there is not much detail and it appears to have been written by someone who does not speak english as a first language
<a href="http://www.sony-europe.com/cds/showpage.asp?nodeid=88833&loc=eu" target="_blank">http://www.sony-europe.com/cds/showpage.asp?nodeid=88833&loc=eu</a>
I went to the Sony website and checked out their new Net-MD players... They look pretty good but the are all USB based and only compatible with windows. Ugh <img src="graemlins/oyvey.gif" border="0" alt="[No]" /> I think I'm going to wait until Macworld and see if Apple comes out with a new iPod. Maybe it will be cheaper by then as well.
The iPod (I also tested one for a month) does a far better job, for all the reasons given in this thread and also because:
- the iPod's design is way more elegant ( :cool: );
- the iPod's interface is much more efficient;
- the iPod uses MP3 tags while the MD uses a single line of text (and you can only see a few letters at a time on the MD);
- downloading songs from your Mac is 200 times faster (!);
- you don't need to carry a bagfull of disks with your iPod;
- the iPod is not only a walkman?
The MD has two advantages on the iPod:- the line-in (you can record anything anywhere);
- the remote control (your MD can stay well protected in your bag or pocket all the time)
I'll be buying an iPod as soon as the new version (what will it be?) is in stores.Agt
Obviously they will upgrade iTunes and iPod to this format. When is a big question, do you want to wait?
<strong>...
Obviously they will upgrade iTunes and iPod to this format. When is a big question, do you want to wait?</strong><hr></blockquote>
Why wait? iPod firmware can be updated to AAC, and AAC sounds great! If I had the money I would buy an iPod immediately.
Other question: can I convert mp3 to aac or do I have to rip all my CD's again ?
zero
going from lossy codec [mp3] to lossy codec [aac] = VERY lossy audio
<strong>The iPod, for some reason, will not play the songs seamlessly. There's always a slight pause. The pause is present in iTunes as well, and it tends to be longer. There is a "crossfade playback" option in iTunes, but it's stupid and doesn't actually play the songs correctly. Hopefully that problem will be fixed soon.</strong><hr></blockquote>
You can play it seamlessly in iTunes 2.0 (2.0.4 for certain...but the other 2.0 versions should work also...) If you go into the fade preferences and set it to "on" and slide the slide bar to 0, you will hear the tracks play one after another with no skip or pause between tracks. The iPod does it though, and I have found no fix for this problem.
What are you ****ing stoned? Duh. iPod!
You can play it seamlessly in iTunes 2.0 (2.0.4 for certain...but the other 2.0 versions should work also...) If you go into the fade preferences and set it to "on" and slide the slide bar to 0, you will hear the tracks play one after another with no skip or pause between tracks. The iPod does it though, and I have found no fix for this problem.<hr></blockquote>
Not true. I tried it out, using crossfade playback set to 0. There is no longer a pause between the tracks, but the volume drops off to almost nothing before coming back up. I want it to be completely seamless, like it is on the CD, with no dropoff in volume. This is definitely not too much to ask, as my $30 portable CD player can do it. If I spend 13 times more money on the iPod than on the CD player, it should have this feature. That's the one thing where I've really been disappointed. I'd also like the ability to create playlists right on the iPod (instead of having to use iTunes), but I don't think it'll be done.