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MiniDisc Players

A MiniDisc or MD for short is a data storage device that uses magneto-optical discs. It was launched by Sony in the early 1990's as a replacement for cassette tapes but has never became widely used in the UK. The MiniDisc format has only seen mass appeal in Japan. This is possibly because it never attained true CD-quality recordings, featured low write/seek times and the price of equipment has always been high. It best sales figures in the UK was as a portable stereo for joggers and as a car stereo system, it has proved more reliable for not skipping on rough road surfaces compared to CD's. It uses a memory buffer to store data and continue playing when bumped, the buffer would provide an average of 10 seconds to allow the laser to find the correct position to read from again. With the introduction of CD recordable discs, flash memory and HDD-based audio players like the iPod the MD player is increasing looking a dead technology. It's actually difficult to find prerecorded disks and even blank discs for sale in many UK electrical stores. MD will no doubt still be used in certain music recording quarters (and by community MD sites on the web), it's still a reliable portable storage format for audio files and well respected in the music industry.