12/31: | Ivan Cheng
points out PCAVTech, a site with many PC sound card performance
test results.
|
¶ |
The MD importer MinidiscAudio appears, saying they'll guarantee
their prices are the lowest on the Web.
|
¶ |
Steve Pearse notes that the recent Fisher MD boombox is the same as the Sanyo MCD 3100, sold in the U.K.
|
¶ |
Michael Moore points out Nirvis, selling a serial port to
Sony Slink/A1/IR interface adapter.
|
12/30: | Roscoe Mittleman
makes an MD
supplier rating page and an MD specific web search engine. |
12/25: | Merry
Christmas!
|
¶ |
Jonathan Schwartz finds a photo and Japanese information on the JVC KW-MC808, an in-dash unit that accepts CD, MD or
Cassette in its single slot. |
12/24: | Jordan
Schweitzer spots Sharp Japan's English MD pages.
|
¶ |
Kirk points out a digital optical i/o option that Creative offers for
their SBLive board.
|
¶ |
Jim Coon finds a page devoted to Sony Control-A1 (Slink) hacking.
|
12/22: | Matt Sephton
points out Lee Chin's USC term paper on MD.
|
¶ |
Kristian Widjaja finds a Fisher MD boombox for sale at The Good Guys.
|
12/21: | Matt Dramowicz
and Jamal Kirk find an MD vs. Rio comparison favoring the former.
|
¶ |
Engage those retro rockets: Matt Sephton finds a 1996 Austin Chronicle article on MD's success in
Sony's test markets.
|
12/19: | Michael Toliver graciously
prepares a splendid Sharp
MD-MS702 manual in HTML format.
|
¶ |
Martin Danek now offers Audiolib, a Windows program for storing and titling
MD track names.
|
¶ |
MinidiscNow has set up an Online FAQ/Answer
service for MD equipment and accessories. |
12/18: | Robert Nguyen has
made a thorough comparison of the Sony MZ-R55 and Kenwood DMC-K7R
portables. |
12/17: | A friend points
out photos and Japanese information covering what's inside a Rio MP3 player. It doesn't exactly look
jam packed.
|
¶ |
Romain Kang spots somewhat grumpy comments about an MZ-R50 used for
dictation.
|
¶ |
John VanderWerf has made a package for hacking
DMX web pages into text files for titling purposes.
|
¶ |
Martin Borus mentions an MD competition in German (under "fun&win", the correct answer is
"c" [Herbert Groenemeyer]).
|
¶ |
Chris McClave has made a Sony MZ-R55 page and discussion board.
|
¶ |
Justin DeAre notes that several refurbished Sharp portables available from
onsale.com.
|
12/14: | Japan Direct has
some clear snapshots of the Aiwa AM-F70, including one of
it beside an MZ-R55.
|
¶ |
Dorian spots
a photo and Japanese info for
Onkyo's MD-P20, their Sharp MD-ST521 clone. |
12/12: | David Jansen
points out Japanese info on the Prospec
MSP730, an apparently legal SCMS stripper being sold in Japan for
JPY 16,800.
|
¶ |
Marcus Johansson finds the Swedish site Ginza selling Pre-recorded MDs.
|
12/10: | Michael Negus
spots Aiwa's English AM-F70 page.
|
¶ |
Noticing the shortage, Planet Minidisc adds an MD
discussion board.
|
12/9: | Eisaku points out
the ultimate MD accessory, a Sony MD label printer that connects to their
portables (some sketchy English details).
|
¶ |
Roscoe Mittleman has made a Minidisc discussion
board.
|
¶ |
Linus Sweers's Toslink Transcievers Page now sports a digital link discussion board. |
12/8: | Iein (via Simenc
& Satz) spots Panasonic's tiny SJ-MJ70 player, 16 hours
playing time from the smallest package ever. |
12/7: | Luca Lusuardi's
Italian MD
page is worth a visit even for its fashion exuberance alone. |
12/5: | Aaron Satz finds
the MD retailer Electronic Shopping Mall in Hong Kong.
|
¶ |
Phil Gartman points out Sony's MDM-X4 MKII page. |
12/4: | Dave LaDelfa
points out Ricoh's CD-R handbook, with a good description of how CD-R recording works. |
12/3: | Peter Neff finds
a Stereophile article on MD's growth, reporting that
the number of US retail outlets selling blanks has grown to
about 9000! |
12/2: | We conduct a short interview with Stephan
Voser at BPS, concerning their new Sprinter 750.
|
¶ |
Information on the Aiwa AM-F70 has been added.
|
12/1: | Balzers Process
Systems introduces the Sprinter
750, a high speed MD production machine.
|
¶ |
A reader spots a photo and Japanese info for Aiwa's AM-F70 MD recorder, with backlit buttons,
remote and main LCD.
|
¶ |
Joseph Reagle kindly submits a Sharp MS721 review.
|
11/28: | Sony Components
has brief parts brochures for MD audio manufacturers, giving English
information on MD optical
pickups, loading
units, mechanism
kits, magnetic
heads, and spindle
motors. All their component
brochures make interesting browsing.
|
¶ |
Iein (via Grega
Simenc) finds Aiwa's English page for their AM-HX30 portable player.
|
¶ |
A reader brings news of the JVC KW-MC808, according to the
Nikkei Weekly: ``Starting in November, JVC is to market an
audio system for cars that can handle MiniDiscs, CDs and cassette
tapes in the same slot. The company claims it is the first such
multi-function system on the market. Users of the JPY88,000 KW-MC808
model can choose from seven kinds of sound quality and ten patterns of
display indication.''
|
¶ |
Seamus Dunpy forwards news summaries stating: ``Sharp Corp. has
announced its total production of MiniDisc audio player products has
passed the 5 million mark. The company began producing MD systems in
February, 1993.'' (NewsBytes), and: ``TDK Corp. will raise production
capacity of recordable compact discs by 41% to 12 million discs a
month from next April, company sources said Thursday. It also plans to
boost MiniDisc capacity by 57% to 4.7 million at the same time.''
|
¶ |
Steve Davis spots a useful (but pricey) USB to
S/PDIF (coax) converter.
|
¶ |
Katie DeYoung types up Matt's scan of the Studio Sound article on the Sony
MDS-DRE1.
|
11/25: |
Patrick Elliott spots TDK 60' blanks below $2 at Cassette
House.
|
11/24: | Aaron Satz has
made a brief comparison of the Sharp ST521 and Sony E55
portables, with photos.
|
¶ |
The MD
discussion board seems to be down. I've contacted the
maintainer. |
11/23: | Michael Nosal
finds a review favoring MD over Rio/MP3.
|
¶ |
Jake Eu submits a nice scan of the Sharp MD-MS722 user manual.
|
11/22: | Grega Simenc
brings word of Aiwa's
AM-HX30 MD player. |
11/19: | Nick Perry
kindly upgrades the MDCP's search form to use a local Excite search
engine. Try searching for "wild".
|
¶ |
Claudio Bassi has an enthusiastic MD page in Italian.
|
¶ |
John Manson takes a close look at the effects of
an SCMS stripper on Sharp MS702 control codes.
|
¶ |
Eugeni Babrov kindly reformats the entire Sharp MD-MS701
service manual in PDF format.
|
¶ |
MinidiscNow has freshened up their pages and offer TDK blanks for
$25/10, including shipping.
