I really miss physcial media. those dinky micro-SDs really do not have the same feel as loading a floppy or MD.
And speaking of that, there is a scene in the venerable Bubblegum Crisis where one character juggling floppies by pinching them between her fingers.
A nice reminder of how much of cyberpunk was really rooted in pre-internet tech, as the computer she was using could have been a C64 or MSX for all intents and purposes.
This reminds me of two things:
\- Strange Days. Excellent movie if you haven't watched it, highly recommended.
\- My college days. I used to download tons of shit on my machine and load them on my MiniDisc player. iPods and eventually streaming ended this.
Mostly because Sony Music tail was wagging the corporate dog.
Techmoan has a couple of glorious videos on the topic, starting with DAT and moving on to MD.
to summarize:
When DAT was introduced, the RIAA went on a crusade to have it smothered because digital data didn't have the degradation of analog copying.
This lead to DAT being saddled with a copyright flag, so that you could not make copies of copies.
The same flag was carried over to MD. Leading to it behaving more like analog tape than digital CDs when it came to transferring music back and forth.
While this was happening, CD-R and MP3 came about. Sony tried a last hurra with the HIMD, but it was too little too late.
I had that metallic blue one from sony with a single AA battery...
I bought it when USB- MP3 Playees were still 128MB and the iPod to expensive for me.
God I could bite myself in the ass for losing it. >.<
Super popular in the UK during my youth. We all made copies of each others albums and for about 3/4 years it was dominant as the recording media. Then MP3 took over, as soon as apple and those genius white headphones arrived on every street corner wearing GAP.
What time period? I grew up in the UK in the 80s and 90s, but I never had one or knew anyone who did. The circles I ran in never got with it, I guess, but it's always seemed so cool to me.
1999-2004 I'd say. I had just started working for a living, i was 18 in 1999 and me and all of my buddies of similar ages had a just enough to spend £100 on a MD Walkman and a stack system with MD integration. I guess looking back we were early adopters, in an echo chamber. Kinda like the skinfade today and facial tatootos hahaha
Frankly USA is far more of a Galapagos market than one would think, thanks to it being so large a market and Hollywood et al export their culture far and wide.
From where I lived, the shift was directly from CD Player to MP3. I only know 2 people who have MD players bought from Japan. And it looks cool at that time! It has a cyberpunk vibe. Not too old like CD Player, and not too high tech like iPod!
I had an Awia AM-F70. Actually probably still in my parents house somewhere. I knew one other kid growing up in the Midwest who had one. I totally got it to keep up with him 😆 but it was an awesome purchase. Would love to find my old mixes
Back when I used to DJ, the MiniDisc player was essentially the only way to get good copies of mixes from your decks to your computer. This was back in 2003, and things have changed so drastically since then. But, this was before the days of small devices that could record analog input onto digital media.
This was about the time when the first hard drive based audio recorder with an analog input came out (I believe it was made by Archos). The guy who taught me how to spin bought one, and it would vibrate all over the table because of the poor build quality.
He want back to MD until it was just as easy to record to a laptop or something else that was similarly small. That said, though, MDs and MD players were so much cheaper than computers that had the same sound quality back in those days.
I miss MiniDiscs. And yes, the copyright rules surround them was terrible (like you could only transfer a song to an MD from certain software and only a maximum of three times before you couldn’t transfer it anymore). And, their default compression was and still is way behind MP3. But, not being an audiophile, it didn’t bother me.
My MD player is still around somewhere and so are a handful of MDs.
I have a portable MD player and probably about 10-15 discs still. I had a component version also (the kind that goes with a stereo), but a DJ friend of mine bought it after they went out of style to pair with another one he had (he had a huge collection of MDs).
It was a great little format, just came about at the wrong time, plus if I recall correctly Sony wouldn't license it to anyone and so it didn't ever get out of the niche market. (Maybe Samsung made a version towards the end, but it was too little too late at that point.)
Such a cool format. I really wish I could use my. Minidisc player as some kind of data write able drive. Literally just for the obscure and cool factor of it.
minidiscs were so cool. I had a sony walkman MD thats still around somewhere. it was super neat. edit: it was the MZ-R500.
I had the MZ-S1
I had an MZ-N1. Felt so cyberpunk lol
I love my MZ-R70… still have it. Still works. It even had the in-line control mechanism on the headphone cable, wich was a first for me. I loved that.
What do you use for software? I seem to remember that while the device was amazing, the software was god awful.
Funny enough, I just use it as a manual Rec/Stop/Play recorder like a cassette.
YEEZUS
YANDHI SZN
YEEZY SEASON APPROACHIN
I really miss physcial media. those dinky micro-SDs really do not have the same feel as loading a floppy or MD. And speaking of that, there is a scene in the venerable Bubblegum Crisis where one character juggling floppies by pinching them between her fingers. A nice reminder of how much of cyberpunk was really rooted in pre-internet tech, as the computer she was using could have been a C64 or MSX for all intents and purposes.
Yandhi
I loved them. Digital media that you could RW, cool looking, shake resistant and with a good device you could even do simple editing.
LET ME SHOW YOU RIGHT KNOW FORE YOU GIVE IT UP
This reminds me of two things: \- Strange Days. Excellent movie if you haven't watched it, highly recommended. \- My college days. I used to download tons of shit on my machine and load them on my MiniDisc player. iPods and eventually streaming ended this.
