The minidisc

[Driver8]

Did anybody of you keep a music collection on minidisc? I remember when I was in college a couple of friends had minidiscs, this was in the early nineties, they were state of the art technology and very few people owned them.

One of these friends really impressed me and other guys while saying that in a single minidisc he stored several songs and no longer needed to carry CDs. Music stores started carrying albums on the minidisc format and I think the soundtrack to the film Philadelphia was available on minidisc at the time, if I recall correctly.

The technology was branded as "MiniDisc" and was Japanese (where much of the high tech gear originated at the time, until eventually in the 2000s high tech became Chinese). I think the minidisc is no longer in use and may have been discontinued, the reason I bring the subject to conversation here it that the minidisc could have been the grandfather of the USB memory stick and / or the mp3 player, since the MiniDisc also stored data if I recall correctly.

Another invention appeared at the same time as the minidisc, this was the laserdisc. I remember these were the size of a vinyl LP, although they were metallic and actually looked like a giant compact disc. The same friends from college were building movie collections on this state of the art technology, until eventually it was replaced by the DVD. In 1996 Best Buy still carried VHS and I purchased the first Stargate film with James Spader. Laserdisc equipment, and Laserdiscs titles, were very expensive.

Ultimately this is all about different formats where media is stored and distributed, and how this changes over time. I think the concept of "clouds" or on-demand retrieving of content is today's state of the art technology.

[Magic Fills the Air]

I bought a stereo system in the '90s and it's still my main stereo that I use today. It has a mini disc player built in. At the time I bought it it was the cutting edge of technology. I never bought any albums on minidisc, but I did buy some blank ones to fill up with music, and I still have those. Compared to tapes, the sound quality of minidiscs was/is really good. Also they're a lot more durable than CDs.

Apparently Japan still manufactures minidisc players.

[greenman]

Did anybody of you keep a music collection on minidisc? I remember when I was in college a couple of friends had minidiscs, this was in the early nineties, they were state of the art technology and very few people owned them.

One of these friends really impressed me and other guys while saying that in a single minidisc he stored several songs and no longer needed to carry CDs. Music stores started carrying albums on the minidisc format and I think the soundtrack to the film Philadelphia was available on minidisc at the time, if I recall correctly.

The technology was branded as "MiniDisc" and was Japanese (where much of the high tech gear originated at the time, until eventually in the 2000s high tech became Chinese). I think the minidisc is no longer in use and may have been discontinued, the reason I bring the subject to conversation here it that the minidisc could have been the grandfather of the USB memory stick and / or the mp3 player, since the MiniDisc also stored data if I recall correctly.

Another invention appeared at the same time as the minidisc, this was the laserdisc. I remember these were the size of a vinyl LP, although they were metallic and actually looked like a giant compact disc. The same friends from college were building movie collections on this state of the art technology, until eventually it was replaced by the DVD. In 1996 Best Buy still carried VHS and I purchased the first Stargate film with James Spader. Laserdisc equipment, and Laserdiscs titles, were very expensive.

Ultimately this is all about different formats where media is stored and distributed, and how this changes over time. I think the concept of "clouds" or on-demand retrieving of content is today's state of the art technology.

Much of this post makes little sense to me, the Chinese come up with high quality tech? the factories might be located there not they certainly don't design much compaired to the Japanese today. Laserdisk is also a much older format dating back to the late 70's where as minidisk was released in the early 90's.

[Driver8]

Much of this post makes little sense to me, the Chinese come up with high quality tech? the factories might be located there not they certainly don't design much compaired to the Japanese today. Laserdisk is also a much older format dating back to the late 70's where as minidisk was released in the early 90's.

The comment is mostly about the balance of economic power shifting in Asia, from Japan to China. Japan dominated the eighties and a good part of the nineties, my apologies if I didn't word it correctly. A few years ago China overtook Japan in terms of goods imported by the United States. I believe the Chinese were close to overtake Germany, or had overtaken her, in terms of GDP and in terms of the weight of exports in the economy. I'm sorry if I don't provide the figures, I'm in a hurry now and can't stay much in front of the computer. I do appreciate however the info you provide that lasedisks existed since the 70s, somehow I was under the impression that they were a nineties invention.

[beetleron]

i bought a laser disc player back then...for the sole purpose of grabbing the page/plant "unledded" thing.....which had a couple extra tracks only on the laser disc at the time.......rain song and levee........which are just on the regular release nowadays"

was a great format for concert stuff.....i almost stocked up on a few titles as the format became unused and dealers just wanted to move them out

yeh.....was an album sized cd basically.....if you've never seen one

[redrum]

I have a Sony mini-disc player and I remember the Laser Disc too.

[joe (Liverpool)]

I was working in Dixons when the mini-disc first came out, I said then that it would soon stop being made and sold, I'm just glad I didn't buy one.My Akai cassette deck which I purchased in 1976 is still in good working order, and I use it as a spare. They don't make them like they used to.

[TypeO]

the minidisc could have been the grandfather of the USB memory stick and / or the mp3 player, since the MiniDisc also stored data if I recall correctly.

Not really.

USB memory and most mp3 players use Flash memory.

[redrum]

My Mini-Disc player is actually in Australia. Gotta send some $$ to have it mailed back. I think it records better than the Yamaha recorder I have now.