|
11/18: | Brian Houghton describes construction of a
radio controlled record button for Sony portables.
|
¶ |
Thomas Hjorth has a Sharp MD-MS722 page that includes a scan of the
English user manual.
|
¶ |
Kenn Hom points
out Kimawa
in Osaka, selling Sony MD equipment by mail order and accepting
credit cards. |
11/17: | Adam Heath (from
Sony!) kindly submits the MDS-DRE1
manual in PDF format, we've also added its table entry. |
11/16: | Jake Eu gives a
sobering review of the Sharp MD-MS722,
saying there are few real differences over the MS702. |
11/15: | Allen Scofield
describes his use of MD
for radio voice-over work.
|
¶ |
Christopher Lloyd submits a good review of the Kenwood DM9090 deck.
|
¶ |
Esben Johansen starts a Danish MD discussion board.
|
¶ |
Andrew Marchetti points out Rob's thorough review of the Kenwood DMC-K7R (a sharp MD-MS722
clone).
|
¶ |
Chris Stanley reports his success with
the self turn-on fix for the Sony MDS-JE510.
|
11/13: | We get passing mention in the WSJ. (Thanks
Mr. Mossberg!)
|
¶ |
R. M. Morriën shows how to make
60' MDs longer with a TOC clone from a 74' disc.
|
11/12: | Howard Chui
spots a Cnet comparision of CD, MD and MP3.
|
¶ |
Hynek Syrovatka upgrades his EasyTitle PC keyboard titling adapter.
|
¶ |
John Magsino finds Onkyo's MD-2321, their first US MD deck.
|
11/10: | Florian G.
finds preliminary info on Sony's
SRP-MD1 rack mount machine.
|
¶ |
Joe Redifer has made a page describing how to alleviate
the MDS-JE510's self turn-on bug.
|
¶ |
The MD Titling Contest and Richer Sounds voucher were apparently
hoaxes. Very sorry!
|
11/9: | John Smith points
out an IASA bulletin with good hard coverage of MD as it
applies to the archivist (search for "MiniDisc" after the page is
fully loaded).
|
¶ |
Katie DeYoung brings word of a contest with MD
equipment prizes.
|
¶ |
Peter Ravn spots MiniDisc racks and cases from AM in Denmark.
|
11/7: |
Ken McGreevy spots a San Fransisco Chronical editorial on the RIAA's blunder towards the RIO MP3
player.
|
¶ |
David Tamkin writes the book on TOC cloning with
the MDS-JE520. |
11/5: | Martin Danek
upgrades his WinRemote MD Titler package to integrate with CDDB for easy titling of CD
copies. |
11/3: | Alan Webster
uncovers the Casio MDH-1 mini boombox, the first MD boombox to
run on batteries (19 hours on 6 D-Cells). |
11/2: | Andrew Batiuk
encourages support for Team MiniDisc, a participant in the RSA Labs contest
to crack the RC5 code. |
10/30: | Petr Simanek
comes through again, providing a complete scan of the MDS-B5 user manual. This pro-use
machine is fully controllable through an
RS-232 interface. |
10/28: | Marcus Johansson
has made a thorough MZ-R55 page, with many nice
photos.
|
¶ |
Huy finds an MD article from Popular Mechanics, they mildly
praise the format.
|
10/27: | Michael Moore
notes further news on RIAA vs. Diamond, indicating that
Diamond is, for now, allowed to distribute their MP3 player. |
10/26: | Amulation.com
(the MD mailing list host) is experiencing technical difficulties,
please stand by (they're expecting a full recovery by Oct 29 or so).
|
¶ |
Bryan Mo points out a page for downloading Japanese versions of Sony's MD
Editor software that controls MDS-PC1 decks and PCLK-MD1 connected
Sony machines. |
10/24: | Hsin-Chia Cheng
spots Japanese info on Kenwood's DMC-K5 player, a Sharp ST521 clone. |
10/24: | Jaime Balli (and
others) find Sharp's MD User manuals (in Acrobat format) for US
models, under the Customer Service section of Sharp's US MD
page.
|
¶ |
Toni Umlandt points out Otari's
MR30 industrial MD unit. Among its features: a varispeed setting
(+/-9.9%) that can be saved on disc.
|
¶ |
Marc Tsai comes across a good set of pictures of Sony MD gear.
|
¶ |
Did you know Samsung may introduce an MP3 player too?
|
¶ |
CDmail in France has an extensive
stock of pre-recorded MDs available online.
|
¶ |
Harry Jones finds Sharp's MD-MS702 at Onecall for under $240.
|
¶ |
JP Nicholls spots Starmount selling Hi-Space blanks in the UK for GBP
1.70.
|
10/20: | Wilton points
out a Wired article stating that the Diamond Rio MP3
player's release has had a 10 day restraining order imposed upon
it.
|
¶ |
Johan has a nice MD page in Swedish.
|
10/18: | Marc Herbert kindly translates
a 1994 MPO document about MD and MD-Data.
|
¶ |
Hue Beavers points out Sony's MDBundle5 press release.
|
¶ |
Andrew Campbell kindly submits the English section of the MZ-R55 user manual, and fire those
retrorockets Batman, Graham Morrison comes through with a complete scan of the
MZ-R3 user manual.
|
10/17: | Adam Lysne has
started an Online MD Discussion Board.
|
¶ |
Desmond Ng spots
Japanese info on Sony's MDLink Walkman Link Cable. It couples a Sony MD portable
to a DHC-MD777, MD555 or JMD-7 bookshelf system for MD to MD
recording that copies track names and track
marks. |
10/16: | Miko
points out Sony's Japanese announcement of the MDS-JA33ES deck
equipped with Type-R ATRAC DSP, and their MDX-D2 CD/MD deck, both
controllable from a PC. |
10/15: | Rich Westerman
notes further news of the RIAA vs. Diamond suit, this time from
Stereophile.
|
¶ |
Patrik Hall
points out a Swedish MD page. |
10/14: | Janik Joire
forwards news that Diamond has been sued by the RIAA for producing
a portable MP3 player.
|
¶ |
Sam Wu and Howard Chui report news of an MZ-E35 review on CNET.
|
¶ |
Hue Beavers notes US Sony's MDS-PC1 announcement.
|
10/12: | Simon Corner
sells Fiber Optic receivers and transmitters for
construction projects, from the U.K. |
10/10: | Petr Simanek in
the Czech Republic graciously submits a full scan of the JE520 service
manual. Did you know the JE520 has several built-in odometers?
|
¶ |
Premiata Video in Brasil sells Sony MD gear and
blanks.
|
¶ |
MinidiscNow hammers TDK XG blank prices down to $29/10, including
shipping.
|
10/9: | Brian Mooar
writes in the Washingon Post that MiniDisc is alive and well in the US.
|
¶ |
Brand Michael
points out a thorough Sony MDM-X4 review in German, from the Swiss magazine
Workshop.
|
¶ |
Christoph Cech suggests a cheap and easy velcro mic strain relief for MD portables.
|
¶ |
Jacob Gemmell spots JVC's EX-MD90 and FD-MD9000 bookshelf systems.
|
10/8: | Jamie Smith has an
MD DB
labeller program ready for beta test.
|
¶ |
L.T. points out more general info, a price, the specs and a photo for Sharp's MD-X8 ``Internet recording''
bookshelf system.
|
10/7: | Adrian Sim points
out Mydo's English page. They offer Sharp portables
direct from Japan and accept payment by credit card.