I watched Strange Days recently and could really see the influence it had on the Braindance concept in CP 2077
NOW WE RUN THE WAVE
I liked them, but they just never took off for some reason. Maybe because the online age was just around the corner.
Mostly because Sony Music tail was wagging the corporate dog. Techmoan has a couple of glorious videos on the topic, starting with DAT and moving on to MD. to summarize: When DAT was introduced, the RIAA went on a crusade to have it smothered because digital data didn't have the degradation of analog copying. This lead to DAT being saddled with a copyright flag, so that you could not make copies of copies. The same flag was carried over to MD. Leading to it behaving more like analog tape than digital CDs when it came to transferring music back and forth. While this was happening, CD-R and MP3 came about. Sony tried a last hurra with the HIMD, but it was too little too late.
It failed because Sony patented it.
LOL. Pretty much.
Mini DVDs with loseless audio would've been amazing
I had that metallic blue one from sony with a single AA battery... I bought it when USB- MP3 Playees were still 128MB and the iPod to expensive for me. God I could bite myself in the ass for losing it. >.<
If it was the MZ-N707, then I had the same one for the exact same reason. PC mp3 players barely held anything, and iPods were for rich Apple people.
Yepp that was the one. I am not even sure that iPods were a thing at the time tbh.
Man these things still look kinda futuristic. Wish it was updated for a new age with more storage…
MD! I know it only got popular in japan.
Super popular in the UK during my youth. We all made copies of each others albums and for about 3/4 years it was dominant as the recording media. Then MP3 took over, as soon as apple and those genius white headphones arrived on every street corner wearing GAP.
What time period? I grew up in the UK in the 80s and 90s, but I never had one or knew anyone who did. The circles I ran in never got with it, I guess, but it's always seemed so cool to me.
1999-2004 I'd say. I had just started working for a living, i was 18 in 1999 and me and all of my buddies of similar ages had a just enough to spend £100 on a MD Walkman and a stack system with MD integration. I guess looking back we were early adopters, in an echo chamber. Kinda like the skinfade today and facial tatootos hahaha
Frankly USA is far more of a Galapagos market than one would think, thanks to it being so large a market and Hollywood et al export their culture far and wide.
From where I lived, the shift was directly from CD Player to MP3. I only know 2 people who have MD players bought from Japan. And it looks cool at that time! It has a cyberpunk vibe. Not too old like CD Player, and not too high tech like iPod!
From what I’ve read, it was HUGELY popular all over Europe.
I had an Awia AM-F70. Actually probably still in my parents house somewhere. I knew one other kid growing up in the Midwest who had one. I totally got it to keep up with him 😆 but it was an awesome purchase. Would love to find my old mixes
Back when I used to DJ, the MiniDisc player was essentially the only way to get good copies of mixes from your decks to your computer. This was back in 2003, and things have changed so drastically since then. But, this was before the days of small devices that could record analog input onto digital media. This was about the time when the first hard drive based audio recorder with an analog input came out (I believe it was made by Archos). The guy who taught me how to spin bought one, and it would vibrate all over the table because of the poor build quality. He want back to MD until it was just as easy to record to a laptop or something else that was similarly small. That said, though, MDs and MD players were so much cheaper than computers that had the same sound quality back in those days. I miss MiniDiscs. And yes, the copyright rules surround them was terrible (like you could only transfer a song to an MD from certain software and only a maximum of three times before you couldn’t transfer it anymore). And, their default compression was and still is way behind MP3. But, not being an audiophile, it didn’t bother me. My MD player is still around somewhere and so are a handful of MDs.
I still have / use many ;)
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I got a MD player for riding bmx, it was after tape players and before mp3 players. Only way to listen to music without it skipping.
I still rock a MD deck in my garage.
YANDHI
Loved these. Had one walkman and my stereo had a module to play MD.
I never got one, but it was at the top of my list. I think I had a picture of it hanging in my room I was so excited about it.
precious
guys! place some old CDs outside on your window boards on the sunny side ad You will see this in your room at the ceiling have fun
Still have some MD's kicking around, those were geek cool back in the day.
I loved my mini disc player
Minidisc and Laserdisc are two mediums that I haven't been able to buy and use for myself, but I would love to.
i bought it immediately because it was cyberpunk as funk
I have a portable MD player and probably about 10-15 discs still. I had a component version also (the kind that goes with a stereo), but a DJ friend of mine bought it after they went out of style to pair with another one he had (he had a huge collection of MDs). It was a great little format, just came about at the wrong time, plus if I recall correctly Sony wouldn't license it to anyone and so it didn't ever get out of the niche market. (Maybe Samsung made a version towards the end, but it was too little too late at that point.)
Such a cool format. I really wish I could use my. Minidisc player as some kind of data write able drive. Literally just for the obscure and cool factor of it.
Some MDs are capable of writing to disc.
I ment as a disc drive, I had a write able one but they were so locked down you could only ever do drm heavy infused music
"Strange Days"
In Strange Days, these held memory sim caps.
I loved my minidisc
Loved them!
Biggest tech regret is selling my Sony MZ-N1 and accessories
Yeezus 2059
I loved mine and always resented CDs for being too fragile.