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Storage Capacity of Minidiscs?
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| rockster77 |
| does anyone know what the MB capacity of a minidisc is? i have been looking online and they say 74 and 80 minutes...but that means nothing to me. i need to know how many MBs the discs can store. i can't seem to find that information. |
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| dj_mdma |
Oooh thats difficult. It would be easy to assume that they ahve the MB capacity of CD's with the same minutes and all (so 670 to 700 MB respectively) but It is most defnately NOT.
Minidisc hold/record data in Stereo mode at 132 KBPS. (kilobits per second)
This equals 990000 bytes for 1 Minute of music, thus on a 74 min MD it is 73260000 bytes = 73.26 MB
and 79.2 MB for an 80 minute MD. |
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| Incantation |
| Why do you wanna know? cos i dont think you can put files on to MDs, you can only record music on to them, i think. |
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| rockster77 |
| well...i may be going on vacation/teaching for a year to taiwan. i need to bring my music if i go. i was looking at the new sony net md player (advertised on the main audiogalaxy page. i looked up the actual discs on the sony site and it said they hold 74/80 minutes. what i want to know is, can i transfer my mp3s at any bitrate to the discs...and if so, how many MB of data storage do the discs have? |
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| evil_bastard |
I think you're having the same misunderstanding I had.
They don't actually put MP3s or WAVs onto your minidisc, they transfer them into their own format.
So if you have an MP3 at 320kb or 128kb, it will take up the same space on your minidisc. The minidisc will "dumb down" the quality of your music into it's own (but will obviously never improve it if it's already belo w a minidisc's standard).
Basically, the reason I had the misunderstanding was because previously I'd owned an MP3 player. On MP3 players, the quality and size of the file on your computer DOES matter, because it transfers the file as it is onto your MP3 player. At 192kb quality, you might fit about 6 songs onto a 32mb MP3 disk. At 128kb quality, you might fit 10.
But with minidiscs, you needn't worry. If it says you can record 74 minutes, it means you can fit 74 minutes of music, whatever the size of those music files on your computer. Same goes for if you're recording from a CD on your hifi, or from the radio, or even record your own voice (you'll need a mic) if you're that sad.
I hope this has cleared it up. |
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| evil_bastard |
| quote: | Originally posted by rockster77
well...i may be going on vacation/teaching for a year to taiwan. i need to bring my music if i go. i was looking at the new sony net md player (advertised on the main audiogalaxy page. i looked up the actual discs on the sony site and it said they hold 74/80 minutes. what i want to know is, can i transfer my mp3s at any bitrate to the discs...and if so, how many MB of data storage do the discs have? |
If it's an 80 minute minidisc, you can record 80 minutes of music whatever quality. Whether it be a 320kb MP3 or recorded from the radio.
I can't tell you how many MB it has, all I know is they convert them into their own format. So whatever the size or quality of your mp3 file, it compresses it into it's own size.
Minidiscs are great in my opinion. If you buy a pack of 10 they work out about 80p each, and you get 80 mins of music on each one.
MP3 players are a rip off. They CLAIM you can fit 2 houra of music on one disk. I could fit about 40 minutes. You can fit 2 hrs of music if each file is 48kbs! Also, one MP3 disk costs about £20 and will fit about 6 songs, if that. A minidisc costs less than £1 and fits twice as much!
Minidisc's are MUCH more economical.
Also, my minidisc is a cheap one (one of the cheapest recordable ones out, £140) and it NEVER skips. I've been running with it, even in the pouring rain, and it never stops.
Salesmen in the shops will tell you MP3s are great cos they have no working parts, but my minidisc never ever skips, never needs to use its anti shock (which is 40 seconds, and mine's a low end recordable on remember), and it only takes one battery which lasts ages.
I'd definitely advise a minidisc. |
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| dj_mdma |
Now thats a good question cos I want the sony MZ-N1. It would be easy to assume that cos it is encoding files that the disc storage capacity is now limited to the size of your files. But surely that is a pretty stupid thing for Sony to go and do!
What the NetMD does is convert your files in MAgicGate software to the desired bitrate for the MD.
IF u want Stereo = 264 KBPS (I think i said 132 b4, I think thats for LP" and 66 KBPS for LP4 mods)
Thus if u want to record a CD (1411 KBPS = 700 MB) it will still encode it into the ATRAC3 format. all the way down to 264kbps. IT matters not what the bitrate of your MP3's are, it will still encode it to the correct bitrate for MD recording. Therefore 74/80 mins = 74/80 mins of music. OR upto 320 mins in LP4 mode. |
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| rockster77 |
| quote: | Originally posted by evil_bastard
If it's an 80 minute minidisc, you can record 80 minutes of music whatever quality. Whether it be a 320kb MP3 or recorded from the radio.
I can't tell you how many MB it has, all I know is they convert them into their own format. So whatever the size or quality of your mp3 file, it compresses it into it's own size.
Minidiscs are great in my opinion. If you buy a pack of 10 they work out about 80p each, and you get 80 mins of music on each one.
