Old MiniDisc Page News 1999

Past News: Recent, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997, 1996.

What's Old?

12/31:Pyo points out Martin's snapshots of CEBIT '99.
12/29:Richard Reid suggests using MiniDisc to archive family recordings.
Tony Wang contributes a helpful Panasonic SJ-MJ75 player review.
Justin Ramell explores the Sharp MD-MT16 service mode and finds an interesting optical input monitor function.
Chris Gerrist kindly sends in a JVC XM-R70 manual (pdf format).
Pyo spots a box shot of the Sony Memory Stick walkman, available on store shelves in Japan (note optional ~$200/hour memory card beside it).
12/26:Pierre spots the first CD/MD receiver, from Onkyo.
Thomas James notes word (and photos) of Minidisc.com's stylish, upcoming MD retail shop in London, slated to be carrying the entire line of pre-recorded MD titles available in Europe.
12/22:The Korean MiniDisc page posts several Sharp MD-ST531 snapshots.
12/21:Matthew Hunt finds the Sanyo MDR-4 in-dash AM/FM/MD reciever for $70 at the Wal-Mart in LaVale, MD (we'd be happy to get confirmation from readers of the price and availability at other Wal-Marts). [A few readers have now confirmed finding it at stores in Paso Robles CA, Conway AR, and Longview TX, metro Atlanta GA, Pensacola FL]
MiniDisc Switzerland has MiniDisc Winamp Skins to make the player look like a Sony MZ-R30 or Pioneer unit.
The Korean MD page has several snapshots of the Kenwood DMC-L7R (Sharp MD-MT831 clone).
12/20:Jim Van Donsel notes that Wired News recommends the Sony MXD-D3 CD/MD deck among the gifts Santa never thought of (under ``cut the tape'', about halfway down the page).
The little company that could dept: Minidisco offers their own little robot blanks(!).
12/19:Ian McFarlane and Marc Kieley find news that the Candian Copyright Board has imposed a 60 cent tax on every MD blank sold in Canada. Thomas James finds further word on this in the National Post, and the Globe and Mail.
12/18:David Boulet recently contributed a thorough review of the Sony MDS-JB930.
Smalldisc.com opens shop, specializing in Minidisc gear for musicians and composers.
Oade Brothers Audio offers a variety of microphones, including some excellent for stealth work.
The Sound Professionals points out a clear and comprehensive description of how microphones work.
Robert Berardino spots Sony's Memory Stick Walkman page, the unit supports ATRAC3 and MP3.
12/17:We're collecting signals that trip up ATRAC, have you got a contribution?
Tascam has upgraded their two professional MD decks to ATRAC 4.5 and offers pdf manuals for the MD-301mkII and MD-801RmkII units.
Peter Westt spots the Terrac MP3 HiFi component, it plays MP3 CDs as well as normal ones and can be fitted with a hard drive for amassing huge music collections.
Top (Tower Records Magazine UK) wrote enthusiastically about Pre-recorded MD in an article last year.
Weibel HiFi in Switzerland offers a selection of MD gear.
The Robb Report wrote briefly about Minidisc's Revival back in Feb '98.
12/15:Graham Baker points out a positive viewpoint towards Sony's MiniDisc Camcorder in Adobe Premier World.
In a May press release from Sony's European Business Products Group they mention that the MiniDisc market is expected to exceed 20 million units worldwide in the year 2001.
12/13:William Hollingworth has updated his MiniDisc Manager freeware (for Sony decks with S-Link ports) to allow automated recording and track titling of MP3 and CD tracks through an interface with Nirvis' CDJ Music Library software.
12/11:Several readers point out Memorex blanks for $1.50 at Circuit City (search on "memtek").
12/10:Christopher Vallo kindly sends along further info and a brief review of the Casio XG-3 player.
Alexey Lavrovsky shows how to connect a Soundblaster Live to MiniDisc for 250 Rubles or less.
Japanese retailer Mydo now carries Sony equipment.
12/9:Christopher Vallo spots the Casio XG-3 MD player at Circuit City (search for "casio xg3").
12/8:A reader points out detailed English information covering the Digicube MD Kiosk trial, set to debut today at 40 locations in Japan.
A friend sends in a spy shot of a Sony 5 MD changer home deck, shown in mockup form at IFA in August.
Richard notes that Voquette offers a free Beta version download of their Internet music player (the software component of Sharp's Internet MiniDisc package).
12/7:Jake Hamby points out LAME, a open-source patch for creating a high quality MP3 encoder from the original reference code. Linked from there is a set of EBU SQAM recordings representing particularly difficult audio signals for perceptual coders (you can torture-test your MD with these).
Damian Norton kindly scans in the 90 page Alpine MDA 7755 user manual, featuring English, French, and Spanish sections.
Before ordering an Opcode Sonicport, Rob cautions you to read about Opcode's financial status.
12/6:Bill Jackson notes Kenneth Lee's instructions for making an optical I/O daughter board for an SBLive Value audio card, useful for passing digital audio between PC and MD.
Pyo Ilwoong (Korean MD page editor) points out photos, a Japanese press release and product page for the Toshiba MM-300 SmartMedia player. The SDMI compliant JPY29,800 unit plays MP3 as well as Twin-VQ formats. Specs: 86x52x10mm, 54g, 5.5hr battery life.
12/5:Yoon Dae-Hee points out the MiniDisc page for Saehan, a Korean blanks manufacturer that supplies Sony, Alpine, Aiwa, Clarion, JVC and Yamaha.
12/4:Tim Boswell's TradeCheck site is designed to foster MD trading and features a trader ratings database.
12/3:Gerald Tomyn aka Mike Rofone sends in a nicely scanned Sony MZ-R37 User Manual.
Keith Wilson spots an odd duck: the Amstrad MCR2500MD, a bookshelf system replete with 60 CD changer, qwerty keyboard, and dockable Sharp MD-MS701 portable recorder.
12/2:Bruno Guers points out the proMD1 professional audio adapter they have designed (and its insides), it is available from Marenius in Sweden (price?).
MiniDisc Switzerland offers DB generated top-10 lists (e.g. lightest, cheapest, etc.) of MD equipment.
Pyo Ilwoong finds Tagram's Mambo-X P300 portable MP3 CD/CD-RW player. Available in December, it also plays regular CDs and runs for 14 hours on two AA cells (price: $175 Thanks Thomas!).
12/1:Robert Berardino spots Sharp USA's Internet MiniDisc page, covering their hardware/software package for recording Internet audio to portables with analog synchro-start. He notes that it's available for $70 from Shopping.com.