|
¶ |
Stefan Baden has
made an MD Trading page.
|
¶ |
John VanderWerf spots Case Logic's MD specific storage solutions.
|
10/6: | Michael Hay finds
a surprisingly complete Japanese MD page. |
10/4: |
A Sony brochure points out the MZ-R55's tiny size. |
10/3: | Arnau Tornos
Casanovas reports Sony Europe's Piccolo MD, ZS-M7 boombox, and Pioneer Europe's MJ-D707 pages.
|
¶ |
Justen Reed finds
Sony blanks for $3+shipping at Crutchfield.
|
¶ |
Shalev finds a 6 disc car MD changer from Pioneer. |
10/2: | Sharp has a
Japanese page for their MD-F10 CD/MD/FM boombox, with
timer recording and world band FM tuner.
|
10/1: | Cindy Chen kindly
sends in a summary of Ken
Pohlmann's Stereo Review article, he seems to have warmed towards
the format slightly. |
9/30: | Japanese info on
Sony's VAIO PCV-M350 indicates it has optical S/PDIF output
(with SCMS), an A1 control port, and MD titler/controller
software.
|
¶ |
Eye on
Future in Holland, provides +/- 16% speed-control modified MD
decks to DJs and dance schools.
|
¶ |
Robert Kinann is selling Sony MDs cheaply.
|
9/28: | An article in the
Malaysian Star defends MD in the face of CD-R.
|
¶ |
Toni Umlandt provides English
information and a German web page for Becker Autoradio's new Mexico
Pro MD 4937 in dash MD unit.
|
9/26: | Taking some
inspiration from Yahoo, along with readers' suggestions, we've
freshened up a bit. |
9/23: | Martin Clinton finds
another Sharp MD-F20 double MD boombox page. |
9/22: | Eddie McCarroll
spots a What HiFi article comparing CD-R(W) and
MiniDisc.
|
¶ |
Remember the mp3mobile? They're making a commercial version, 35 hours of MP3 music in
your car for under US$1K.
|
9/21: | More pictures of the
new Sony MZ-R55 and MZ-E55
portables, courtesy Japan-Direct. (The E55 is remarkably close
to the frontal area of a bare MD.) |
9/20: | Alain finds
Sharp's Japanese page for their MD-F20 double MD boombox with world tuner.
|
¶ |
Karsten Fryd spots a
Japanese page for the Marantz MD19 MD deck, with 20 bit ADC, 24 bit DAC,
``latest ATRAC'', 98dB dynamic range, 100dB SNR, 2 optical and 1 coax
input, and CD-TEXT recording.
|
¶ |
Whiipsmart has made
1
2 nice scans of a Japanese MZ-R55 brochure. |
9/19: | Sevo Stille contributes a
good introduction to Microphone technology
and setups.
|
¶ |
Grega Simenc kindly scans in the entire JE520 user's manual.
|
¶ |
Peter Ravn finds a
nice Danish MD page.
|
¶ |
Kelvin Chang spots Panasonic's English SJ-MJ7 page.
|
¶ |
MinidiscNow has the Sony MZ-R55 for sale.
|
9/18: | Tim Setai points out
Denon's DN-M2300, a pro-use dual MD recorder/player.
|
¶ |
Chris Sanchez finds
Pioneer's Japanese PMD-R55 and PMD-P5 page.
|
¶ |
Here come the CD
recorders: Arzeno Fabrice has made a brief page covering Philips 3 new CD recorders. |
9/15: | Jamie Balli has
information on a Sony Technology
Presentation in Mexico City, this Saturday.
|
¶ |
Cameron Croft has made a review of Sony's MDX-C8900 car MD unit.
|
9/14: | Kelvin Raharja spots
a Japanese announcement and photo of Pioneeer's PMD-R55 and PMD-P5 portables, they're
clones of Sharp's MS722 and ST521 portables.
|
¶ |
Diamond Multimedia's Rio portable solid state MP3 player stores 32MB
(30-60 minutes) of MP3 audio, runs for 12 hours on a single AA cell,
and costs $200. Additional memory chips are $100/32MB.
|
9/13: | TB Fisher reports an
MSNBC story [surprising for its lack of detail and bias against
MP3 legitimacy] on the impending release of an MP3 walkman
from Diamond Multimedia.
|
¶ |
Michael Robertson reports that Fraunhofer
Lowers the Patent Boom On MP3 Software Developers.
|
9/11: | Ethan Straffin has
made a page for reporting and viewing the Sony MDS-JE510's self turn-on
problems.
|
¶ |
Vincent spots a short news story indicating that Sharp will begin making MD optical pickups in
Malaysia.
|
9/9: | Iein spots a Japanese
announcement and photo of Panasonic's SJ-MJ30 portable player, a unique
slot-in design measuring 75.5 x 83.5 x 16.9mm and running 34 hours on
NiMH gumpack plus AA cell (a table entry for it exists). He
further notes Panasonic's Japanese announcement with photos.
|
¶ |
David Sowa notes Sharp USA's new MD page that includes a little MD
manga.
|
¶ |
MiniDiscNow offers TDK and Sony blanks
for $3 each in lots of 5, including shipping.
|
¶ |
Jac Goudsmit notes a
Dutch article and photo of the Philips CD-R760, a dual drive CD player/CD-RW recorder
selling for about US$450. |
9/7: | Japan-Direct has photos of the
Kenwood DMC-K7R, a Sharp MS-722 clone.
|
¶ |
Peter Knight kindly provides information on the S/PDIF C channel coding.
|
¶ |
Entries for the Sony MZ-R55, -E55, and -E33 portables have been added.
|
9/4: | Patrik Hall has
started a nice Swedish MD page. |
3 Sep: | Eli Cochran spots
Sony's Japanese announcement and photos of the MZ-R55, MZ-E55 and MZ-E33 portables.
|
¶ |
Gray Market Goods is offering Sony blanks for $3, including shipping.
|
¶ |
Marc Herbert kindly splits the portables table into recorders and players.
|
¶ |
Japan Direct has some clear photos of the Sharp
MD-ST521 and Aiwa AM-HX3 portable players.
|
2 Sep: | Iein finds a Japanese
announcement and photo of the Sony MZ-R55 portable recorder, on sale from
Oct. 10. At 78.9 x 18.9 x 84mm and 147 grams it is the smallest and
lighest recorder to date. Employs 1.2v ``gumpack'' rechargeable
(reducing battery space 25% over previous model). |
31 Aug: | A reader spots a nice
Japanese page covering the Panasonic SJ-SW9MD portable MD player. |
30 Aug: | Ralf Kuchenhart
points out a Sony MD technology animation for kids, in English.
|
¶ |
Harold Kuykendall notes Pioneer's
MJ-D707 MD deck (with "Variable ATRAC"), their first to be sold in
the US.
|
29 Aug: | Martin Borus pays
a visit to Cebit '98. |
27 Aug: | Peter Ravn spots
further online MD blank sales from Thomann in Germany.
|
¶ |
Michael Moore notes a MiniDisc intro piece from Ziff-Davis [that
unfortunately exhibits a few misunderstandings].
|
27 Aug: | Nic Pillinger finds English info for
Aiwa's AM-R10 portable MD player with builtin AM/FM/TV tuner.
