Once a legitimate blog. Now just a collection of memes 'n menz.
You can find the CDs new on Amazon, but used copies are much cheaper on Discogs, even when you factor in shipping. I picked up near-mint copies for around $3-4/disc (not including shipping).
Interestingly, when I had these in my collection prior to the purge, I didn't rip them in their entirety to iTunes—something I now regret (and has been corrected) that I've gotten them back in my collection.
I found this while going through my "Clippings" folder in my desk tonight.
When the world is falling apart, sometimes a boy just needs some show tunes to remind him of happier times.
I'm doing everything possible to stay as far away from social media as I can this weekend. To that end, I tackled one of my post-retirement tasks early.
My office closet had become unmanageable. Last weekend I pulled everything out and started going through shit.
The big boxed items hoarding the most space were the two vintage receivers as well as a vintage amp I'd posted extensively about here but were no longer in use. I'd been planning on putting them all up on eBay for over a year, but they had to be unboxed, photographed, and in the case of the amp, the speaker terminal board needed to be reattached. I kept putting it off because it was all just too much.
Well my friends, now they're up (here and here in case you're interested). And one has already sold.
I also realized my old Yamaha CD player was sitting on a shelf in the bedroom closet, and BAM! That's listed now too.
While there is some sentimental attachment to all this gear, it feels damn good to be getting it out of here—especially since I lost my mind last week and bought another Minidisc deck:
I should have sought this one out initially, but until I stumbled across a review on YouTube I didn't know it even existed. It's got all the functionality of the Sony deck I bought, but in addition it has a headphone jack, pitch control, and—most importantly—a keyboard jack so track/disc names can be easily input. Will I eBay the other one? Probably not. It's always good to have a backup…
The geek in me loves what this guy did to his player.
Sony's stopped updating their original NetMD software for transferring music files from a computer to a MD recorder about the same time they stopped making the recorders themselves. But fear not, intrepid MD Warriors! Several very industrious devotees have stepped up and created software that is—for all intents and purposes—better than Sony's original.
One of them is PlatinumMD:
I couldn't get this working the first time I tried it, but apparently the author released an update that works with the M-series Macs, and now it works just fine. The downside is that a bunch of ancillary code must be installed via HomeBrew in order for this to work at all, and not being at all familiar with HomeBrew, I really didn't have a clue what I was doing. But it worked…
Another one is WebMD Pro (requires the Chrome browser, which I loathe). Fortunately there is also a standalone application, electronwmd that has native MacOS support built-in:
Until I got Platinum MD working, this was my go-to NetMD application, and it's astoundingly simple interface is what still brings me back when I need to do some quick-and-dirty editing (or verify that what I did in PlatinumMD actually worked).
Finally, today I discovered NetMDWizard, a nifty application that lets you directly transfer/encode music tracks from CD to MD:
When recording, the absolute best quality you can get is a direct optical cable connection between your CD player and your MD deck. That being said, the whole NetMD ecosystem produces results that I (and many others) are hard pressed to find fault with. For all intents, the MD recordings sound as good as the originals. Yeah, yeah, I know…converting from one lossy codec to another will produce undesirable artifacts, but except for some minor sibilance heard with certain percussive instruments—or strident overtones heard with certain electronic compositions (and then only when recording in SP2 mode)—the quality certainly is good enough that unless you have the hearing of an 18-year-old, you'll never notice any degradation.
The initial outlay for the equipment is one thing, of course. But then there's the discs (both new and "recycled," currently in the range of about $3-4 a pop) and all the ancillary stuff: glossy sticker paper, X-acto blades, cutting mat, Goo-Gone to remove existing labels…and then the toll the labeling itself has taken on my fingernails! (I finally got smart and bought a plastic scraper and blades.)
Still…it brings me joy and keeps my mind off everything else that's going on in the world.
We all grieve in our own ways. I'm obviously spending money to try and fill the Sammy-sized hole left in my heart. I won't have that luxury in a month, but I have it now, and I'm not going to apologize to anyone for it.
The other night as I was getting ready for bed, I flashed on how—since we'd gotten a higher bed frame and mattress a few years ago—I recently starting having to lift him up onto the bed for the night. He could almost always get down on his own (although he wasn't one to refuse help in that area either), but for the last couple years he just didn't have the strength to jump up any more. I flashed on him there standing on his hind legs, front paws outstretched, leaning against the side of the mattress waiting for me to help him up and I just broke down and lost it…
At least I recognize and acknowledge what I'm doing.