Charles Snider creates an exemplary JVC XM-R70 page that includes the unit's user manual.
Mathew Caughron finds N2MP3 encoder documentation covering MP3 to MD recording on the Macintosh.
On January 1st Minimaniax will open shop and become the first German Internet MD retailer. You can sign up now to receive special offers.
Hussain Sekha gives tips for recording movie soundtracks to MD.
11/30:Peter Ravn points out a press release for C-3D, a company boasting technology for storing 140GB on a CD-size carrier, using multiple storage layers.
Charles Snider submits a helpful article on MD shopping in Hong Kong.
Garth Colasurdo spots Opcode's SONICport Optical, a USB to TOSlink I/O interface.
The T-Station updates its MD-Blanks gallery.
11/27:Kenneth Barsocchini points out Sony USA's MD Discam page.
Steven Winters suggests using MiniDisc to record videogame sounds.
Steffen Hung has freshened up his MiniDisc Switzerland site.
Michael Petnuch offers a review of Hyperjack, a Japanese MD retailer.
Hammond Music Entertainment in Australia sells pre-recorded MDs.
11/26:David Cohen describes his success using MiniDisc for theatre special effects.
Heber Acquafreda has a freeware program for making song compilations and optimizing media usage.
MD-like video: Ary Marcoschamer points out Pioneer's announcement of the first home DVD recorder, bringing MD-like editing features to video recordings. (Does it have an audio-only mode?).
11/25:Peter Ravn notes a German page for the Sanyo MDG-P3 player.
11/23:Mike Ward contributes an interesting article about MiniDisc use in radio news reporting.
11/22:Thomas James and Darrin report that Minidisc-Canada is now online, supplying portables, blanks and accessories to the North American market.
Spencer Pablo has some snapshots from Comdex that include MD offerings from Sony and Sharp.
Jason Livingston points out Leon Kuo's favorable Panasonic SJ-MJ75 review.
Daryl Fletcher notes that Borders Books sells MDs online.
11/19:Mark Canada describes how he uses MiniDiscs for enjoying movie soundtracks.
Calum Tsang submits a review of the Zoltrix sound card, a inexpensive board with S/PDIF coax output.
Peter Ravn notes Morten's page for making a recording volume control, useful even if your portable already has an online-adjustable recording level.
Mikhail Grigoriev kindly points out Sony's Tourist (English) pages for their MZ-R90, MZ-R91, MZ-E90, MZ-E75, and DHC-MD373 units, as well as the D-E01 and D-E990 CD-TEXT compatible CD-players.
The T-Station gets the skinny on Aiwa's XR-MDS7 bookshelf system and JVC's RC-MD33 ``skeleton'' boombox.
11/18:Ken Wheeler finds mention of MiniDisc use in recording ghosts' voices.
Tom Chmielinski contributes a nice Sony MZ-E90 review, saying the unit's nearly too tiny!
Zachary St. Martin notes Etown coverage of Sharp's Internet MD Kit, a $250 package that bundles their MD-MT15 recorder with Voquette's NetLink software.
James Torsen spots an Anchorage Daily News article covering the slew of MP3 players at Comdex.
Jackerman in the UK sells MD blanks, with good prices on their Samsungs.
11/16:Drew Hilling notes a brief ZDNet article about Sharp's Internet MiniDisc package launched at Comdex.
11/15:Valery Tsyplenkov finds that Sony has joined the MP3 crowd, releasing MusicClip, a solid state MP3/ATRAC3 player.
A group of students at Oklahoma State University are running a MiniDisc Questionnaire aimed at analyzing the success of the MiniDisc format.
Jerremy Holland points out the page for Kenwood's MD1050 deck.
11/14: Michael Petnuch writes a Sony MZ-E90 review.
KVE finds a blurb about Sharp's MP3 to MD solution.
Nicolas Stizza comes across Sony's MDX-C5970 page, said to be nearly the same unit as last year's MDX-C7900.
Ian McFarlane writes an MZ-R90 review.
Fabian has made an MD Fan page.
11/13:Mo Jaquith finds the Sony MZ-E25 for $100 at Costco (membership not required).
11/12:Mark Derricutt points out the Compaq/HanGo Personal Jukebox, a hard disk based portable MP3 player with 80 hour music capacity and 10 hour battery life, due out in December for about $800. (MP3FactoryDirect has a few further details).
Last year Frank Beacham reviewed the MD-Report.
11/11:Matthew Shillaber notes an MD Discam mention in the Telegraph (UK).
Sverre Briseid finds Etown repents, declares Sharp MD-MT15 MD product of the year.
Peter Ravn spots: A & A music in the UK, selling pre-recorded MDs, Yalplay's note that Warner has just released a great deal of back catalog material on MD, and German MD equipment tests in the consumer magazine Test.
11/10:Emanuele has an Italian MD trading page.
11/9:Bryan Mo notes MD Discam coverage from ZDNet.
At the risk of becoming the MiniDisc Camcorder page, we note Bryan Hengels sighting of a Newsweek(!) blurb on Sony's DCM-M1.
11/5:Aaron points out MD retailers MiniDisc HK and Hat-In.
Paul Knight finds a slew of MD blank dealers in Europe: Brinkmann, Musik Produktiv, Music City, Music Store Professional, Reichelt Elektronik, and Conrad Electronic.
11/4:Hardeep finds more MD Discam doubts from Etown (is it keeping them awake at night or what?)
11/3:Joseph McLean spots a further MD Discam article, in TWICE.
Hardeep finds Etown right on top of things, dissing Sony's Discam within a day of its announcement (I find this oddly reassuring, given their clairvoyance with MD).
Marc Wielage has made a careful review of Sony's MZ-R90.
Ian McFarlane adds a review of Sharp's MD-MT831 PC-Link kit (using Japanese software minus the fonts(!)).
MiniDiscNow scans a Japanese Panasonic catalog that gives details of their MD-Network system. With it an MD portable, DVC camcorder, and label printer can be connected to make full color MD labels that include photos.
11/2:Hardeep spots a Newswire report of Sony's US introduction of the MD-Discam (with a huge photo). Available in January, unit will also record up to 260 minutes of audio.
MiniDisco has a 3-D Gallery of rotatable, zoomable, 3D pictures of popular MD portables and blanks.
Robert Nguyen has written a detailed Aiwa AM-F80 review.
Robert Lindemann notes Sony's Japanese MD portable products page, which Jonathan Schwartz pointed out has links to further photos of Sony's MZ-R90 and MZ-R91.
Ian McFarlane makes a review of Servired's leather MD cases.
