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Well, I have to say that my own anecdotal evidence from the UK is
rather different. In the UK, the minidisc scene seems to have exploded
in the last year. I see almost as many people with personal minidisc
units as cassette walkmans now. Everyone seems to be buying them.
Additionally, if you go into any branch of Dixons (the dominant high
street electronics retailer in the UK) its difficult to find a hi-fi
system *without* an integrated minidisc. And in contrast to the US,
I've only ever *seen* ONE person actually using a personal MP3 player,
and I certainly don't know anyone who owns one.
Can anyone else back me up on this (perhaps with some industry
figures?)
That said, I think in the long term, Minidisc is doomed. As soon as
someone comes up with a personal MP3 player with integrated IBM
Microdrive, I think MP3 will have found its 'killer player'. Afterall,
it'll be *tiny* with massive capacity. In fact, does anyone know this
hasn't happened already? (And please nobody point out that you *can*
slot a Microdrive into some PDAs, and then use it to play MP3s. Thats
clearly not what I meant)
Robin.
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Hi everyone!
One key factor that MD has about it is that there are _portable_ recorders
that hook into sound systems and make stereo recordings on the discs. Also,
the bookshelf systems and MD decks are able to record material on the discs
from any source without tying up a computer for the job. Most PCs need to be
dedicated to the task of recording audio or they will make a poor job of it.
MD is the only "non-computer" consumer-grade digital audio format that
permits non-linear editing. From my experience with a Sony JE520 that I have
regular access to and a secondhand Sony MD Walkman that I bought, I find it
fun to work with -- "chiselling off" silent gaps at the start and end of
recordings in order to achieve smooth joins between tracks even when my Sony
MD Walkman is in Shuffle-Play mode, positioning appended tracks in my
preferred position on the MD and joining tracks together for an interesting
mix. I also make "relevance notes" about favourite songs when titling them
so I know where they fitted in to my life.
With regards,
Simon Mackay
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