…this one is undoubtedly one of my favorites. Sony was definitely at the top of their design game in the 90s and 00s, not only with Minidisc, but also with portable CD players.
For me, with the N707, it's the color, the design, the tactile feel of the unit. And the sound? Absolute chef's kiss. I can listen to this thing all day and never get burnt out. And of course, it works flawlessly. (Portable MD recorders/players, by their very nature, are much more complicated beasts than portable CD players and more prone to developing problems over years—especially if they've been neglected.)
PSA: If you're not going to use your portable electronics for an extended period and they have removable batteries, remove them.
Why, you ask? Because the my other portable developed a very wonky disc release mechanism and stopped writing the TOC (table of contents) to the disc after editing it, rendering every disc (no matter what was recorded) as "BLANK DISC."
When I reached the point I couldn't deal with this any longer, there were no other decent MZ-S1's showing up online, so I decided to try a different model. To be honest, it was the color that got me.
And wouldn't you know, immediately after I hit the BUY IT NOW button, an auction for another pristine MZ-S1 showed up. I submitted the minimum bid, never expecting to actually win the auction. Of course, a week later, I did…
Both units arrived today.
To be honest, it is nice to have a fully functional S1 again. The S1 has always been my favorite Minidisc portable, since I originally owned one in the early 2000s. While some MD connoisseurs decry its large, chonky design, I personally love it. See: Quirky.
One aspect of buying used Minidisc equipment that seldom gets mentioned is that oftentimes the sellers will throw in a few discs to sweeten the deal—or to just get them out of the house. Almost always they've got stuff recorded on them—not an issue since they can be easily erased and reused—but occasionally you find a gem hidden among them.
The first S1 (the one with the wonky release mechanism) came with an unlabeled disc with no disc name or track titles recorded. Before I summarily dismissed it and erased it, I thought I'd give it a listen. I really liked the funky jazz beat, so I took a chance that it was more than just YouTube-friendly royalty-free fodder (a lot of times seller post videos of their wares on YouTube), and fired up Soundhound. It immediately identified it: Ernest Raglin – Below The Bassline. It's been one of my go-to discs to listen to while falling asleep since getting it.
I know all this shit is boring as fuck to most of my readers—OLD MAN REDISCOVERS AND FINDS JOY IN OBSOLETE TECHNOLOGY AND WAXES POETIC ON ITS COOL FACTOR AS WORLD SLIDES INTO DYSTOPIAN HELLSCAPE—so thanks for sticking around in spite of it.
Following up on my previous post on this topic, it was indeed a very rough start getting back into Minidisc. The deck that I bought as "fully functional" immediately started throwing C13 Error messages once I started using it. I tried various non-invasive fixes found online, but none of them worked. I was heartbroken because the seller had specified "no returns accepted" in the auction, but more disappointed that my hopes for getting back into this fun format were dashed. Yeah, I still had the portable coming, but previous experience with that model told me that recording on it was a pain in the ass—hence the reason I also wanted a full-size deck (now and back in the day).
I resolved to simply put the machine back up on eBay as "for parts only" and see if I could at least recoup a little bit of what I paid for it.
By pure chance, the seller reached out to me shortly after I decided to resell it and asked how everything was going. I told her about the C13 Error and she seemed genuinely surprised.
That is truly disappointing… It was thoroughly tested before listing is with no errors or issues and it never spit a MiniDisc back out…I try to package things as safely as possible… There was no shipping or box damage? I'm wondering if something got discombobulated during shipment… Regardless, I always provide excellent service… The best I can do is issue you a full 100% refund upon return of the item…Just let me know how you would like to proceed…I'm sorry for the unforeseen inconvenience…
I responded, "There was no shipping damage, and it was packed exceedingly well! It appears the disc is not spinning once inserted (I don't hear anything going on once the disc goes in), so the table of contents on the disc can't be read. 😞 I'd like a refund. I have your original box, so I'll pack it up and get it shipped out to you later this week. Thank you."
I boxed it up and shipped it out. This past Monday I received this reponse:
Was able to inspect the player after work today… Something had to have happened during transport…I had a hunch since it was tested to the best of my abilities before it was listed…There was a couple of free floating broken plastic pieces inside the housing and a spring missing from the MiniDisc unit…unable to locate the spring anywhere… Regardless, a refund will be issued as promised… I appreciate your patience…It will take about 48 hours to process…I have to transfer $ and it takes 1-2 days for processing… Please feel free to contact me and I will respond as promptly as possible… Thanks again…
Proving that sometimes the Universe does have a sense of justice (or maybe just pure serendipity) the next day another JE480 appeared on eBay. This one had been serviced, and while it wasn't strictly "new old stock," it came with all the original accessories (still bagged) and the original box, making it about as close to NOS as I was ever likely to see.