11/1:MD Data2 arrives! Hardeep Bhogal spots a Japanese product page for the Sony DCM-M1 MD Discam, available Dec. 3. (Previously seen in prototype form).
We begin our own Email News Subscription Service, available in daily and weekly intervals.
10/31:Marc Wielage kindly scans the MZ-R90 user manual (pdf). Did you know track naming from CDs (aka ``Joint-Text'') requires a button push per track, during recording?
Patrik Hall points out photos and Japanese info for Kenwood's MDX-F3 AM/ FM/ CD/ MD/ Cass boombox featuring high speed CD->MD dubbing, microphone input, and AC or dry cell battery operation.
Ian McFarlane has made a review of the Aiwa AM-HX50 player.
10/30:Gen Li gives some advice about shopping for MD gear in NYC.
10/29:Japan-Direct posts clear snapshots of Aiwa's AM-F80.
10/28:Cellini and Youn spot seasonal naysaying about MP3's threat to MD at etown, mistaking their inherent synergy for competition.
The Korean MD page shows details and snapshots of Sharp's PC-Link kit for the MD-MT831.
Pyoilwoong sights a Japanese news release for Kenwood's DMC-L5 and DMC-L3 portables, (Sharp MD-ST531/631 variants?). L5: 22hr playback on NiMH (63hr together w/AAx1) 79.4x14.5x71.7mm, 96.4g, MSRP: JPY30,000, L3: AA shaped rechargeable allows normal AA cell to be used when NiMH quits.
Mikhail Grigoriev notes T-Station's coverage of Panasonic's SC-PM70MD [Japanese page] (5CD+5MD mini-system using 24 bit H.D.E.S [High Density Encoding System] ATRAC version, CD-TEXT to MD title dubbing and "MD Network" for connection to portable), SC-HD615MD [Japanese page] (5-CD and 5-MD 4 piece mini-system with slim speakers and "MD Network" for connection to portable), and SC-NS77MD [Japanese page] (5-CD, 1-MD, 1 Cassette (?) mini-system), Kenwood's Avino SG-7MD (1 CD, 1 MD, 1Cass. 24 bit Fine D.R.I.V.E CD decoder and 20 Rec D.R.I.V.E MD recorder) and VH-7MD (the latter most likely a Japanese version of their VH-800MD), Aiwa's XR-H770MD [English page] (3-CD, 5-MD, 1 cassette bookshelf system), and JVC's MX-S7WMD [Japanese page] (2-MD, 3-CD compact mini-system with 2X CD-MD dubbing speed). (Phew! Maybe etown's just got a feeling of sour grapes about MD's success in Japan?)
10/26: Stephen Shores kindly scans in the Sony MDS-JB920 user manual.
Mikhail Grigoriev finds several Japanese Kenwood pages for their Allora XT-7MD, Avino SG-7MD, and Avino VH-7MD systems.
Jason Smith notes the Marantz PMD650 pro-MD portable at Martel Electronics.
10/25:Robert Nguyen also contributes a detailed comparison of the Sony MZ-R90 and Sharp MD-MT831 portables.
Todd Lynch spots Sony's MDS-PC2 for sale at Crutchfield.
Matt Charman points out SureThing CD/MD labeling software.
10/21:Brian Youn has made an excellent, meticulously detailed comparison of the Sony MZ-R90 and Sharp MD-MT831 portables.
Jason Kwan spots a Japanese announcement for Sony's PC-AV computer, featuring an FM tuner, TV out, TOSLink optical in/out, IEEE1394 (i.LINK), USB, and integral MD drive.
Jeffrey Held's company Minimic will be making small microphones for portable MD use.
10/20:Pyoilwoong, Ravn and Lui spot the Japanese announcement for Sony's MZ-E95 MD player, it uses a newly developed low power LSI, ``laser coupler'' optical pickup, and built-in LiIon Polymer battery to provide 45(!) hour playback (77hr together w/AAx1). Features battery LED indicator, recharging stand, bass and treble controls (with two user presets), 84x75x19.5mm, 122g. (Korean MD page info).
Niels Linneberg describes a nice DIY microphone for MiniDisc.
Christo van Rensburg notes Yamaha's MDX-595 MD deck (seemingly almost identical in function and performance to their previous MDX-793).
10/19:Garth Colasurdo spots a CNN article stating Sony is licensing their Memory Stick and anticipates offering a 256MB unit by 2001.
10/18:Tommy finds a brief CNET review of the Sharp MD-MT15.
Jens Lungstad spots an MZ-R35 in an interview on a Norwegian Formula One page .
10/17:I offer some suggestions to MD Webmasters.
Lee has made a page about recording MP3 to MiniDisc.
Leon Out provides detailed coverage of Sharp's MD-MT821.
The Korean Minidisc Page editor spots the Czerny 744XG, a Korean soundcard with optical and coaxial digital audio I/O.
10/16:The T-Station reports on JVC's MX-S7WMD bookshelf system (with 2X CD/MD dubbing), and Panasonic's SJ-MJ35 portable player.
10/15:James Ward hacks his way into the Aiwa AM-F65 remote and reports his findings.
Ian McFarlane posts a review of the Sony MZ-E75 player.
Tim Stockman says a few words about recording vinyl LPs to MD.
Pieter Bison sends a (large) scan of the inexpensive (~US$136) Lenco MD-3760 portable player, another Kenwood DMC-J3 variant.
Zachary St. Martin finds Sharp's Japanese MD-MT831 PC Link page, with downloads and screen shots of the software available for PC and Zaurus platforms.
10/14:Huang Bao Lin spots further Japanese info and photos from Japan Electronics Show '99 covering Sony's MD DISCAM and the tiny Hitachi/Sanyo/Olympus iD Photo 730MB MO disc mechanism.
Max Basile snaps a shot of Sony's WX-C88REC (and a closeup), their (older) double DIN CD/MD in dash recording receiver.
10/13: James King points out Robert's detailed Sony MZ-R90 review.
Ipinge Agapitus notes Minidisc product listings on CNNfn's Power Shopper. The site provides direct links to suppliers of specific equipment.
10/12:Ronald Molier points out an audiophile oriented review of Sony's MDS-JA555ES in HIFI Choice (UK).
Peter Vos kindly submits scans of the Sony MXD-D3 user manual.
10/8:Kim S. Andreasen provides an interesting review of Sony's MDS-DRE1, discussing its application to square-dance calling.
Peter Ravn notes revealing articles at EmediaLive covering digital audio watermarking, CD audio extraction details, and the trials and tribulations of using Home CD recorders.