|
¶ |
Peter Ravn notes
that Richer Sounds in the UK is selling MD blanks on the Web. |
26 Aug: | Wilton Vargas points
out Japanese information for Kenwood's Sharp MS722 and ST521 clones.
|
¶ |
Eli Cochran notes that a search for ``MD'' at http://www.qvc.com yields
several heretofore unseen (in US) MiniDisc units.
|
¶ |
Denis Dubuisson spots Sony's Japanese announcement of their DHC-MD777 component system, with an ``MD-Link''
feature for connecting Sony MD portables for copying MD audio [analog]
and track titles. It also features a PC link option, digital recording
level control, and world band (!) FM tuner.
|
24 Aug: | MiniDiscNow has
started providing an extensive line of MD
systems from Japan. |
21 Aug: | Jaime Balli has
produced an extensive Spanish MiniDisc Page. |
20 Aug: | A reader spots
Japanese info for a slew of Sony auto MD gear: the
MDX-C5200 (1 DIN 40Wx4 wide bit stream),
MDX-C62RF (standalone 6 MD changer that plays
through car FM system (which freq??)),
WX-C60MD (2 DIN 45Wx4 wide bit stream MD/CD w/EQ),
and
WX-C70MD (2 DIN wide bit stream 3MD/CD w/EQ) units.
|
19 Aug: | Arnau Tornos notes a
What
HiFi MD intro page mentioning that Sony will soon be using ``ATRAC-D''. |
18 Aug: | Milind Shah and Ank
Hsu spot word of increased MD player production in a CNET News
column. Mario Zlatovic finds a more complete version of the same news on the
Nikkei site.
|
¶ |
Ron finds a TWICE article stating that Sony's MD push is apparently working.
|
¶ |
Haresnape(?) notes a Dotmusic article stating that EMI and Virgin are again making MD releases.
|
17 Aug: | Eddie Talbot has
made a nice page comparing CD-RW and MiniDisc.
|
¶ |
Audio Marketing Systems offers Windisc, professional MiniDisc production
software for controlling up to 128 Sony MDS-B5 studio recorders.
|
¶ |
A reader spots the JVC MD/CD in dash combo on sale at Crutchfield, and a Japanese page for Panasonic's SC-NS70MD bookshelf MD system (with titler).
|
6 Aug: | David
Morgan notes a Herald Tribune article on MiniDisc stating that MD
is eclipsing the cassette.
|
¶ |
Mario spots a Nikkei English News report that Sharp has an MD-ST521
portable MD player (9% thinner than their previous one) and
MD-MS721 recorder due out shortly. They also report that JVC has a
portable player, a portable recorder, and minicomponent stereos
equipped with MD that will be introduced in Japan this September and
exported to the US, Europe and Singapore in February.
|
¶ |
Robert Dewhurst finds Japanese info on Sharp's MD-ST521 MD player, featuring 11 hours
playback on the internal LiIon rechargeable.
|
¶ |
Eric Whitney has made a page listing CD players with optical out, if you
know of a unit which isn't listed, please notify him.
|
3 Aug: |
Valentinos Vassiliades kindly provides a full
scan of the Aiwa AM-F5 user manual.
|
¶ |
The Sony MDS-JE510 service Manual is now also available as
an entire image set in .zip format.
|
¶ |
Robert
Dewhurst spots a Sony docu-manga (in English) on CD-Text, including
a table showing which equipment supports it.
|
¶ |
Ted Rees mentions MD use in performance art.
|
2 Aug: | Mario
Zlatovic finds a photo with Japanese information and specs on Hitachi-Maxell's GS-MD series blanks featuring a
case surface that can be written on directly. |
31 July: | Hynek
Syrovatka offers parts and plans for Easy
Title, a PC/AT keyboard hardware adapter that allows MD titling on
Sony MD decks.
|
¶ |
Stephen Harris finds a detailed page explaining S/PDIF signal formatting.
|
¶ |
Mario
Zlatovic keeps at it, finding Sony's announcement of a Flash Memory Module, which
they intend for digital camera and audio player use (but at over 100 times
MD's cost per MB, solid state audio is still a bit out of reach). |
30 July: | Mario
Zlatovic comes across Nikkei News articles on the aspects of fashion design in MD players and Fujitsu's 64Mbit flash memories, which they hope
will replace MD as an audio medium.
|
¶ |
Hardeep spots Aiwa's new AM-HX3 MD player (an
AM-F5/F7 look-alike), due in August. |
28 July: | Paul
Grant notes Best Buy's Blank Blowout: 4 Maxells for $10, through
August 1st.
|
¶ |
Attila
Balogh points out the Case Logic MD cases page. |
26 July: | Greg
Bronzert discovers JVC's US page (and Mike Blossom, JVC Canada's page) for the KD-MX3000 car MD
unit.
|
¶ |
Steve Logan notes the formation of a CD-R mailing list.
|
¶ |
Wibisono finds JVC's Japanese RD-MD5 boombox and new portables page, from whence information has been
added about the XM-P55 and XM-PJ1 units. He also uncovers Pioneer's Japanese AV Systems Page, featuring
several MD bookshelf systems.
|
23 July: | A buddy
spots Japanese info on JVC's new portable players, the
XM-P55 and XM-PJ1 (photo). Both feature 40 second shock memory, LCD
remote with ``jog control'', 10 character backlit main LCD and an
unusual ``Favorite Track'' function that lets you set where you'd
like an MD to start playback. The P55 is 16.6mm thick and 103g [body
only], running 7 hours on the rechargeable or 16 hours together with
an AA cell. The PJ1 has a ``push eject'' disc mechanism and accepts
both an NiMH gumpack and an AA cell within the main body,
running for 16 hours (also operates on either cell alone).
|
¶ |
Mads and Tim find a photo of Sony's MDS-DRE1 at Harmony Central.
|
¶ |
Tommy Madjar uncovers a photo of the JVC KD-MX3000 single slot CD/MD car
unit (and Wibisono finds JVC's English page for the unit).
|
¶ |
Mario Zlatovic finds news of MPMAN's impending arrival.
|
¶ |
And pay no attention to that MP3 CD-R
player behind the curtain!! Who would possibly want 175 songs in
their [coat] pocket anyway!?
|
20 July: | Roger
Scott has started a mailing list for multitrack MD equipment users,
you can sign up easily via a web page.
|
¶ |
Japan Direct has taken a few snapshots of the new Sharp MD-MS722, and offer the
unit for sale (as does MiniDisc Now).
|
16 July: | Adam
Lysne points out Sony's MDS-DRE1
professional DJ MD unit.
|
¶ |
Denis Dubuissson and Eisaku have produced an English translation of Sony's MDS-W1 and MDS-JA22ES
announcement.
|
¶ |
Matthew Richardson spots brief Japanese pages and pictures for Sony's latest
MD gear, including the new MDS-E55 rack mount unit as well as a PC-Link homepage, featuring a cool Shockwave demo of the MD Editor program (hit the
"demo" button, then start boning up on your Japanese).
|
¶ |
Wibisono comes back with a Japanese page for Onkyo's FR-S1 CD/MD/Tuner mini system, with 20
bit A/D and D/A converters.
|
15 July: | Wibisono
Prayogo spots further Japanese info on Sharp's MD-MS722 recorder that includes interesting
animations of the slot in mechanism and the jog ring. He also finds more English news concerning
Aiwa's CSD-MD5E boombox, featuring a world-band
tuner. Not content to stop, he scouts Pioneer's Japanese MD bookshelf systems page. |
14 July: | Matthew
Berrey has made a page for the Sharp MD-MS702, including a nice set of snapshots.
