I have been thinking for the past few days about what is right about MD and what is
wrong; this thread prompted these
observations. Sony basically did a very good job designing the basics of the format,
given the technology at the time it was
developed. Here's what I think is "right" about MD:
1) It's small and convenient. The media is appropriately protected in a shell with a
shutter.
2) The MD standard was designed to support both pre-recorded (via injection molding
ala CD) and recordable. These two
sub-formats are quite different, and MD is the first audio format to support both
without compromise.
3) MD recorders now routinely support sophisticated DSP (sample-rate-conversion, level
control, etc) which makes digital
recording almost as easy as analog. (I can assure you that in the early days of
digital audio, these types of things required
very expensive outboard processing equipment!)
4) MD exploits the random access features of the disc (editing, using non-contiguous
blank areas) while also providing
anti-shock memory. A very elegant design!
5) MD has had titling the start; it's an add-on to CDs and FM radio that is far from
universally available in either software or
hardware.
6) Easily supports many uses. Home decks, portable player, portable recorders, car
players and even recorders, changers,
etc. The cassette is about the only other popular media that was anywhere near as
universal. (I only remember seeing a
couple cassette changers, they never became popular...)
What I think is "wrong":
1) The biggest problem: Abysmal marketing. They have really dropped the ball. The
average person (in the US, anyway)
doesn't know it exists.
2) Very limited availability of pre-recorded MDs. Since Best Buy stopped selling
them, I've seen them in no record stores
(I'm talking big chains, Tower Records, The Wall, HMV; I haven't been to the Virgin
Megastore lately, so I can't speak for
them). Only a few titles are available by mail. Even pre-recorded casettes are still
available in just about all stores. One
lesson learned from cassettes is that, to survive as a format, pre-recorded MDs will
have to be widely available.
3) Early ATRAC algorithms got bad reviews. Although things have improved dramatically
with ATRAC 4.5 and "R" in the
vast majority of units at this point, the early incarnations tarnished ATRACs image to
the point that the negative perception
is still lurking, probably more than modern ATRAC deserves.
4) MD still bears the legacy of the legal era in which it was born. SCMS is probably
the lesser of the legal-induced hassles.
The largest is that, for legal reasons, MD manufacturers have had to classify each
piece of equipment as either an audio
device or a computer peripheral. This has severely impacted the development of a good
computer interface to MD. (The
MDH-10, the only product to even come close, actually had a switch on the side of the
case; it could be either an audio
player or a data drive but not both simultaneously!)
5) Recording (at 1X speed) and titling audio discs requires quite a bit of manual
effort, since it cannot be done easily by
computer.
6) Many MD users (including me) still try to integrate their MD with a PC, but the
current situation exploits the
*weaknesses* of Windows and the interface, rather than the strengths of MD. (That is,
even though both Windows and MD
handle data in an inherently "bursty" manner; current MD requires an absolutely
continuous S/PDIF data stream; Windows
has a hard time doing this. Also, titling via PC is has suffered from a lack of
software documentation and hardware
availability.)
As can be seen, my opinion is that technically, MD is almost the perfect medium. All
of its biggest problems are caused by
non-technical reasons. I just hope it doesn't carry these problems to the grave!
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