The Korean Minidisc Page has snapshots from the Korean Electronics Show showing Samsung's MD bookshelf system and the latest Yepp solid state players.
10/7:Jimmy Kim points out Sony's photo and Japanese announcement of their MDX-G77REC MD receiver, world's first single DIN in-dash MD recorder, featuring "jog-roller" control and 10 second time-machine recording. (As expected: Japanese FM band only).
The T-Station scoops us on a photo and Japanese announcement for Sony's MDS-JA555ES deck (ATRAC Type-R DSP and first MD deck with SNR and Dynamic Range of >108dB).
Aiwa has an English page for their CSD-MD70 boombox, the unit features a world-band FM tuner.
10/6:Robert and Lucien Wells point out the English page for Aiwa's AM-F80 portable recorder.
The Korean Minidisc Page editor spots Samsung's MAX 934MD, a CD/MD bookshelf system.
Minidisco has information on Sharp's MD-M3 bookshelf system, with 4x CD to MD dubbing.
10/5:YiuKuen Yuen and a friend spot a photo and Japanese announcement for the Aiwa AM-F80, featuring title input during recording, digital and analog synchro start, and backlit LCD on body and remote. Dim: 78.8 x 86.8 x 18.8mm, 163g, MSRP JPY37,800.
10/4:For those with equipment capable of TOC cloning, Peter Ravn describes several TOC tricks, including a way of defeating SCMS by faking an analog recording.
10/3:Spencer Pablo passes along the sad news that Sony's founder Akio Morita has died today. CNN carries a brief biography of Morita.
10/2:Japan-Direct finds the Sony MZ-R90 on sale in Japan and posts several snapshots of it.
We give a few further details on Sony's MD-Discam.
10/1:Adam Turner finds photos and Japanese information for JVC's ``Cute, Colorful, Skeleton! Fashionable teen's MD'' XM-PX3 player in pop candy colors. 18 hour NiMH battery life, 76x17.5x80.5mm, 74g w/o batt, MSRP: JPY28,000.
9/30:An MD enthusiast has created surprisingly complete comparison tables for modern portable MD recorders and players.
The T-station covers Panasonic's MD labeler (for their "MD Network" equipped gear). Kohn also points out Panasonic's Japanese page for the unit.
KVE notes the unusual Kenwood DMVH7 MD deck at 800.com. It can be placed horizontally or vertically and will self-orient its display. He also spots mention of Sony's recent MD announcements at eTown.
Todd Owyoung finds an Aiwa AM-F70 and Sharp MD-MT15 review at eTown.
9/29:Peter Ravn notes Ogormans in the UK, selling MD portables.
Paul Bigelow comes across Harmony Central's page for the Denon DN-M991R professional MD deck.
Tim Stockman finds Superfi in the UK selling the Sony MDS-PC2 deck.
A friend spots a [pdf] JVC brochure with photos for their MD portables (XM-R70, XM-PX5, etc).
9/27:Dave Willis points out a Newswire report covering Sony USA's announcement of their MZ-R90/E90, MXD-D3, PMC-MD55 (2x CD/MD bookshelf system) and SDMI compliant PC to MD audio link (a $50 hardware & software package that connects via USB or parallel port).
R.M.Morrien has started an Aiwa AM-HX55 page, with some good photos of the unit.
Clover Systems has good information on the CD (and hence MD) standard's error correction methods.
Patrik Hall notes Japanese info for Kenwood's DPX-9000MJ car MD receiver, double DIN size with 4 MD and 1 CD capacity.
9/24:Art Simon describes a stealth microphone that you can make from an old pair of headphones for $4.
9/23:Klaus Pellinka points out Sony's English announcement of their NW-MS7 Memory Stick Walkman.
Keith Lee spots a favorable Sound on Sound review of the Sony MDS-JE520 from a pro-audio perspective. Within it is reference to a good article on audio coding (data reduction) that even covers the binaural masking level difference phenomenon.
Klaus Pellinka notes a MacCentral Online comment that an ATRAC3 player for the Macintosh is lacking.
9/22:Aaron Satz forwards Leon's news of Panasonic's SJ-MJ75 portable player, at 61 grams (86g w/batt) it is the world's lightest, sporting 21 hours playback time on its rechargeable and 57 hours with an added AA cell. Allows title information to be copied from it when coupled to an "MD Network" equipped Panasonic MD deck.
Peter Ravn and a friend note the formal Japanese announcement of Sony's NW-MS7 Memory Stick Walkman and 32 & 64MB memory sticks (at JPY13,500 & JPY22,000 resp.) that go in it. The Walkman stores up to 120 minutes of ATRAC3 solid state audio, plays 4 hours on a charge, comes equipped with a USB port, and sells for MSRP JPY45,000. A Sony Memory Stick press release gives further information in Japanese.
The T-Station covers Pioneer's Mickey-Mouse Edition MD walkman.
Tim Chapel finds Japanese coverage of Sony's mockups of future Memory Stick Walkmans shown at IFA99, Berlin. He notes 1 2 3 4 good photos.
Remco Poelstra has made a site offering his 6 MD labels, with tools and templates for making and uploading your own.
9/21:A friend points out Japanese information and several good photos covering Sony's MD-Data2 DisCam, a prototype camcorder based upon the new 650MB MD. Reportedly close to production, the unit was demoed at IFA99 in Germany. Capacity is 20 minutes of MPEG video (10 minutes in high-quality mode).
Kevin McIntyre spots good coverage of the Sony MDX-C8970 Car MD receiver at Crutchfield.com.
9/20:Cevan Twilley spots word that Warner will release back-catalog material on MD (click "MiniDisc" after the page loads).
Dave Cruz kindly sends in further information on the Audiophase MDP-1 player, including a scan of its user manual.
Oscar Fowler sent us a clear scan (back in April!) of the Sony MDH-10 MD Data Drive operating instructions.
Ian Horsey illustrates the Sharp MD-MS701 disassembly procedure.
9/16:Peter Ravn finds photos and a Japanese announcement for Sony's ZS-M35 boombox, with "10 Key" titling (akin to alphanumeric entry on mobile phones), CD-Text transfer, World-band FM tuner(!), and available in 4 colors. AC power only.
Hue Beavers gives his comments on the Fisher PHMD-100 boombox.
Helge Böhme shows an improved, removable Sharp TOC-cloning clamp.
Ian McFarlane points out several MiniDisc equipment reviews at Erzone.net.
9/15:David Tamkin passes along Helge Böhme's TOC-cloning procedure for Sharp MD-MS701 units (and others?). All you need is some carefully placed adhesive tape.