|
¶ |
MiniDecks is selling US model Sharp MD decks by
mail order. |
10 July: | Wilton
finds Kenwood's explanation of how D.R.I.V.E. and ATRAC work together, he also spots
a slew of Kenwood MD gear headed for the US:
the XD-981MD bookshelf system,
the 1090MD deck with 24bit A/D & D/A,
their Avino compo system,
the DMS-500 MD deck for Home Theater Systems,
and their KMD-70R in-dash car MD player.
|
8 July: | Peter
Ravn spots brief news of a long battery life MD recorder from Sharp, and another
notes Sharp's Japanese page for the unit [MD-MS722 notable
features: 40 sec ESP, new ATRAC, 20 bit A/D and D/A, 10% thinner than
the '702, but the same weight, long battery life].
|
¶ |
Japan Direct, a Kobe Japan
based exporter of MD equipment, opens for business.
|
7 July: | Solid
state audio, radar blip #2: Peter Neff spots mu Fi, a
tiny MP3 player prototype with removable flash cards. But at 100 pounds Sterling
per 64 minute audio card it isn't exactly an MD slayer -- yet.
|
¶ |
Gary Duke describes his nifty Rhino case
for the MZ-R50 and provides info on Sony's tiny ECM-DS70P `T'
electret mic. |
6 July: | Jamshid
notes a PC World article discussing Sony's PC/HiFi integration schemes that include the
ability to control a CD changer from a PC and record tracks to MD.
|
¶ |
Further information on the Marantz
PMD650 is available.
|
¶ |
Minidisco has
lowered blank prices and kindly created a MiniDisc Classified
Ads page, devoted soley to MD.
|
¶ |
Sawada
Denki is now selling the new Sony MZ-E44/45 and Panasonic SJ-SW9MD
portable players. |
2 July: | Bob Scott
points out an interesting article discussing Sony's MD strategy
from EE Times.
|
¶ |
Martin Voelker spots the Marantz PMD650 professional MD recorder.
|
¶ |
Balzers Process Systems, makers of MiniDisc manufacturing equipment,
states that MiniDisc is here to stay, and mentions the specs for
MD Data II, due in 1999.
|
¶ |
Shawn Lin notes that Dragon Systems recommends the Sony MZ-R50 as the
dictation recorder for their speech recognition system.
|
¶ |
MinidiscNow hammers TDK blank prices down to $3.50,
including next day shipping.
|
20 June: | Martin
Clinton finds the Vestax AA-88, a DJ station with built in MD
recorder. |
19 June: | Renard
Dellafave points out the Cadex battery chargers and analyzers site, with
interesting details about battery maintenance and excerpts from a battery book. |
18 June: | Ralf
Kuchenhart outlines the SCMS
situation when copying from MD to DCC-951. |
17 June: | Peter
Ravn finds word of Sony's (prototype) MZ-R50/PC connection that would
enable music recording from the Internet.
|
¶ |
Jeremy Lang spots an evenhanded MaximumPC article comparing CD-R and MiniDisc.
|
¶ |
Eisaku kindly translates Sony's MZ-E44/45 announcement into English.
|
¶ |
The
Sound Professionals has several new products: Cardoid mics from Audio Technica capsules, Eyeglass mounted mics, a Modular Binaural mic, and a Small ``T'' single point mic.
|
16 June: | Eric
Whitney has made a page for Sony's new MZ-E44/E45 portables, he also
kindly sends in a scan of the entire Sony DHC-MD515 operation manual.
|
¶ |
Hardeep
keeps snooping and finds Japanese information on Sanyo's 2DIN MD/CD car
receiver, with improved TOC reading speed (2X their
previous product), 40W X 4 amp, and Japanese band FM tuner.
|
¶ |
Not MD but cool anyway: Hugo Altman has created
MP3Mobile, an embedded Linux PC that plays from a collection of
some 30 hours of MP3 audio in his car. (He NFS mounts the car from his
laptop and squirts new tunes into it over the in-car LAN).
|
15 June: | Hardeep
spots English news about Pioneer's MJ-D7 MD deck with several innovative
features and an ATRAC compatible ``ASRAC'' recording system.
|
¶ |
Wes Brooks finds Sony's English page for the EP11 portable.
|
14 June: | Information on Sony's MDS-JA22ES and MDS-W1 double MD deck has been added.
|
¶ |
Linus P
Sweers ([email protected]) is
offering TOSLink Transmitters for $10, including shipping (or $12 if
outside the US).
|
¶ |
Tom Kroh
provides a brief
review of the Panasonic SJ-MJ7 portable MD player.
|
13 June: | Eric
Whitney points out pictures and Japanese information for the new Sony
MZ-E44 and E45 portable MD players, featuring new ``edge mounted''
buttons, a backlit stick remote, and 5.5 hour operation on a NiMH
``gumpack'' cell (8.5hr on an AA cell, and 16hr on both together), price:
JPY 33,000.
|
¶ |
MiniDiscNow hits some red tape and asks for
public support to help break the logjam.
|
¶ |
Cecil Lau finds Alpine's current US car MD products: the Double
DIN MDA-W890 CD/MD receiver and MDA-5048
MD car deck.
|
¶ |
JVC America offers the XU 301BK, an interesting 3CD/MD deck, it's
available from The Good Guys.
|
¶ |
Daryl O. notes an article on strong MD growth in the Financial
Times, reporting that 10.5 million MD units are projected to be
sold in 1998, doubling by the year 2000. (You'll need to register to
read the article, but it's free). He also comes across a Mostly New York article about MD and Sony's $50
cassette to MD trade-up rebate.
|
9 June: | Kve finds
some English info on Aiwa's latest MD boombox and their new bookshelf MD systems. |
8 June: | Hardeep
points out Aiwa's English announcement for their new AM-F7 MD portable (looking distinctly like an
AM-F5 with a new, LCD equipped remote).
|
¶ |
From the early days: Marc Herbert kindly translates MPO's French
pages (circa 1994) concerning MD manufacture and
Sharp's second try with MD-Data.
|
¶ |
Sawada Denki now offers the Aiwa AM-F7 and graduates to having their very own
Order Form.
|
5 June: | Gray Market
Goods is taking requests for overseas consumer electronics equipment. |
4 June: | John
Bunge notes a bit of Denon information for their DMD-1000 MD deck.
|
¶ |
Mandarin MiniDiscs
UK opens for business, offering Sony and TDK blanks.
|
¶ |
Kenny G. has a page about a pouch suitable for
MD portables that he found.
|
¶ |
Jamie Montgomerie has some MD label templates for MS Publisher '97.
|
2 June: | Shawn Lin
notes that the '98 Cadillac Seville STS comes equipped with an in-dash MD player.
|
¶ |
Daryl O. points out a mildly positive MD article by Leonard Wiener in the
latest issue of U.S. News & World Report.
|
29 May: | In recent
email, the RIAA clarifies the legality of home
audio recording, stating that consumers are free to copy CDs to MD. |
25 May: | Superpig
(?) finds Yamaha's page for their current (and first) US model MD
deck, the MDX-793.
|
¶ |
Colin Blackburn announces the UK MiniDisc mailing list, send an empty
email message to [email protected]
to participate in discussions about MD in the UK.
