I’m sure this has been treated before, but please help me understand the comparative advantages of each.
Does the sound from MP3 recordings favorably compare with CD sound?
I’ve heard some folks suggest buying a mini-disc player instead of a MP3 or CD player. Why?
Any other shopping hints you can give would be appreciated.
I would be surprised if it hasn’t but my frazzled brain isn’t providing the ‘search’ function with the right keywords to bring it up at the moment so…
Try: http://www.minidisc.org/
This is fairly comprehensive site about the MiniDisc: technical data, comparisons to other technology, etc. Also has links to places that sell MiniDisc related stuff. They explain it much better than I could.
One of the things that MD players have over CD/MP3 players: the disc is protected by the case (like how a floppy disk is protected by its case). Also, the players are smaller (not much larger than the MD itself, and thick enough to hold the battery). I have no problems slipping my player into my pocket. I don’t remember how the battery life compares: should be mentioned on the site I put up above.
(IHMO stuff: If you can, see if you can fiddle around with a MD player before you buy it, even better if you can listen to how a MD sounds so you can compare it to a CD. Doesn’t matter if one is ‘better’ than the other technology wise, if you don’t like the feel of the players.)
<< Mu. >>
Favorably, but both MP3 and MiniDisc are lossy formats, relative to CD audio, which means simply that they are compressed in such a way that some of the information is lost. The compression algorithms are specially designed to lose mostly very high frequency and very low frequency, plus some dynamics, so that they are not that noticable… however, if you listen to an original CD audio recording at the same time as a compressed recording, I guarantee that you can hear the difference. Nevertheless, most people find the quality-to-compression ratio a pretty good trade-off.
For the record, CD Audio is also a lossy recording format… relative to real life. Life is full of compromises.
I have a MiniDisc player, but I listen to MP3s all the time. The great thing about MP3s is that you can put them on a CD ROM and play them in your computer. Great for taking on trips where you don’t want to drag a bunch of CDs around with you. Also, my DVD player will play MP3s on a CD-ROM, which works out rather nicely when played through my AV amp at parties. My MiniDisc player is a player/recorder so I can easily transfer MP3s to MiniDisc.
I have a MiniDisc player/recorder because it lets me do a few important things (to me) that an MP3 player won’t do.
(1) I can record backing tracks with my guitar, then play them back while I work out the leads.
(2) I can use it as a voice recorder (with external mic) for meetings and remembering that little tune that’s rattling around in my head until I can get home to my guitar.
Also, another MiniDisc advantage is that I can record a lot of songs on one MiniDisc… then record a bunch more on another MiniDisc… etc. When I’m done listening to one disc I just pop in another and I’m ready to go in secons. No lengthy downloads, no expensive memory sticks, and I have that particular compilation until I chose to erase it!
I never use my portable MP3 player anymore, but I still listen to MP3s all the time.
Bear in mind that MP3s can be made at different bitrates. An MP3 created at 64 kbps will sound horrible and muffled, while one created at 256 kbps is arguably indistinguisable from the original CD recording to the average listener. The most common bitrates at the moment are 128 and 192; 128 has noticably inferior sound, but 192 sounds OK to me.
I have a CD burner and an MP3 player that plays recordable CDs. That means I can put ten hours of MP3 music on one CD, which is great for listening at work. Battery life is terrible, though, so it’s not really suitable for portable listening if you’re doing more than a short commute.
How terrible is terrible? Batteries (two AAs) in my RioVolt MP3 CD player last at least 6 hours - 11 according to the catalogue, I think.
As mentioned already, the major advantage of MD (mini-disc) is that you don’t need a PC and a CD-R drive to record them. You can use it like a tape recorder. But an MD disc only holds about 80 minutes of audio. There is a new format that allows 320 minutes using higher compression, but you can do that on a CD-ROM as well (i.e. use higher compression to cram more music on the disc).
I look at MD like a cassette version of CD. It’s portable, the media is removable and re-recordable, you can do lots of things with it - stereo recording with a portable the size of a deck of cards, have a regular stereo system component, 4 or 8 track recording for musicians - and you’re not tethered to a hard drive. It’s actually like a mini zip drive (it’s magneto-optical though).
It sounds great compared to a cassette, but not quite up to CD standards (although extremely close). If portable recording or multitracking isn’t a big issue the other formats might be more appropriate. I haven’t really explored the MP3 technologies outside of downloading tunes. If the utmost in sound quality is most important CD is the only way to go.
No. It’s noticibly ‘fuzzier’. It also depends the compression rates used when the MP3 was created. I suppose you could get an MP3 that sounded as good as a CD, but in that case it would be the same size data-wise, so hardly worth doing.
Smaller, recordable, holds more per disk, not dependant on a PC, almost as good sound quality. I usually use my MD with x2 compression, giving 160 minutes per disc. At this rate of compression you can tell it’s not as good as a CD, but it’s better than an MP3 and perfectly reasonable for sounds on the move. Easily better and more compact that audio tape. I can go up to x4, but that’s only good for speech and the compression is very noticable.