MP3 players are a rip off. They CLAIM you can fit 2 houra of music on one disk. I could fit about 40 minutes. You can fit 2 hrs of music if each file is 48kbs! Also, one MP3 disk costs about £20 and will fit about 6 songs, if that. A minidisc costs less than £1 and fits twice as much!
Minidisc's are MUCH more economical.
Also, my minidisc is a cheap one (one of the cheapest recordable ones out, £140) and it NEVER skips. I've been running with it, even in the pouring rain, and it never stops.
Salesmen in the shops will tell you MP3s are great cos they have no working parts, but my minidisc never ever skips, never needs to use its anti shock (which is 40 seconds, and mine's a low end recordable on remember), and it only takes one battery which lasts ages.
I'd definitely advise a minidisc. |
wow...you've cleared up everything very well. just one question. how does the sound quality of a minidisc compare with an mp3 of 192 kbps and a cd (wav file)? |
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| dj_mdma |
| quote: | Originally posted by evil_bastard
If it's an 80 minute minidisc, you can record 80 minutes of music whatever quality. Whether it be a 320kb MP3 or recorded from the radio.
I can't tell you how many MB it has, all I know is they convert them into their own format. So whatever the size or quality of your mp3 file, it compresses it into it's own size.
Minidiscs are great in my opinion. If you buy a pack of 10 they work out about 80p each, and you get 80 mins of music on each one.
MP3 players are a rip off. They CLAIM you can fit 2 houra of music on one disk. I could fit about 40 minutes. You can fit 2 hrs of music if each file is 48kbs! Also, one MP3 disk costs about £20 and will fit about 6 songs, if that. A minidisc costs less than £1 and fits twice as much!
Minidisc's are MUCH more economical.
Also, my minidisc is a cheap one (one of the cheapest recordable ones out, £140) and it NEVER skips. I've been running with it, even in the pouring rain, and it never stops.
Salesmen in the shops will tell you MP3s are great cos they have no working parts, but my minidisc never ever skips, never needs to use its anti shock (which is 40 seconds, and mine's a low end recordable on remember), and it only takes one battery which lasts ages.
I'd definitely advise a minidisc. |
Minidiscs kick MP3's players arses (apart from the Apple iPod and Creative Jukebox). (iPod has 10 gb of space!!!!)
THere was only one problem, and that was real time recording. It took me ing ages to record the first two parts of Tiesto's DD set! But now with the arrival of NetMD, the two formats are at least on a par. THe official figgures are quite respectable. I think 4x recording in stereos 16x = LP2 and 32x LP4 I'm not sure go look at the Sony site.
But it is expensive for the MZ-N1 £260!! I paid £230 for my MZ909 amnd a month later out come MZ-N1. BOllocks!
As for the sound quality. Stereo is the equivalent of CD quality sound. It is, in essence, the same sound quality , but with the bits you can't hear cut out. ( Like an MP3) ANd the same goes for the MP3's. They get compressed to 264 KBPS. It is not really possible for the human ear to tell the difference, but some people can hear the difference at LP2 and I can definately hear the poor sound quality of LP4 |
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| rockster77 |
well...i have no experience with minidiscs players. i saw ones for $600 CAN (too expensive for me), but the one i am looking at is model #MZN505S and is only $250 CAN. i'm not sure if it is good. check out this link and tell me what you think of this player:
Sony Net MD
thanks! |
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| evil_bastard |
Well at first I had a few problems with the sound quality.
I think it must have been the transfering cable thingy (whatever its called, that wire that goes from ur comp speakers to the minidisc and record is basically). Cos when I got a new wire, it recorded fine. Before that, the sound quality was dreadful when I recorded it at even a slightly loud volume.
Now though, it's fine. The only problem I have now is my crappy little £10 Sony headphones, cos when I try to play the music loud the earphones make that clicky sound. But that's the quality of the earphones not the minidisc.
The quality is good. Not as good as a CD player I wouldn't say, but then again most of my MP3s are 192kb, and a fair few are 128kb. Very few are over 192, none that I've yet put on minidisc, so I can't really say. The sound quality is definitely adequate though. I would say a tiny bit of quality is lost from a CD. But then again my minidisc is one of the cheapest recordable minidisc's out (definitely buy a recordable one!), so that probably has something to do with it. A better minidisc will give you better results.
Basically, you play your music, be it on the computer, on a CD, the radio, whatever. You attach your wire to wherever it needs to go, press record on the minidisc, press play on your computer, and it transfers and you can listen to it through your headphones as it goes. Then when you turn off your minidisc, it will do its thing, acknowledging that new tracks have been put on the minidisc. I'm not sure why it does this, but it does. For a 5 minute song this will take a few seconds. And then you're done. |
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| tenor |
| minidisc has a storage capacity of around 160megs, and when used in data mode, 140mb. sony has to my knowledge discontinued selling minidiscdrives for pcs, but they tried it way back when. |
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