|
¶ |
Edwin Gustafson spots the Aiwa XR-H3MD at Best Buy for $400.
|
¶ |
Shawn Lin points out a picture of the JVC KDM-X3000 combo MD/CD single slot car MD unit, at
Autotoys.
|
¶ |
Mathic has made a page describing his CD-ROM drive
to MD adapter.
|
24 May: | Marc
Palmer and Nic Pillinger find a favorable Telegraph (UK) article about MiniDisc, within it are
links to several short equipment reviews.
|
¶ |
A reader spots a
picture and Japanese
information for Panasonic's latest portable player, the SJ-SW9MD,
featuring a titanium body, 6 hours playback on its NiMH cell (or 15
hours together with an AA cell), an armband mount and buckledown cover
for active use, 15mw+15mw output and what they call a ``Virtual Motion
Sound System'' circuit and headphones for improved bass response.
|
¶ |
Daryl O. discovers some favorable MD comments in Forbes, among them the news
that in Japan, portable MiniDisc players have outsold portable CD players
for the first time ever.
|
¶ |
Planet
MiniDisc, an internet based MiniDisc and accessories retailer,
opens its website.
|
23 May: | With the
kind assistance of Renard Dellafave, the Sony MDS-JE510 Service
Manual makes the scene (a no
frames version is also available).
|
¶ |
Cameron Croft has started a page for the Sony
MDX-8900 car MD unit.
|
¶ |
Joshua Maremont finds a good TASCAM page for their '301 and '501 PRO MD decks,
with clear pictures and full brochures in Adobe Acrobat format.
|
¶ |
Hardeep spots a bit of Japanese info on Sony's new MDS-JA22ES and MDS-W1 decks, the latter
being a dual drive unit. He also comes across a Japanese Kenwood page
for their Bookshelf system with a built-in 5MD changer.
|
18 May: | Ken
Deeter has begun an attractive MD Page.
|
¶ |
MiniDisc Switzerland http://minidisc.ch now offers free webspace to
anyone wishing to make non-commerical MiniDisc homepages, you can even
choose your own URL (e.g. http://minidisc.ch/yourname).
|
7 May: | Ralf
Kuchenhart points out the new KMD-860R car MD unit on Kenwood Deutschland's MD site.
|
¶ |
Kelvin Raharja notes that Best Buy is carrying recent Sharp and Sony portables
|
5 May: | William
Baras finds a postiive article on MD use in the radio station from
The Independent (UK). |
1 May: | Patrick
Elliot points out a Tower Records Contest in which you can win a Sony
MDBundle.
|
¶ |
Minidisco now
carries Case Logic MD Cases
|
¶ |
MiniDisc Now can accept credit card payment for orders.
|
22 Apr: | Nicholas
Randal talks about leaving MDs in a hot
car. |
21 Apr: | Katie
DeYoung sends in a recent MD blurb from
Wired, they seem to like MD now. |
20 Apr: | Steffen
Hung's Swiss MiniDisc Page has gotten its new name: www.minidisc.ch.
|
¶ |
Nik Post has made an MD Page with a cute MZ-R50 point and click diagram.
|
¶ |
Armando Hernandez points out TDK's Japanese MD
site with many good pictures of their MD blanks.
|
18 Apr: | Kristian
Widjaja finds a favorable MD article on MSNBC, oddly they prefer
analog recordings to digital ones, and gold disks to silver ones.
|
16 Apr: | Servired
now offers their MD porti cases in two case
combo packages.
|
¶ |
Thomas Fortin notes that Sharp's US site has blurbettes on their new US MD products, including 2 ``MD Bundles''. |
14 Apr: | The Sony
MDX-C7900 car MD unit gets an in depth review.
|
¶ |
Tugrul spots a Malaysian review of the Sharp MD-X8 as well as
mention of the unit in Popular Science. |
13 Apr: | Rick
Gardner has kindly scanned in the Sharp MD-MS702 Operation Manual.
|
¶ | David Inoue points out a blurb in last week's WSJ which
reads: ``Minidisc players, which play small recordable compact disks,
are moving so briskly that some makers think they could outsell
portable CD and cassette players among the Japanese next
year. Manufacturers, which include Sony, Sharp and most of Japan's
other electronics giants, sold 1.5 million portable Minidisc players
in Japan last year.'' |
12 Apr: | Giri
points out What HiFi's mention of Yamaha's
new MD components. |
10 Apr: | Steffen
Hung has started a very nice MiniDisc page in Switzerland with good pictures and
information on Sony's latest MD gear. |
9 Apr: | Eclipse's
Japanese page sports new car MD units for 1998, one of which is single
DIN main unit that plays 4 MDs. (US versions would be appreciated!) |
4 Apr: | Mathew
Newton finds Mydo, a
web site (in Japanese) that sells Sharp portables at
reasonable prices, and accepts credit card payment. Details are scanty, but they accept English language
email.
|
¶ |
Katie De Young has placed the Sharp MD-MS701
User Operation Manual online.
|
¶ |
Tomas Branicky points out Video Direct Distributors, a site with (small)
pictures and information on Sony's new JB920 and JE520 MD decks.
|
3 Apr: | George Sopko
describes a cheap and easy S/PDIF
coax to optical converter circuit. |
1 Apr: | HiFi World
talks about the subtle quality
differences between MD Blanks.
|
¶ |
Nic Boyde
has info on the Sony DSC-MD1 digital camera and nice snapshots of the Panasonic
SJ-MJ7.
|
¶ |
Sawada Denki now offers the SJ-MJ7 as
well.
|
¶ |
Saehan is now offering preliminary sales of MPMAN.
|
29 Mar: | Nic Boyde
has some photos of the new Sharp MD-SS311 portable player.
|
¶ |
Articles
in Wired and The
Lousville Cardinal discuss the recording industry's campaign
against MP3 on the net.
|
28 Mar: | Ralf
finds another Kenwood ATRAC 4.5 deck, the DM-SE7.
|
¶ |
I offer some guidelines for writing
equipment reviews.
|
¶ |
Steven Cheng notes Alpine's Japanese pages on their new 2 DIN and single DIN car MD units.
|
¶ |
Bruce Attenborrow speaks favorably of TapEdit, Windows
95 shareware that helps you label MDs (also available at geocities and tripod). There is also a Corel Draw MD template available.
|
¶ |
John Lawrence contributes a nice review of
the Sony MZ-R5ST docking portable.
|
27 Mar: | Martin
Borus has some MD snapshots from CeBit '98 that include the
MZ-R35. His MD homepage now sports a German translation and an interesting method of
preventing SCMS by making a digital recording look like an analog
one.
|
¶ |
Ralf Kuchenhart finds a German page for the new href="http://www.kenwood-electronics.de/ser21.htm#dms500">Kenwood DM-S500
ATRAC 4.5 deck. |
25 Mar: | Karsten
Wendt has graciously provided scans of the entire Sharp MD-MS701 service
manual. |
22 Mar: | Luis has
the beginnings of a page devoted to MD advertising. |
20 Mar: | Oliver
Resch points out Sony
Deutschlands's MD page (www.minidisc.de) which contains a German
translation of the MD FAQ. |
16 Mar: | Bill Tang
reports that the new Sony MDX-7900 car MD unit is now available at Carmedia, for ~$260. |
15 Mar: | Kevin
Wood notes a Studio Sound article in which a commercial CD is
made from a recording session mastered on MD. |
14 Mar: | Peter Cho
contributes a brief review of the
Panasonic SJ-MJ7.