Carl Tsai spots the Alpine MDA-7755 car MD unit.
9/14:Jason Kwan finds an English description of Sony's MD equipped VAIO.
Peter Ravn notes German MD coverage by the consumer review magazine ``TEST''. They give a table comparing several MD decks.
Diesel spots fsn.net, selling JVC blanks cheaply in the U.K.
Tom Fallows points out the Epinions.com MD pages, with a host of MD reviews and information.
Aaron Satz snoops out photos and a Japanese announcement for the Kenwood DMC-L7R, a Sharp MD-MT831 clone.
Bruce Mcmahan submits a detailed review of the Aiwa AM-F70.
Dave Bell has made a Aiwa AM-HX50 review.
Willy Nielsen scans a clear photo of the Sony MZ-R90, from a Danish brochure.
9/10:A friend kindly renders an English translation of JVC's XM-PX5 player announcement, currently the longest running (60 hours) and lightest (63 grams) player in the world (for one day, before Sony's Aug. 24 MZ-E90 announcement, it was also world's smallest).
9/9:Bryan Mo discovers Sony's ATRAC3 page featuring a downloadable player and song clips encoded at various bit rates (you can also register to get an encoder). ATRAC3, the audio coding for Sony's upcoming Memorystick Walkman, gives MD equivalent quality at 128kbps (cf. MD at 292kbps) and can be easily transcoded into standard ATRAC1.
Busy Peter Ravn finds: Sony Deutschland's MDS-JA555ES page, with photo; further technical info on the 730MB iD MO disc; Traxdata's 80 minute MD; and the German cybershop CarStereoCompionents, selling car audio, CD and MD equipment.
Adam Lindsay notes a 1394 (a.k.a Firwire) Trade Association documentation page containing the AV/C Disk Media Type Specification MD - audio (pdf) with many technical details about the MD-clip format.
Jesse McNew provides further information and a photo of the Audiophase MDP-1 player.
9/8:Damian Anzelmo finds a brief Sony Europe announcement for the MXD-D3 CD/MD 4X speed dubbing deck.
Katami spots a Japanese PC Watch article and photos for Tokyo's PC EXPO that covers Sony's VAIO prototype with built in audio MD drive. The drive connects through a control A1 port, audio I/O is via uncompressed S/PDIF.
Marco Rossen points out a good comparison of modern Sony decks at Video-Direct.
9/7:Dave Cruz scans a Best Buy flyer showing the Audiophase MDP1, an "off brand" MD player for $100.
Priit Varik finds an English press release for the Sony MDS-DL1 downloading MD deck, with firewire interface.
MDCity (Australia) offers MD equipment at competitive prices.
9/5:Ian Heitmans puts together a preliminary page for the Blaupunkt Dallas RMD 169 car MD deck.
Mini Disc Web (Hong Kong) and MinidiscDirect.net (Australia) open for business.
9/3:A friend kindly translates Sony's MZ-R90/R91/E90 announcement into English.
Aaron Satz finds photos and Japanese announcement for Sharp's MD-ST531/631 MD players as well as their index page for the units. Units feature docking station, world's longest battery life on rechargeable cell (27 hr), first MD players with kanji title display, dim: 71.7 x 14.2 x 79.5mm, 115g (w/batt).
Peter Ravn notes Sony's Walkman Anniversary Contest, tell an early Walkman story and win an MZ-R55.
Mark Miller points out a handy URL: Ebay's MD auctions.
9/1:Peter De Bonte notes that "9Alm@", a battery wholesaler (not line noise!), is offering MiniDisc LiION batteries.
8/31:Mike Gerber points out Sony Europe's MZ-R90 announcement, the unit is due out at the end of November in Germany.
Peter Ravn notes Sharp USA's MD-MT15 announcement that states they'll have the world's first MD portable recorder available for under $200.
Peter has also made a page describing how to clone a 74' disc into an 80' one.
Brian Beyer catches us napping, mentioning Sony's WX-C100REC and WX-C88REC (see also the Japanese announcement) double-DIN in-dash units with MD editing and CD/AM/FM recording capability, including 10 second time machine recording (sadly, Japanese FM band only).
J. Kirk mentions Midiman's CO3 format converter that translates digital audio between AES/EBU, S/PDIF coax, and TOSlink formats, as well as allowing you to set the SCMS bits to your liking. Yih-Chun Hu then finds it at Zzounds.com for US$170.
Bazza sketches out a PC link interface for an MZ-R55, he also offers a free winamp titling plug-in to go with it.
Mark Bausch points out a 200GB optical disc that Sharp and the Japanese Science and Technology Agency say is in the lab.
8/30:Mario Beichel spots a German article on the IFA (broadcast exhibition) covering Sony's demonstration of an MD Camcorder that uses MiniDisc2 to store 20 minutes of MPEG2 video on a 650MB disc. Recorder size is comparable to the small DV camcorders, but recording quality is closer to Hi8. Video can be played back on built-in LCD. Unit incorporates video editing functions similar to those available on audio MD equipment. (Laser wavelength: MD2: 650nm, cf. MD: 780nm).
8/26:Terje Lassen describes how to build an IR remote interface for a Sony MZ-R50.
Urs Naef introduces CompilationMaker, add-on software for CATraxx, a music library management package. He also describes how he makes MD covers.
8/25:Pototo plucks another porti: photos and Japanese info for the JVC XM-PX5, 21hr playback on NiMH (30 on AA, 55 on both), 71 x 14.4 x 78mm, 88g w/batt, 63g neat.
Chris Stanley encounters MD based audio tours at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology.
Robert has made a close and careful Sharp MD-MT831 review.
Peter Ravn points out Sanyo's announcement of the first SDMI-compliant, secure, portable digital music player based on Liquid Audio software and Texas Instruments digital signal processors.
8/24:Pototo Piperrak and Peter Ravn point out photos and Japanese information for the Sony MZ-R90, -R91, and -E90 portables. Units feature newly designed optical pickup (50% smaller and 43% lighter than previous model), new LSI, and ``one-touch'' disc eject. MZ-R90: world's smallest recorder (78.9 x 17.3 x 72mm, 105 g [148 g w/batt], MZ-R91: 78.9 x 18 x 72mm, 110 g [153 g w/batt]), both with 14.5hr record / 29hr playback time (NiMH+AA), ``jog lever'' for editing and titling, ``name bank'' function to store up to 600 characters of frequently used title and artist name information in the unit for easier titling, digital record level control, and a unique ``joint text'' recording function that copies audio and text data digitally from similarly equipped CD players (e.g. Sony D-E01). E90: world's smallest player (78.4 x 13.5 x 71.5mm, 70 g [113 g w/batt]), world's longest battery life (56hr playback [NiMH+AA]), magnesium alloy body.
