Cool things people are doing with MiniDiscs

• Music, Art and Entertainment
  • Marillion is a band that uses Minidisc extensively in their work (see 2nd section ``How does it work?'').
  • An interview with Martin Stephenson, who has released a CD recorded entirely with a Sony MZ-R70.
  • Dave LaDelfa has made limited edition disc of experimental music using an "orchestra of eight MZ-R50s looping specially prepared discs in shuffle-play mode".
  • Ted Rees discusses MD use in performance art.
  • Square Dance callers find the MD format provides an easy way to have unlimited length patter tunes.
• Public Address
  • Chris Stanley encounters MD based audio tours at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology.
  • A page devoted to the USAF Thunderbirds theme music that is played during airshows; in it the Minidisc equipment they use is mentioned. (Gonzalo Duque).
  • Simon Mackay recommends MiniDisc for bus and boat tours.
• Radio
  • Ed Cole reports his success using Minidisc at a radio station.
  • Some members of the UK Radio mailing list recently commented on the use of MD in radio broadcasting.
  • Allen Scofield describes his use of MD for radio voice-over work.
• Field Recording
  • Trent Nelson (chief photographer of the Salt Lake Tribune) has put together several multimedia slideshows that use audio recorded in the field with a Sony MZ-R90.
  • John Smith details the use of Minidisc equipment for ethnographic recording of Scots and Gaelic.
  • Ken Wheeler finds mention of MiniDisc use in recording ghosts' voices.
  • Aaron Thieme has created interesting auditory collages from MD field recordings he made during travels in Vietnam.
  • Doug Von Gausig has made an interesting page of field recordings using his MZ-R30
  • A blind person interviewed on Norwegian radio uses MiniDisc as an audio ``camera'' when traveling.
• Education
  • Richard Reid tells about using MiniDisc in college.
  • Lawrence Borden extolls the remarkable fidelity of an MD portable and binuaral mics used for teaching music.
  • Eikaiwa Visa has information about the use of MiniDisc in the classroom.
• Science and Technology
  • A Wired report notes the New York Times has placed a Minidisc player in a time capsule, to be opened in the year 3000 (search within the article for "mini disc").
  • NASA is using two portable MD recorders in their Ground-Based Sensors for the SR-71 Sonic Boom Propagation Experiment.
  • Robby uses MiniDisc to record polar orbiting weather satellites.
  • An IASA bulletin has good hard coverage of MD as it applies to the archivist (search for "MiniDisc" after the page is fully loaded).
  • Reg Smith uses MiniDisc equipment as an aid in restoring Antique Music Boxes.
• Medicine
  • The University of Wisconsin uses Minidisc in their Communicative Disorders Clinic.
  • Dr. Tuna describes how Minidisc was used to create a gallery of heart sounds that includes the sounds of mechanical heart valves.
• Format Conversion
  • Tim Stockman says a few words about recording vinyl LPs to MD.
  • Paul Collins describes his efforts to transfer over 8,000 titles of ethnic dance music from various audio formats to MiniDisc. Included on the page are reader feedback comments.

MiniDisc Tales

Several readers have written with techniques for jogging with an MD portable. There are interesting stories of:

• Torture testing MDs in ovens and boiling water, among other things. (German)
• Leaving MDs in a hot car in the sun.
• A 120Kph torture test for MDs .
• Wash and wear MDs.
• Blank MDs with more than 74 minutes 59 seconds free space.
• A fellow who feels the only thing needed to break the MiniDisc revolution loose is a few well placed hammer blows.
• The Russian MD scene.
• Folks who have had experiences with MDs accidentally being drowned in champagne or wine.
• A person who says he can hear Sharp ATRAC artifacts.
• Ancient MiniDiscs.
• BBC's Emergency MiniDiscs
• Old MD blanks in which pin-prick size holes have appeared.
• The error of showing MD to your kids.
• an entire MiniDisc collection surviving a flood, 97% intact.
• Accidents
  • Eddie tells a bone jarring tale of MD's skip resistance.
  • John Rose has a story about snowboarding with MD gear.
  • Lawrence Brown tells the story of how his MD player survived a car crash.
  • Jared Carey and others found that Minidisc allowed them to enjoy skip-free music while totalling their cars.
  • Guido Gabriele explains how his MD portable survived being dropped from a balcony.
  • And there are further shocking tales ...

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