|
¶ |
Tugrul finds Jon Deutsch's favorable MD commentary in Stereophile's Soapbox column, predictably
their readers are still grumpy about MD.
|
¶ |
A reader spots Sony's Japanese page for their RM-IA9K remote. With stylus and touch sensitive LCD,
this device allows MD/CD/Tuner station titling as well as full control
of the DHC-MD919/MD717 bookshelf systems.
|
¶ |
MiniDisc Now has added an MD accessories
page containing a good selection of MD racks.
|
13 Mar: | Nic Boyde
has kindly made a translation of the Sharp MD-SS311 press
release.
|
¶ |
Michael Klawansky notes that J&R is selling the Sony PMC-M2 bookshelf system for $500.
|
11 Mar: | Angus
Bell points out Sharp
Canada's Web page, prominently displaying their MD-MS702. |
10 Mar: | Mario
Zlatovic sends in a beautiful, fully HTMLed Sony MDS-JE700
manual.
|
¶ |
Jan Ruizendaal has begun a nice MiniDisc page
in Dutch.
|
9 Mar: | Mathew
Newton spots Sharp's Japanese page and news release for their new SS311/312 MD players,
featuring slot-in loading and 10.5 hours (LiIon) continuous
playback (17 hours w/additional AA cell). The 312's backlit remote has a built in watch and alarm
clock. |
6 Mar: | Thad Brown
finds the SRC 2000 Sample Rate Converter from Behringer, that
happens to strip SCMS flags during operation.
|
¶ |
Gregory Hersh notes an unenthusiastic E-town article entitled MiniDisc Survives, that mentions Sharp's MD-RS2/301
bundle.
|
5 Mar: | Larry
Sherry spots Sony's Japanese page for their MDIO ZS-M7 ``Personal MiniDisc System'' (read
``Boombox'').
|
¶ |
Peter Ravn comes across a
Sony press release that gives the launch date and prices for this
year's MD gear.
|
¶ |
Ben Knights points out several good MD bargains at Richer Sounds, UK.
|
3 Mar: | Fels Limited in Hong
Kong is selling Sony and TDK MDs wholesale (min. order 1000),
bringing prices into the sub $3 range.
|
¶ |
Matt Saunders points out a comprehensive table comparing digital sound cards.
|
1 Mar: | Daryl
O. kindly sends in a TWICE article
about Maxell and the coming MD ``boomlet''. |
26 Feb: | Pro Cense
Technologies has a prototype IR remote control for MD portables. You
can help make it a finished product by filling out their market
survey.
|
¶ |
Seth Z.
notes Sony's English MZ-R50 page.
|
¶ |
Bob Megling sends in a Stereo Review
blurb about Sony's MD relaunch.
|
25 Feb: | Luke Luo
points out an outlet store search page, useful because of the low prices on Sony car MD equipment you can find
there. |
24 Feb: | When good
MD equipment goes bad: Shawn Lin analyzes the MD Optical Block Failure.
|
¶ |
Kevin Wood notes a Studio Sound review of the Denon DN-M1050R pro deck.
|
¶ |
Bull jots down the entire Sharp MD-MS701 EEPROM settings.
|
23 Feb: | Chris
Bledsoe has made a page devoted to live
recording with a Sharp MD-MS200.
|
¶ |
Minidisco
is now offering unfinished pine MD storage cases.
|
¶ |
Daniel Perup has a page devoted to the MZ-E30 he won in a Sony contest.
|
¶ |
Steve Higgs reports that Montgomery
Ward's is selling the Sony MDS-JE510 for $200 through the end of
February.
|
¶ |
Michael Buchner points out Lytron's high tech battery charging system for
getting extra life from NiCad, NiMH, LiIon, and Pb cells.
|
21 Feb: | MiniDisc Now has
given their web pages a fresh new layout and offers TDK MD-XG blanks
at $38 a 10 pack, shipping included.
|
¶ |
Garret Word spots a mini-blurb for the Denon DMD1300 at E-town.
|
¶ |
Daryl O. points out an
MD screensaver for Windows95 at Sony Music Europe. |
19 Feb: | Andy Fox
passes along news that at all official Sony stores in the UK you can
purchase a combined package of the MDS-JE510 home unit and MDX-C670RDS
in car unit for 400 UK pounds until the end of February.
|
¶ |
Tom Kroh
contributes comments on the Aiwa
XR-H3MD system.
|
¶ |
Michael Hoffman has made a page
concerning ear-bud style headphones.
|
18 Feb: | Michael
Goolsby is offering an audio test and calibration MD and CD.
|
15 Feb: | Lawrence
Borden extolls the remarkable fidelity of an MD
portable and binuaral mics.
|
¶ |
Matt Sephton's added a Sony DHC-MD515 page to his MD
site.
|
14 Feb: | Saehan
(in Korea) is about to release MP Man, a
portable MP3 player offering 16 minutes (upgradable to 64 minutes) of
solid state audio playback. Price is rumored to be around $300.
|
¶ |
Jamshid points out similar developments at Audible Inc. where
they offer two hours of solid state voice playback on a $200 handheld
device.
|
¶ |
Steve Berube discovers a droopy article by
Stereophile on Sony's MD relaunch that brings replies from Jon Deutsch and Reg Smith.
|
¶ |
Michael Hoffman finds a brief
MD intro from The Good Guys.
|
13 Feb: | Cameron
Croft kindly provides comments on the Sony MDX-C7900 Car MD Player.
|
¶ |
Rob Behm notes that Crutchfield's Tip of the Week is devoted to analog vs. digital
recording to MiniDisc. |
11 Feb: | Dostick
makes a review of the Sharp MD-R2 deck.
|
¶ |
Martin
Lazak kindly touches up the machine translation of the German technical article on MD.
|
10 Feb: | Mitch
Gitman has written a
MiniDisc article in the Arizona Daily Star discussing MD's
reemergence.
|
¶ | D. M. Clarke has completed the missing page sections from
the MZ-R30 service manual.
|
8 Feb: | Daryl O.
points out a PR Newswire clip about Sony's MD marketing launch, and a RealVideo clip of
one of Sony's MD TV commercials. |
7 Feb: | Anthony
Vita has a MiniDisc Trading Post for those who want to swap
MDs.
|
¶ |
The Sound
Professionals' inline Microphone level control allows Sony MD users
to adjust recording levels without stopping (photo).
|
6 Feb: | DAITEI
pushes blank prices to US$3.50 (for
orders of 30 or more), shipping included. They now also accept bank
drafts in US$ or JPY.
|
¶ |
The Sound Professionals offers a useful binaural
microphone comparison chart.
|
5 Feb: | Martin
Frischherz compares the Yamaha MD4 and MD8
multitrackers. |
4 Feb: | Eric
Whitney types up a superlative, fully
html-ified MZ-R50 user manual.
|
¶ |
Zak mails
in an interesting interview from T3
magazine in which Sony and Philips PR folks discuss where they
think audio formats are headed.
|
¶ |
Tugrul notes JVC's Japanese MD
pages, with info and photos covering their current MD units.
|
¶ |
Sawada Denki now offers Sony MD
blanks in quantity, with no accompanying order for a unit.
|
3 Feb: | Ron
Luyster points out a Wired Business article about cheaper
audio CD recorders, but pricier CD blanks.