8/23:Damian uncovers Sony's MXD-D3 at Crutchfield, a CD/MD deck featuring high speed (4X) dubbing of CD to MD.
Colin Deng spots a photo and Japanese info for Denon's DMD-S10, an audiophile class MD deck with 110dB SNR, 4 digital inputs (2 coax, 2 optical) and keyboard input terminal. MSRP: JPY230,000.
Dave Bell posts a review of the Sharp MD-X8 bookshelf system.
Graham Baker points out Sony headphones incorporating a memorystick player (scroll to the bottom of the page).
Peter Ravn finds Pricelick.com, selling MD portables, including the Sony MZ-R33 (apparent rebadged MZ-R30).
8/20:The MD Cave has conducted an interview with Minidisco, one of our sponsors.
8/19:Fung, Tsang, and Stenberg spot the Aiwa AM-HX55 MD player, sporting groovy colors, a 50 hour battery life (NiMH+AA) and 25 track program play mode.
Heiko Debschitz notes photos and German pages for Aiwa's AM-F65/70 series in silver, blue, green and champagne.
John Chrapowicki discovers on Pioneer UK's car audio page that any P-series MD player unit can control a DAB tuner. He also finds Panasonic's CQ-MRX777 in dash AM/FM/CD/MD page.
Pototo Piperrak points proudly to Sony's photos and Japanese announcement of the CMT-J3MD bookshelf MD system.
Starmount (UK) is now selling HiSpace 80 minute blanks, you can get 5p off any blank if you mention the MDCP.
8/18:Matthew Charman has made a page useful to folks recording MP3s on MD.
8/17: Simon Barker spots further word that Sony will begin selling audio over the Web by year's end.
Charlie Jones stumbles across a box of Yamaha manuals: ones for the MD8 and MD4s multitrackers, as well as a colorful MD8 brochure.
Ron LaPedis notes Sharp's World Wide repair center listing.
8/16:Aaron Satz finds Onkyo's photos and Japanese announcement of the MD-P30 portable player (thought to be a clone of the shortly available Sharp MD-MT531/631 units). Unit features 26 hr playback on LiIon battery (24 on AA, 50 on both), aluminum body, MD jacket size (79.5w x 14.2h x 71.7d mm, 115g w/bat).
Peter Ravn points out TechnikDirekt in Germany, selling a variety of MiniDisc equipment.
Pete Williams has made a small MD Trading Site.
8/13:Marco Rossen spots another MDS-JA20ES review, this one at Hifichoice.co.uk, where they have reviews of a dozen various MD recorders.
8/12:Mark Corner has made a Kenwood MD titling program that uses the $180 Slinke IR interface from Nirvus.
Steve Jess notes a generally positive Sony MDS-JA20ES review by Michael Fremer (Analog and LP advocate).
Scott Legg finds a CD/MD/DAT format comparison on Compare.net.
The T-Station has assembled several images of blank MDs.
8/11:Aaron Satz points out Sony's photos and Japanese announcement of the MZ-E75 MD player with ``one-touch eject'' (disc pops out with a single button push), dual headphone jacks, 8-step bass and treble controls (with two remembered settings) and 42 hour battery life (16 on NiMH alone).
Japan-Direct posts several clear snapshots of the Sharp MD-MT831.
Nigel Pond has made a detailed review of several digital format converters.
8/10:Andreas Fässler of Balzers Process Systems describes their Multi Sprinter inline sputtering system, capable of producing 1500 MiniDiscs per hour (twice their previous record). A product page shows photos of the unit.
8/6:Edward Neth points out Aiwa's photos and English page for their CSD-MD50 boombox.
Seamus Dunphy and James Cohen note a Sunday Times (UK) review of Panasonic's SJ-MJ70 MD player.
Hynek Syrovatka has made EasyTitle Version 2, an adapter for Sony deck titling on a PS/2 keyboard. This version sports several new features, including an optional serial port, for PC controlled titling.
8/4:Sony's Japanese DHC-MD575 bookshelf system announcement touts the unit's "Scale Factor Edit" function. With it, MD recording levels can be changed after recordings are made (by adjusting the ATRAC data's scale factors), allowing track volumes to be matched and abrupt track endpoints to be smoothly faded. Unit incorporates 5MD/5CD changer, MSRP: JPY 81,000.
MTT and a friend spot Sharp's photos and Japanese announcement of their MD-F200 boombox, sporting two MD drives, CD and cassette. Unit features high speed (2X) CD->MD and MD->MD copying and world band FM tuner. MSRP: JPY 68,000.
Kohn Liu has started The T-Station with MD product information and news. He conveniently allows you to add comments about equipment and retailers.
8/3:Several readers and MTT scout Sharp's pictures and Japanese announcement of their MD-MT831 and MD-MT832 portable recorders, Sharp claims 7 World's First's for the unit.
Deja.com is holding an MD equipment rating poll.
8/2: Huang Bao Lin finds further info on Olympus, Sanyo and Hitachi's 730MB, 50mm mini-MO. It's expected to see a 2X capacity increase using Hitachi's MAMMOS, and a 5X increase through use of a blue laser.
Joseph McLean spots a TWICE article stating Sony is ``surprised and dismayed'' about online retail sales at Amazon.com. Sony is reportedly announcing an online sales policy within 30 days.
8/1:Nick Paul kindly provides a Sharp MD-MT821 user manual in PDF format.
Chris Gori points out Sony's XA-107 aux input adapter for Unilink car stereos allowing perfect connection of MD portables to a Sony car stereo.
7/30:Eric Whitney scans in the Sony MDS-JE630 user manual.
7/29:MD Data is still kicking: Brian Wiklem spots a photo and Japanese announcement of Sony's PDF-W77 ``Data Eata'' document storage and retrieval PDA featuring twin MD-Data drives, built-in scanner, and backlit screen. It will store up to 1000 A4 (i.e. letter size) documents, can scan B4 size documents, and links to a PC with the PDL-K77 kit. MSRP: JPY180,000.
Larry McMorrn at MaxFire kindly submits a scan of the Sony MZ-E55 manual.
Jim Coon notes a TDK blurb stating that MD has been accepted as a recording medium and that 125 million MD blanks were sold in 1998.
Mystic Minidisc offers MD blanks at low prices.
