iPod or MiniDisc?

K

Kris

Registered
After houres of everyday use for about one and a half year my MiniDisc had started to become a bit.. tired. (So much for that quality!)

So I have been thinking of an mp3 player instead, - like iPod. It just sounds great. 10GB of disc space. Houres of music. And it's like an extra hard drive too! :)

Even though a new MiniDisc is expensive, it's still a lot cheaper than an iPod. So my queston is: Is an iPod worth it?
And what about the format. Is the mp3-format here to stay? Does iPod only support the mp3-format? What about mp3pro?
Is iPod the best mp3-player on the market?


Kris
 
Q1: Yes
Q2: For a while at least
Q3: No (WAV, AIFF)
Q4: Not yet, but it may in the future. I'm not sure how much CPU is required to decode it
Q5: YES!
 
You'll appreciate the speed it takes to transfer music to the iPod. I used to have an MD player and I hated how recorded the music in real time .. as in a 5 minutes song takes 5 minutes to transfer to a MiniDisc. You could transfer a few gigs (hundreds perhaps) of songs in 5 minutes with an iPod.

As much as the recording industry won't admit it, the MP3 format is here to stay. And yeah, the iPod is the best MP3 player on the market by far. I'm not just saying that because I happen to like Macs, I've looked at other players and there seriously is no comparison.
 
I kinda thought I'd get replies like that! :)

themacko: I totally agree. The recording-prcess with MiniDiscs is a big minus. - But you CAN record from the TV... you can't do that with an iPod.. :p

How much is it for an iPod in the states?


Kris
 
I have a MiniDisc player and I love it. The sound quality is amazing. However, I REALLY hate the process of recording MP3's to it. For one thing, the recording process is in real time! So a 3 minute long song in MP3 takes 3 minutes to record! Ouch!

I know that Sony now makes MiniDisc players that allows you to record MP3's much faster (Net MiniDisc?), but it doesn't support Macs.

Now I am saving up for an iPod.

-B
 
Kris: Like all products Apple makes, the iPod is more expensive than most of the other players on the market. But it's definitely the best. I admit that I haven't used other MP3 players, but I've heard of all of them having USB connections (none I've heard of sport USB 2 connections), and having cumbersome interfaces.

The iPod is hands down the most elegant of all MP3 players (even TechTV thinks so, despite its hefty price tag!). The scroll wheel interface is REALLY intuitive, and the FireWire connection ALONE makes it worth the high price tag, because you can actually USE the darn thing as an effective hard drive!! Plus, the hold switch is a nice touch, so you can put it in your pocket and not worry about any of your settings changing while its running.

Another benefit of the iPod (this functionality may be in other MP3 players as well) is that its firmware is upgradable. No doubt you've heard of the iPod Software Updater 1.1 which allows you to store contacts on your iPod now. This is because the firmware CAN be upgraded.

The reason this is important is because if new formats of music come out, Apple can upgrade the iPod to support them. The MP3Pro format may well take over in a few years, and Apple will probably be smart enough to release an updater to the iPod software to allow it to play them. So you're not limited to what you buy.


As you can see in my sig, I have an iPod. I bought it out of my own pocket (the 5 GB one, for $399). I said this in another thread, but I'll say it here too. I was wanting some way to listen to music on the run, but I'd never really researched any MP3 players or anything else. When the iPod came out, I knew right away that I had to have one, because of its elegance and intuitiveness. The iPod just does away with EVERY SINGLE BOTTLENECK that exists in all other MP3 players, making it the best one on the market. I must say that the iPod will remain the best MP3 player for a while, because no one can match the scroll wheel interface.

I hope that helps. I admit I know nothing about the MiniDisc format, but this post should help you with the benefits of the iPod.
 
Well... i have both.. and as much as i love the iPod.. and i love it very much.. i hacve to say... They are 2 different machines.. the Audio quality in the Minidisk for me is still to be beat.. it is amazing.. not that the ipod is bad...especially cause it depends on the MP3 compression quality...
If you have 399$ to use.. go for the iPod... but don t use the excuse of the HD.. i have been there..lol.. and when you shop around for an HD you ll find that for that price a 5 gig.. is very very not worthed..
As always i suggest to see the machine as a whole...MP3 playes HD and Gaming .....i strongly believe that the iPod is an invaluable proiduct and i use it everyday.. but i have to admit... if you have a minidisk that is still the beast for sound... of course you can t read MP3 with it.. but you can convert them and record them in the MD itself..
If i were you.. i would look around for a bigger HD and i would keep the MD but then again.. i love Apple and i would also say.. what the heck .. get an iPod ..and you won t regret....


I guess my point is... if you feel like those 399$ are growing in yourt pocket go get an ipod... if you re trying to get the BEST deal of all.. the MD and a big FW HD would do the job...... i know i will be criticzed for this last sentence... but i am trying to be honest and give a help.