|
¶ |
Derek Streeter has a nice page describing his assembly of the Elektor SCMS stripper.
|
2 Feb: | Tugrul
comes through with a Philadelphia Inquirer MD article claiming MiniDisc is a technical advance that's been
ignored. |
1 Feb: | How Bowers
finds Sony's new
English MD pages with a few details on the MDX-C7900
car MD unit.
|
¶ |
Tugrul
Tanyol has conducted a comparison of the
Sony MZ-E35 and Sharp ST501 portable MD players.
|
¶ |
Nic Boyde adds Norwegian Kroner to his long list of payment
options.
|
31 Jan: | Denis
Dubuisson kindly contributes instructions for a do it yourself
optical miniplug.
|
¶ |
Nicholas Loscalzo finds yet another blurb about Sony's coming MD push, this one though holds to the
old misconception that MD is intended to replace CD.
|
¶ |
Tugrul Tanyol scans several French adverts for the Aiwa H3 and H6, M30 and
MD50, and H80 bookshelf MD systems.
|
¶ |
Tugrul also submits a super, 40 page scan of the Sony MDS-JA50ES user operation
manual.
|
¶ |
Arnau Tornos locates Pioneer's
Japanese announcement and photos of their PMD-P3 MD player (a Sharp
ST501 clone). The PMD-RMX1 variant comes with fancy ``DJ''
headphones.
|
¶ |
Derek Fong contributes his comments
on the purchase of a Kenwood 1050MD deck.
|
¶ |
Mark Corner has sussed out the Kenwood 1050 I/R remote codes, should
you need them.
|
¶ |
A reader has kindly made a comparison chart for modern
portable MD players.
|
¶ |
Shawn Lin has a FAQ sheet on MD
recording and Digital
recording.
|
30 Jan: | A
November article from Time Magazine about A New World at Sony comments on how Idei is adapting
Sony to the networked, digital era.
|
¶ |
Daryl finds a PR Newswire article about Sony's new packaging and
pricing for MD blanks.
|
¶ |
Mark Corner spots a shot of the Case Logic 24 MD
wallet.
|
¶ |
Peter Neff notes a further rumor
of next-generation PlayStations with an MD slot from GameSpot
News.
|
29 Jan: | Hardeep
points out TDK's Japanese press
release for their XA-PRO blanks that includes extensive charts and
graphs, according to which they've improved the MO signal's carrier to
noise ratio to >46.5dB (vs. >46dB for the XA blanks) and the
signal jitter to <35ns (vs. <40ns). Block error rate for both
are identical though. He also finds a press release for TDK's MJ
Color blanks.
|
¶ |
Ralf Kuchenhart comes across a detailed German page on
MiniDisc technology (There's also a version after Systran's machine translation into English, anybody
offering to clean this up even a little would be welcomed).
|
¶ |
A friend points out TDK's Japanese announcement
of their PCMCIA digital music card, for coupling PCs to MD units.
|
28 Jan: | Peter
Ravn spots a Nikkei English
News clip saying that Sharp plans to halve their time to market
for MD portable players.
|
¶ |
Dostick kindly contributes a shiny new logo for our page.
|
¶ |
A friend finds a Sony teaser for
their impending MD kickoff.
|
¶ |
Zak notes a Nikkei News clip indicating that TDK
will begin selling a pro-use MD blank.
|
26 Jan: | Nic Boyde
shows snapshots of the Sharp
MD-ST601 and Onkyo MD-P10 [Sharp
MD-ST501 clone] portables.
|
¶ |
Zak points out Sony's ``Million
Dollar Shot'' MiniDisc promo.
|
25
Jan: | Matthew Brock contributes a
page comparing the Sony MZ-R50 and Sharp MD-MS701. |
23 Jan: | Huy
points out a Popular Mechanics article musing about why MD is
popular in Japan but not in the US. |
21 Jan: | Katie
DeYoung finds a few outré MD comments in a Wired Magazine Hype List (making the
list apparently self referential). |
20 Jan: | Derek
Streeter (and others) learn how to
disable SCMS on a Sony MZ-R50.
|
¶ |
Mars
Plastic of Borg (who?) sends in some closeup photos of the Aiwa XR-H3MD
bookshelf system.
|
¶ |
Daryl O. finds an LA
Times article about the impending MD marketing torrent.
|
18 Jan: | Kenwood
announces the DMC-J3
portable (English summary).
|
¶ |
Michael
Goolsby's MD Page has a
review of the Sharp MD-X5
bookshelf system.
|
¶ |
Emils Rode and Tolga Yaveroglu have written an interesting Analysis
of Recorded Music Markets that discusses the future of
pre-recorded music markets and delivery methods.
|
16 Jan: | Hardeep
snoops some new items at KNG: the Casio MDH-1 MD
recorder/CD player/AM/FM boombox-ette, the Aiwa CSD-M1
MD/Cassette recorder/CD player/AM/FM boombox, and several good
prices on MD equipment (but for Japanese domestic sales
only). Hardeep also finds several press releases from WCES: JVC
touting their FS-MD9000
Executive Desk Stereo, XU-301BK
3CD-to-MD recorder, and KD-MX3000 car
CD/MD player (it accepts either MDs or CDs in the same slot), and
Aiwa announcing their XR-H66MD
bookshelf system that incorporates a 5MD changer.
|
15 Jan: | Klemens
Ullmann sends in a scan of a Sony MD Mystery
Portable from 1992. Arzeno Fabrice finds another photo of this
unit on Matsuoka's Japanese MD History Page
where it's labelled a display prototype that was probably empty
inside.
|
¶ |
Hue Beavers submits an article by Frank
Beacham discussing the use of the MZ-R30 and MZ-B3 portables in radio
journalism.
|
14 Jan: | Greg
Malinowski notes that Hilton Audio
Products sells a specially modified
variable speed MZ-R30.
|
¶ |
Hardeep comes across the latest Sharp equipment: a picture
of their MD-R3
(MD/3CD deck) and a picture
and Japanese press
release for their MD-ST601 portable player (at 20.2mm thick and
155g, it's slightly thicker and heavier than the MD-ST501, but
has the same specs otherwise).
|
¶ |
Garrett Word finds a ABC
News story about MiniDisc at WCES.
|
¶ |
Jason Simpson passes along a Philadelphia Inquirer article about the RIAA,
bootlegging, and the 'net.
|
12 Jan: | Alex
Lorbeer spots an announcement that
Liquid Audio is showcasing a prototype system
for the Sharp MD-X8 at Winter CES. |
9 Jan: | Martin
Frischherz discovers a hidden
Yamaha MD-8 page with more information about the unit. |
8 Jan: | Caleb Chan
(and others) find an announcement of Sony's
impending MD marketing blitz, in which is mentioned the new
MDS-JE520 and MDS-JB920 MD decks along with several other units new to
the US market.
|
¶ | Nic Boyde's page has moved to http://www.boyde.gol.com/MDpage.html,
please update your bookmarks.
|
7 Jan: | Chris
Eastman and Rob Behm bring news of a report in Electronic Gaming
Monthly that Sony may equip the new
Playstation 64 with a High Density MD.
|
¶ |
Nick Perry has kindly restarted the MD Mailing list archive site. |
1 Jan: | Happy
New Year! Peace on Earth and Goodwill towards Others (especially those
closest to us!). |