7/28:Albert Khakshour spots Olympus and Sanyo's announcement and photo of their tiny (50mm) 730MB MO disc, intended for digital movie and still cameras. Charles Ratcliffe also passes along a Yahoo Finance news brief about it.
Gabriel White contributes a handsome JVC XM-R70 review.
Jan Lindstrom reports that Stromson Trading in Sweden sells Hi-Space and JVC blanks.
7/26:Spencer Pablo finds a short Walkman retrospective article mentioning MiniDisc at MSNBC.
7/24:Bob Berardino spots a new price point for MD recorders, Shopping.com's Sharp MD-MS702 is US$130(!) after rebate.
Axel Stenberg has a stylish MD page at bounce.to/md.
7/23:Joseph McLean finds a TWICE article covering Sony's Voice Activated MDX-C8970 car MD deck, you train it by saying the names of your FM stations. He also sends in the Sony MZ-R5ST exploded views and parts list, snarfed from the 1999 Service Manual CD (sadly no longer accessable, but on which we also found the MZ-R50 views and parts list). To readers who managed to find a service manual I missed, I'd be delighted to receive a copy!
7/22:Adam Turner spots Aiwa's AM-HX50 MD player, with 50 hours battery life it is the smallest, lightest and longest running unit yet made.
Louis has made an enthusiastic MD page with several equipment reviews.
Toshi is 13 today!
Dave Chambers shares his experiences with his Sony MDS-JB930 MD deck.
Ross Harmes has made a site for his 17 labels, one for each of his MD recordings.
Aaron Satz spots low cost MD portable sales, via credit card, and with post paid 1 year warranty coverage at HyperJack, in Osaka. He also finds VIP, a Russian MD dealer and information page.
7/15:Robert contributes a careful review of the Panasonic SJ-MR100 portable MD recorder.
7/14:Dito finds Sony Deutschland's MDH-10 drivers page.
Davin Patton reports that Amazon's Electronics Site is selling Sharp MD portables. Davin has also started MiniDisc Technology Today, featuring MD news and articles.
7/13:Jackpot! A reader points out gorgeous PDF service manuals for the Sony MZ-E44/45, MZ-E33, and MZ-R55 (with service mode and self diagnostics, accessed via a magic front panel sequence), the MDX-7970, MDX-5970 and MDX-65, and a new machine, the MDS-SD1 (an MDS-JE520 class machine that mates to an HCD-SD1 CD/Receiver to form the CMT-SD1 bookshelf system). Sony Europe's CMT-SD1 press release explains further. The service manuals were found on Sony's 1999 Service Manual CD.
We freshen our look into the future (comments welcome).
Peter Ravn finds photos and German information for the Sony DKR-700P, an MD data system for still video image storage. The text includes mention of the MDH-10 data drive, as an accessory.
Peter also spots the Technics SJMD100 home MD deck.
7/12:Thomas Meier describes how to build a PC interface for a Sharp MD-MS70x machine, allowing you to title (mostly) from your PC.
7/10:Zachary St. Martin finds Aiwa's XR-MD110 bookshelf system, with world-band FM tuner.
7/9:Tao Pan and Adam Turner spot a photo and Japanese info for Sony's DHC-MD888W bookshelf system with two 5 MD changers and a 5 CD changer, it also features a PCLK-PX1 PC interface connector.
Ben has made a page for the Sharp MD-MS722 that includes information about getting into its service mode.
7/8:Wes Tewksbury points out the JVC XM-448 MD Deck and notes that it is available for under $200 at Wholesaleproducts.com. The unit includes a full QWERTY remote.
Simon Gardner notes a Telegraph (UK) MD article that states ``the MiniDisc audio format has finally managed to establish itself as the portable digital audio recording format of choice.'' Within the article are capsule reviews of recent portables.
7/7:Peter Ravn spots word of a joint venture by Lucent and Lydstrom to introduce a high quality home audio archiving system for under $1000 this year, based upon ePAC (dubbed the SongBank MZ3-5000, they've chosen an interesting nomenclature!).
Jari Yli-Hietanen has a summary page highlighting modern audio coder technical points, he includes info on PAC and ATRAC.
Dan Frakes points out the $150 portable MD recorder at Shopping.com (Sharp MD-MS702, after rebate).
7/6:Rodney Atkins contributes the Canadian JVC XU301BK user manual, in French and English.
Adam Turner finds Sony's Japanese DHC-MD373 and DHC-MDX10 bookshelf systems announcement and photos. The units sport improved usability and digital rec. level control (and 76-90MHz FM tuner, sadly).
7/5:A brief Kenwood brochure (pdf) from Comdex gives preliminary info for their IEEE 1394 fitted DM-9090 MD deck.
7/4:Tom Daniels gives a pictoral description of how to add 4 minutes capacity to a 74' blank.
7/2:The Sony MZ-E80 MD Walkman is part of the Sony Walkman's 20th anniversary, even Megumi Okina (who will also be 20 next month) is helping celebrate.
6/30:G.E.B. week: Articles from ABC News and Apple cover Minidisco, our sponsor.
6/29:Casio's MDH-505 CD/MD/Cass/Radio mini-boombox will also run up to 11 hours on batteries.
A friend spots Kosa-P's thorough Japanese MD pages listing current portables and decks (within which is a photo-filled MDS-JA22ES review).
Matthew Dolan has a page covering the MZ-R30/35's test mode in detail.
Katie DeYoung spots one of Memorex's first MD units.
Jeff Heffernan finds pre-recorded MDs being sold at Townsend Records (UK).
6/26:Katie DeYoung finds the Memorex MDX3800, a CD/MD deck.
Jim Coon finds a BE Radio Field Report for the Denon DN995R.
6/25:Peter Ravn spots MusicOnMiniDisc.com (US), selling MD portables.
Ted Ching finds that Creative Labs' Livewire 2.0 includes direct support for digital MD recording.
6/22:Canford Audio (UK) sells individual MD jewel cases which match the dimensions of standard CD cases.
Florian Rist contributes the EEPROM settings for modern Sharp portables.
Alan Berger finds TDK USA's introduction to MD recording. (Page takes over screen on Netscape/Macintosh!)
Jay comes across an ASCII Corp. (Japanese) page showing the Bose MDW-1 MD deck.
6/21:A friend spots a photo and Japanese info for JVC's Windows CE connectable XM-R70 portable (and their press release, including a clear picture of the display). The display shows their MD controller software, which allows titling (in Roman/Kanji/Kana), track editing, and label printing.
Ron Betcher kindly scans and OCR's the entire Sharp MD-MT821 user manual into .pdf format (individual pages are also available).
