|
|
As one of the two recent digital formats manufacturers have been advertising, Minidisc decks were introduced to American shores in 1993 as portable "Walkman" type recorders and players. Eventually, home decks became available. In neither case is there any compatibility with conventional compact disc players. The sound carrier itself is a two-and-a-half inch disc (developed and named Minidisc by Sony Corp.) that appears to be a cross between a conventional compact disc and a 3-and-a-half inch computer floppy disc.
This medium promises most of the advantages of compact disc players and then some. Although Minidiscs are small, they share the same storage capacity as compact discs, which is 74 minutes of music. Another characteristic Minidisc decks share with compact disc players is the ability to let users access any track (song) on disc in three seconds or less with a touch of a button. In fact, there are only two things that significantly set the Minidisc machines apart from compact disc players in terms of usage. Their immunity to practically all strong physical vibrations during playback and their ability to record.
In terms of sound quality, Minidiscs approach conventional compact discs. The difference in sound quality between the two formats is small enough, however, to be unnoticed without careful comparisons using highly revealing stereo systems. If the difference is audible, it is normally characterized by a loss of impact on percussion or a loss of perceived depth or space in the soundstage. This is mainly a byproduct of Minidisc machines' internal audio processing method known as ATRAC (Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding). When recording, the ATRAC circuitry determines which sounds are inaudible and prevent them from being recorded. Depending on musical content, only 20 percent of the sounds present in the original source may be recorded on a Minidisc. This is how a two-inch Minidisc can have a storage capacity of 74 minutes. In any case, there is a general consensus that the overall sound quality of Minidiscs surpasses that of conventional cassettes.
Unfortunately, like DCC (see Digital Compact Cassette) decks, Minidisc machines have excellent technical specifications that do not convey their sonic flaws. Prospective buyers must listen to them to determine if the audible flaws are sufficiently small to be acceptable.
Many features found on Minidisc recorders and players are similar to those on typical compact disc players. Provisions include track skip, direct access play, music scan, programming, repeat, random play, play mode, resume, edit, time display, recording level controls, recording level meters, an input switch, and Serial Copy Management System.
Track skip/AMS (Auto Music Search) enables users to access songs on a Minidisc. To hear a track that is a certain number of tracks after the current track, the track skip key for the forward direction (indicated by a double arrow preceding a vertical line) is pressed a corresponding number of times. To manually repeat the current track the track skip key for the reverse direction (indicated by a double arrow after a vertical line) is pressed once. For previous tracks, additional tapping of the key is necessary. Listeners who want to play a track when the disc isn't in the play mode need to hit the "play" button after selecting a track using the track skip keys.