Throwing financial caution to the wind (but knowing I'd get reimbursed—supposedly—by the buyer for the other one) I smashed that "Buy It Now" button in a heartbeat. It arrived Monday, and while there is a big scratch on the side of the case that the seller failed to document in his photos, it's in near mint condition otherwise. And it works. The most important thing, it works!
Back in early aughts, after receiving an unexpected windfall from the sale of some original Frank Lloyd Wright blueprints my dad gave me in the mid 80s that I'd been lugging around for over a decade, I used the funds and got into Minidisc in a big way—shortly before the time it was going to nosedive into irrelevance and obsolescence. (Hence the title of this post.) Despite the lukewarm reception the format received in the United States and the fact that it had been on the market since '92, I nonetheless adopted it wholeheartedly. I bought a portable player and a full-size deck to incorporate into my stereo system from The Sony Store that had popped up at The Metreon near Moscone Center in San Francisco. While CD-Rs/RWs were coming into their own by this time and it seemed everyone was still carrying around portable CD players (myself included), the iPod—and the ultimate death of MDs it hastened—were still a year away when I made my purchase. I didn't care about the format's relative obscurity even then; if nothing else, there was just a cool factor about MD and the players that I found irresistible.
Even after the iPod appeared, I stubbornly continued my love affair with the MD. I replaced my original portable MZ-E75 with the awesome MZ-S1 shortly after moving back to Phoenix in 2002, and a year later replaced my original MDS-630 deck with a MDS-480. Hell, I even put a Kenwood MD deck into my car. I amassed hundreds of those candy-colored shimmering plastic discs that I greedily filled up with not only the contents of my CD library at the time, but also music ripped from my burgeoning vinyl collection. At the time the discs were still plentiful, dirt cheap and recording was a breeze.
For years, I resisted jumping on the iPod bandwagon, believing the sound quality of MP3 files was subpar to ATRAC, which was used in encoding the MD format.
But then in March 2010, after listening to some music on Ben's iPod—and admitting the sound quality really was damn good—I broke down and bought my own. Not too long afterward—simply weighing the convenience of carrying an iPod containing my entire music collection versus all those discs, I sold my MD gear and practically gave away the discs.
I no longer have that iPod. I think I sold it when we were in Denver and I realized that most of the music I wanted to carry around with me could easily be swapped in and out of my phone. Having a separate device to do the same thing the phone could do was just…redundant. In the subsequent years, all of my listening has either been via vinyl on the "big" stereo in the living room or via headphones on my phone or Mac.
As y'all know, over the past eighteen months I've gotten back into CDs in a big way and they are still my preferred method of music consumption. I hadn't really thought much about Minidiscs until a few months ago when a MZ-S1 popped up in a post on Reddit and I was—as the kids say—consumed with the feels and it triggered something. Did I really want to get back into Minidisc, knowing what it would ultimately entail? Logically, it made no sense. Emotionally, the answer was a resounding, "We're about to descend into a dystopian hellscape, so why the hell not?" Still, I resisted the urge, but kept checking in on theMZ-S1 listings on eBay, gazing longingly and telling myself, no, no, no…
Until a week ago when I said fuck it.
Of course, the whole Minidisc landscape has changed over the past twenty years and getting back into it wouldn't be as simple as a trip to Best Buy or Fry's Electronics (which doesn't even exist any more). New players were no longer being made, and while new recordable media is still being manufactured by Sony, the variety and the "fun" factor of the disc designs has completely disappeared. If you want new, you basically have a choice of black on white or grey on white. Thankfully, there are still dozens and dozens of folks on eBay selling entire lots of used discs, and—since MDs can be rewritten "a million times" [according to Sony]—there are still plenty of options available to get all the media I'll ever want or need. On the whole, the hardware—both portable and deck variety—seems to have held up to the ravages of time much better than other "vintage" electronics, and can be found for cheap on eBay.
Which brings me to the present. I just received a MDS-JE480 deck that was in excellent condition that I snagged for a very reasonable amount of money. As of right now I have no remote control or media, but both should be arriving in the next few days. I also broke down bought a MZ-S1 portable that started this whole thing that's scheduled to arrive on Monday.