Dylan Ponath comes across yamp3, the I-Jam portable MP3 player, it sports a built-in FM radio and is fully Macintosh compatable.
Bill Sturrock points out a relatively objective Gadget News article on MD and the Sony MZ-E40.
Peter Wood has made a nice Sharp MD-MS701/702 page.
6/18:John B. and Hans Frey point out JVC America's MD page featuring all their modern portables.
6/17:Peter Ravn notes today's Court ruling that okays Internet MP3 music recorders.
MiniDisc Now registers two new websites: Minidiscchat.com and Minidisctoday.com.
Starmount (UK) is now selling Samsung blank MiniDiscs.
6/16:Luis finds a Sharp MD-MS722 review on CNET.
Mike Lambert points out Audio ReQuest a home HiFi MP3 player that's AHRA compliant (Zdnet also gives it brief mention). Due this fall for $600.
6/14:Cevan Twilley finds two music-on-demand developments: Virgin plans to offer downloading to MD, CD and DVD at in-store kiosks beginning next month in Colombus OH, and Sony will begin a similar kiosk system in NY and LA in September.
6/13:Ralf Kuchenhart points out Kenwood Deutschland's page for their KMD-PS970R car MD deck (aka KMD-X91 in the US).
Richard Anderson spots the Alesis MasterLink ML9600, a CD-R unit with built in hard drive, allowing MD like editing operations before the CD is recorded (MSRP $1700).
6/11:Simon Lapointe spots Kenwood Japan's English pages, giving good coverage of their MD product line.
Mo Jaquith contributes an extensive review of the Sony MZ-EP11.
6/10:Damian D. Anzelmo notes Sony USA now has information on their 1999 products.
Heiko Debschitz finds further details and a photo for Sharp's MD-MT20.
6/9:Zachary St. Martin finds Aiwa USA's 1999 MD products.
Rob spots mention of the MDCP in The Wire (UK).
Damian Norton points out the Kenwood MD-203 home MD deck.
6/8:Audio-Design (UK) offers the Digimate S/PDIF <-> Optical format converter.
6/7:Anton van Kinderen has spotted a Dutch advertisement for the Sharp MD-MT15 portable recorder and is seeking further information.
Peter Reeves points out the new site for Sony Disc Manufacturing, which has a good deal of technical information for artists producing MiniDiscs.
Peter Quodling notes that CDNow lists MDs in their own category (and Jeff Heffernan provides links to 8 genres of pre-rec MDs at CDNow).
6/6:Japan Direct posts clear photos and English information for Panasonic's SJ-MR100 portable recorder.
6/4:Ken Chan spots a photo and further Japanese info for Panasonic's SJ-SW90MD portable MD player (16h playback on rechargeable, headphone amp: 13mw+13mw).
6/3:Peter Ravn spots Sony DADC's MiniDisc Handbook (in PDF format), a technical guide for pre-recorded MD producers (tidbit: a pre-recorded MD can be up to 78m16s long).
Amerinet Electronics sells modern portable MD gear and accepts credit cards.
John Sim points out AV-Store.co.uk, selling a good collection of Sony MD gear (use search, product "minidisc").
6/1:A.J. Aylestock describes how to add digital coax input to Sony MDS-JE510 units.
5/31:Mark Bausch finds the MD Report Junior, for professionals using MD portables. He also comes across a brief blurb on Sony's IEEE 1394 chip with data encryption (Sony's description of the LSI chip)
Jens Lungstad spots CNET's Sony MZ-R55 review
Thabenksta has started a MiniDisc page for newcomers to the format.
Geoffrey Bakker notes Micmic.com in Hong Kong, selling MD portables at good prices.
5/27:Hugh McGuiness finds Prerecorded Classical MDs from Naxos.
Kevin Turner comes across Lou Moore's MD Trading site, giving surprisingly good coverage of Sony's 1999 MD product line.
5/26:Mark Bausch spots the Voquette Netlink, a software package for recording Internet audio content to MiniDisc.
5/25:Mark Mattson writes an interesting Yamaha MD-8 review with a perspective from the trenches.
A CNN article concludes that Portable MP3 is not ready for prime time.
Mark Agrusti spots Tapewarehouse.com, selling various brand MD blanks and cases at reasonable prices.
5/20:J.J. finds information on the Onkyo FR-V5 bookshelf system.
5/19:Ira Schwartz and friends find Japanese info and photos and Sony's announcement of their MZ-E80 portable player: 81 x 18.7 x 83.5mm, 100grams (body only) and 42 hours playback on AA + gumpack rechargeable.
5/18:A friend spots photos and Japanese info for JVC's XM-R70 portable recorder, RC-MD33 CD/MD boombox, and MX-S5MD 3CD/MD bookshelf system.
5/16:Max spots a Sony Europe announcement of the MDS-PC2 that briefly mentions the MDS-JA555ES and MDS-JB730QS machines.
5/16:Desmond Ng spots a photo and Japanese information for Sony's modern MD decks, including the MDS-PC2, which has a PC component form factor.
5/13:Peter Hull reports a Wall Street Journal article stating that Sony Music will sell `Virtual Singles' using technology from Microsoft.
5/12:Dave Helgerson finds a brief Electronic News article discussing MP3's threat to MiniDisc.
5/11:Oscar Setiawan spots a photo and Japanese info for Panasonic's SJ-MR100, world's smallest (84x77x18.9mm, 136g) and longest running (NiMH+AAx1: rec: 12h, pb: 25h) portable recorder employing a newly developed single beam type optical pickup. And Iein (via Grega Simenc) spots Panasonic's Japanese page for the unit, due out in June. MSRP: JPY 46,000.
5/9: Ian McFarlane keeps at it, making a review of the Aiwa AM-ST40 portable MD player.
Zachary St. Martin finds Aiwa's XR-MD500 3CD/3MD bookshelf system.
5/8:Adam Turner spots photos and Japanese info for Sanyo's MD-U4 Dachshund inspired AM/FM/MD boombox with PC-link connector that operates on AC or AAx6. (Sadly, Japanese FM band only).
Ian McFarlane reviews the Sony MZ-E70 portable MD player.
Eric Whitney spots MD blanks for US$2 at Best Buy.
5/7:John Martinko spots Pioneer's Happy Tune MD system, ``for boys and girls in their teens''.
5/6:Aaron Thieme spots news of RCA's (!) Lyra MP3 portable, which will accept CompactFlash or an IBM 340MB Microdrive.
5/4:Zachary St. Martin finds English info on Aiwa's XR-MD100 bookshelf system.
Chris Marcoux finds further format conversion from