Are MD's already obsolete?

[AssKissinger]

I know they never really caught on in the States but I can hardly even find a boombox style MD player even on ebay. Plus, a bunch of my MD's already started to malfunction. I think it's a pretty cool medium and have a lot of them. Comments please...

[GuyJean]

"It's a Sony"....

Yeah, I have a lot too; From rented Tsutaya CDs.. Now I never listen to them..

My 'mini combo' doesn't have an MD to MP3 dubber, or else I'd do that.. Everything I listen to now is either MP3 or CD.

MD was nice, but it was a pain making the labels.. I'd recommend transferring them to another format.

GJ

[Charles]

Yes.

[AssKissinger]

Thanks GuyJean

Go suck a dick Charles

[Charles]

Don't ask stupid questions if you don't want to hear the answers. MDs are obsolete even in Japan.

Digital music players beating CDs and MDs

[emperor]

theyre still widely used by journalists for interviews or aspiring poets...

but for personal music collections they were on the way out 3 years ago

[American Oyaji]

Thanks GuyJean

Go suck a dick Charles

Comeone AK, you KNOW that was funny.

And TRUE

[AssKissinger]

Thanks emperor.

I don't mind hearing the answer, Charles, I just don't to hear it from you.

[Captain Japan]

But that chart shows that CD players are equally obsolete.

I think the idea is great. I think Sony's problem for the portables was the design. Having the case open at an angle for the disk to be loaded was just a bad idea. Over time, the alignment of the disc with the laser wouldn't work. I had that problem with both portables I owned.

AK, are you using an old portable? It might not be the disks but instead the laser is not lining up properly anymore.

If you can find a straight loader (like on a boombox) give that a shot. The one I have for my main stereo still works fine.

[Mulboyne]

But that chart shows that CD players are equally obsolete.

I wonder what "Other - 3%" would include?

[Charles]

I wonder what "Other - 3%" would include?

Maybe phones with music players?

[Mulboyne]

I was just looking at the site that chart came from and I see there's a different survey from spring 2005. They guy translates it here.

Q: What brand first comes to mind when thinking of portable music
players?

iPod 72.6%
Walkman 9.1%
Other (or none) 18.3%

Q: What type of portable music player do you use the most?

MD player 40.8%
CD player 28.0%
iPod series 13.4%
Other hard disk or flash memory player 17.8%

[Charles]

I was just looking at the site that chart came from and I see there's a different survey from spring 2005. They guy translates it here.

Pretty amazing that the MD market share was cut in half in a year. But CDs didn't decline that much. I suspect that CD players will continue to have significant market share as long as music is distributed on CDs.

[emperor]

I wonder what "Other - 3%" would include?

DAT?

[Blah Pete]

I wonder what "Other - 3%" would include?

Crazy people on the street that sing to themselves and listen to the voices in their head.

[AssKissinger]

AK, are you using an old portable?

I have a Walkman and a boombox but they are both old. How long of a lifespan do you figure I can expect from the actual MD's? The cheaper cdr's are only good for about five years.

[Kuang_Grade]

[AssKissinger]

Thanks Grade.

Go kill yourself Charles.

[cliffy]

Thanks Grade.

Go kill yourself Charles.

And you a fellow American;)

[mr. sparkle]

I think they still have their use for field recording. I still use mine for that.

[Captain Japan]

I have a Walkman and a boombox but they are both old. How long of a lifespan do you figure I can expect from the actual MD's? The cheaper cdr's are only good for about five years.

I have MDs that are 6 or 7 years old. None of them have crapped out. Sometimes I get disc errors. But for that I just eject it and shoot it back in. And keep repeating until it works. I'm pretty sure the problem is that the laser just doesn't line up with the disk properly anymore. I think the problem is with that angled loading. It gets out of whack after a while.

I don't know how long an MD is supposed to last. Unless there is a problem on the playing surface (similar to the bronzing that used to happen to the PDO CD disks in the 90s) I don't see why they'd start failing anytime soon.

[AssKissinger]

I have MDs that are 6 or 7 years old. None of them have crapped out. Sometimes I get disc errors. But for that I just eject it and shoot it back in. And keep repeating until it works. I'm pretty sure the problem is that the laser just doesn't line up with the disk properly anymore. I think the problem is with that angled loading. It gets out of whack after a while.

I don't know how long an MD is supposed to last. Unless there is a problem on the playing surface (similar to the bronzing that used to happen to the PDO CD disks in the 90s) I don't see why they'd start failing anytime soon.

Well then Captain, I think I'll just buy me a new md boombox then.

[AssKissinger]

I ended up just buying a Sony Walkman MD player and hooking it up to what I was using as my computer speakers. Sounds great. I also took a whole suitcase full of MD's home with me. I don't care what anyone says, they're tops. I converted a lot of my favorite mix-tapes to MD and plus scoured the cd rental joints, mostly in Aichi, and believe it or not I found a lot of special gems like late period Coltrane, early Wailers, damn respectable jazz and rock compilations, group sounds and so on.

[Charles]

I ended up just buying a Sony Walkman MD player and hooking it up to what I was using as my computer speakers. Sounds great.

[tatsujin]

MD was a damn cool format, maybe it was just the look and design of the disks, made you feel like you were in your very own Gibson novel.

I have a load kicking aorund as well ever since my MD portable player gave up the ghost. The mini-handheld controllers on the Sony unit were the biz, makes me pine ever time I have to take my Ipod out of my pocket to change playlist...

What do you make of the new kid on the block:

http://reviews.cnet.com/Toshiba_Gigabeat_S_MES30VW_30GB_white/4505-6499_7-31660763.html?tag=txt

[AssKissinger]

Personally, portable video machines don't interest me. Just not my cup of cocoa.

Charles ([color="Red"][SIZE="1"]kill yourself[/SIZE][/color]), I wish I had a real Victrola. I do have a bunch of old jazz and classical recordings that play on a grammaphone and fortunately I can listen to them on the 78 setting on my turntable. They sound tough as old boots, in a good way.

[tatsujin]

Well I happen to be a fan of old jazz too, and Duke and Louis sound pretty good on these portable video machines

Of course, I ripped them from CD, not the originals. Had a grammophone when I was young and remember listening to some cool tunes with my family, didn't realise how cool it was at the time.