Last but not least.. Apple products are all valuable machines and they are all worth the price.....a;; deends on what you need to do with it
 
simX: Yeah.. Apple's products are expensive. But then again.. you pay for quality. :) 400$ for an iPod wasn't that bad actually. That's the same as a good MiniDisc.
- So I checked with the store where they sell Mac producs over here (northern Europe), but here the iPod 5GB costs around 500$ and the iPod 10GB costs around 750$ (with all taxes included) !! It's insane!

I hope that Apple will drop their price a bit (and of course the stores too), so that we who must buy throu a re-seller also can afford it...


Kris
 
Also, the iPod has better sound quality than Minidisk players. Minidisk audio is encoded to be 10 times smaller than AIFF, so actually a minidisk is only a tenth of a CD in capacity, and the audio is compressed 10 times. MP3 is better, at least at higher frequency rates (192 kbps and more), and the iPod is able to play non-compressed AIFF, Minidisks aren't.
 
Originally posted by dlookus
You could also just put AIFFs on it and still fit 7 to 10 CDs.
Click to expand...

Or you could just buy an iPod which can fit 100 CDs (5 gig version) or 200 CDs (10 gig version). :rolleyes:


BBenve: The quality of the songs played on the iPod is dependent on the bitrate of the MP3s. As ksv said, if you encode at a higher bitrate, the quality is probably better. You're probably encoding at a lower bitrate, which is why you hear lower quality on the iPod.
 
Sorry. I was being unclear. I've been doing that a lot lately. I was actually referring to the iPod. I don't know why anyone would do it, but I know there are those who think MP3 is crappy. Would be intersting to hear how uncompressed music sounds coming out of the iPod.
 
Originally posted by ksv
Also, the iPod has better sound quality than Minidisk players. Minidisk audio is encoded to be 10 times smaller than AIFF, so actually a minidisk is only a tenth of a CD in capacity, and the audio is compressed 10 times. MP3 is better, at least at higher frequency rates (192 kbps and more), and the iPod is able to play non-compressed AIFF, Minidisks aren't.
Click to expand...

This is totally untrue. ATRAC3, the latest MiniDisc encoding standard produces much higher quality sounds than MP3's. In fact, ATRAC has came a long way from its introduction, many musicians rely on it for their production work because the high quality of its sound. The main reason I love my MD player is because how clear the sounds it produces are. The first time I heard it, it blew my mind. Look around on the web, there are actually statistical analysis of the ATRAC encoding standards that shows it's up to par, or indeed surpasses the standard CD-Audio encoding.

Just because it has a better compression scheme and produces smaller sizes for sounds DOES NOT mean it produces poorer sounds. The technology is simply better.

-B
 
OK, I wasn't fully right there.
Was I really meant, was that it's possible to play higher quality sound on an iPod than a minidisk. You simply can't get as good sound on a minidisk than an iPod. Encoded sound will never be as good as AIFF.
 
Originally posted by Kris

- So I checked with the store where they sell Mac producs over here (northern Europe), but here the iPod 5GB costs around 500$ and the iPod 10GB costs around 750$ (with all taxes included) !! It's insane!

I hope that Apple will drop their price a bit (and of course the stores too), so that we who must buy throu a re-seller also can afford it...


Kris
Click to expand...


Hummmm.. Belgium, France, the Netherlands, etc.. is it the same price for an iPod than in northern Europe?


senne.
 
OK, i've checked prices of the iPod in Belgium. The 10GB costs 724,79€ (tax incl.) and the 5GB costs 555,39€. I don't know how much it is in Dollars. But still, isn't it a bit too.... TOO?



senne.
 
Originally posted by Kris
simX: Yeah.. Apple's products are expensive. But then again.. you pay for quality. :) 400$ for an iPod wasn't that bad actually. That's the same as a good MiniDisc.
- So I checked with the store where they sell Mac producs over here (northern Europe), but here the iPod 5GB costs around 500$ and the iPod 10GB costs around 750$ (with all taxes included) !! It's insane!

I hope that Apple will drop their price a bit (and of course the stores too), so that we who must buy throu a re-seller also can afford it...


Kris
Click to expand...

You're joking! Order from here! (Australia)

Our 10GB iPod is only AU$1000. Much cheaper than in the US
 
As a lover of my minidisc, this post makes me sad - however, Sony made more bad decisions with this format than Apple ever did. It's too bad.

Still, you can't beat the minidisc for recording people and things - get both and wait for someone to realize all the pieces are out there just waiting for someone to put them together.
 
Everybody seems to be forgetting that you can play Brickles (an old Mac game for those who remember it, I can't recall the name of it right now ...) on your iPod! Sth a MiniDisc will positively NEVER support :-) :-) :-)

Greetz,
.anerki
 
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