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MiniDisc
technology has developed in fits and starts over the past decade,
beginning life as a groundbreaking digital successor to analog
cassette recorders before morphing into a hamstrung MP3-style
audio player.
Along
the way, Sony added an alphabet soup of format extensions in
an attempt to make MD more appealing to consumers. Some of these
turned out to be technological dead ends (MD Data, MD Data2,
Picture MD, MD Discam video), while others (MDLP, NetMD, Hi-MD)
continue to stuggle for traction in a crowded marketplace.
One
clear victor has emerged in the audio player field, however:
Apple Computer's iPod-iTunes combo. The margin of victory is
so wide that there really is no point in considering other options.
If you want a well-engineered music player with elegance, intuitive
functionality and audiophile sound quality, get an iPod.
Sadly,
iPods do not record. At least not very well.
Ironically,
this is where MiniDisc continues to shine. For all the Herculean
effort Sony has put into making MD technology computer literate,
the format's best use -- and its greatest asset -- is really
no different today than it was when MDs were first introduced
in 1992: top-notch field recording.
This
site, therefore, is designed to help you integrate MD technology
with your recording workflow.
Before
we proceed, however, we need to take note of a bifurcation in
MD technology that has tremendous implications for Mac-centric
audio capture.
MD
units sold before the summer of 2005 fall into the first category.
If you own one of these recorders, you will be able to transfer
field recordings to your Mac only in real time. For more information
on how to do this, click here.
(This page also describes the cumbersome, real-time process you
must use if you want to "download" audio files from
your Mac to a MiniDisc unit.)
 The second
catagory includes two Sony MD recorders introduced in the United
States starting in August 2005, the MZ-M100 (shown at left) and
MZ-M10.
Both
of these units support Sony's new Hi-MD WAV Importer software,
which for the first time allows field recordings to be transferred
rapidly to a Mac over USB 2.0.
This
breakthrough software helps cement MD's position as a superior
field recorder for a broad range of professions, from musicians
and radio reporters to writers and anthropologists.
For
more information on the new generation of Mac-friendly MD units,
see my brief
overview of the MZ-M100 and Hi-MD WAV Importer.
Late Breaking...
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March 23, 2006
— Sony announces a new (and perhaps final) generation of
Hi-MD portables.
Finally, Sony promises full Mac functionality
for speedy USB uploads AND downloads, MP3 compatibility and support
for legacy MD formats like SD and MDLP.
It only took them 15 years, but Sony has
produced an MD unit that lives up to the format's squandered
potential. Read more here,
here
and here.
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July 20, 2006
— Sony has posted
detailed information on the MZ-M200 recorder (pictured above)
at its Broadcast and Professional division Web site. The site
also includes a downloadable PDF
brochure. This Mac-compatible model will ship with Sony's
new (and clumsily named) Hi-MD Music Transfer for Mac Ver. 1.0
software, which permits speedy audio uploads and downloads. PDF
instructions can be viewed here.
This software is backwards compatible with
last year's Mac-friendly MD units (the MZ-M10 and MZ-M100, available
only in North America), effectively replacing the Hi-MD WAV Importer
for Mac program that shipped with those 2005 recorders.
A few disappointments:
- Only tracks recorded in Linear PCM, Hi-SP
or Hi-LP can be imported (uploaded) to your Mac, at which point
they are converted to WAV files for Mac storage and playback.
SP, LP2, LP4 and Mono tracks cannot be uploaded — unless
you're using a PC, in which case they'll import just fine. Grrrrrrr.
(I have an extensive catalog of live SP-mode recordings made
with legacy MD gear, and I was hoping the new software would
permit me to easily upload them to my Mac for editing and CD
burning. But that would be too much to ask, eh, Sony?)
- Tracks transferred from a Windows PC using
SonicStage or MD Simple Burner also can not be imported/uploaded
to a Mac. Why? Just because.
- Windows users can speedily download from
PC to MD these formats: Linear PCM, Hi-SP, Hi-LP, LP2, LP4 and
SP. Sadly, Mac-using MZ-M200 owners can only download WAV files,
which are converted to Linear PCM on the fly before transfer
to MD.
- No downloads of any kind are supported
for owners of the MZ-M10 and MZ-M100.
More information on the MZ-M200 can be
found at SonicState,
including a brief video report.
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July 21, 2006
— Sony has posted an update to its Hi-MD Music Transfer
for Mac software. Version 2.0 can now be downloaded from Sony
Asia-Pacific here
(thanks to Dr. Richard Gilman for the tip).
This update adds the ability to download
MP3s from a Mac to these Hi-MD units: MZ-M200, MZ-RH1, MZ-M10,
MZ-M100, MZ-RH10, MZ-RH910 and MZ-RH710.
Version 2.0 also retains earlier WAV download
capability for the MZ-M200 (and MZ-RH1). Note: Hi-SP, Hi-LP,
LP2, LP4 and SP recordings still can not be downloaded to any
Hi-MD unit with Sony's Macintosh software.
More info is provided on Sony's site here.
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Other
Resources |
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| The
MiniDisc Community Portal (anything you ever wanted to know
about MiniDiscs) |
| MiniDisc
Community Forums (lively discussion of MD-related subjects) |
| MiniDiscussion
(multiple MD discussion boards) |
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Last Update: July
24, 2006 |
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I believe
the information provided on this site is accurate,
but I offer no guarantee of its fitness for any purpose. |
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© 2000-2006
Dale Greer | All rights reserved.
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