#102

It’ll be a little embarrassing but sure mail you disc.

#103

There might be a software method but minidisc is more like cassette. You’d more likely just connect the player to your computer and hit play.

Some discs have an optical/digital out. If you have an adapter you can connect the player to your USB.

While minidisc has a file structure I’m not aware of anything that lets you browse and manage files directly. From the player you can add marks to tracks, delete tracks, name tracks, and things like that but you can’t select a group files and copy or drag them to your desktop.

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#104

given i started this thread, with great intentions, years ago, i should probably take the lead in getting this little md project off the ground

(i’ve been ever-delayed by three hard-to-finish records, which are now neeearrrly done)

call it something like, say, LCRPMD01?

here’s my initial pitch:

PHASE 1

  • let’s pick a few broad musical boundaries, say a tempo range, perhaps a few scales and keys (more on this below)
  • two types of tracks :
    • very short snippets < 5s
    • up to ~ 1m or so
  • everyone sends tracks here (or to me) and I collate them
  • we keep going until we have a full MDs worth (need to check, 74 mins???). you can submit multiple short snippets. no deadline per se, just keep making snippets until we have enough.
  • then I (or someone) does some basic-level matching / simple mastering and makes the whole set available for download, so people can run off their own MDs
  • those of us with MD recorders / dupe facilities and spare disks can create copies and post to llllllll’ers who cover shipping costs?
  • someone helps with packaging? labels? postcards???

That’s phase 1 complete, and everyone has a nice, original collection of tracks in MD format. But that leads us to phase 2…

PHASE 2

This is (partly) what sparked my interest in the MD format again…

  • The results of phase 1 are used as backing tracks for everyone to then use in conjunction with other equipment to produce other, complete tracks, in the 2 to 5 minute long range, to produce another derived-album (or collection of tracks).
  • … taking advantage of some of the random track skipping that MD can do, or just due to the random arrangement of the completed MD
  • or you can mash around with the buttons on your MD player however you want
  • using whatever additional gear you want : modular, Norns, computers, whatever
  • but, you have to perform it in once pass, with the MD backing tracks driving things, semi-randomly, or something

Et voilà!

So, throw in some ideas, and if there’s enough interest in something like this i’ll push it along.

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#105

I’ve personally had a hell of a time getting NetMD to work. Off the top of my head, I can’t really say whether it would allow one to transfer recordings; I imagine that, given all the stupid protections they put in place with the software to prevent piracy, it’s not likely.

I think the main purpose of NetMD, specifically, was to compete with mp3 players (with both hands tied, of course), and my only purpose in attempting to get it running has been to erase a stack of discs I was given which were unfortunately written using the software, meaning that they’re protected even from being erased by anything other than NetMD.

#106

I had never heard of NetMD.

#107

I got Hi-MD to work once. It was painfully slow. Maybe they thought of it as “better than tape” for the capacity of 1GB - big at the time. I “got Net-MD to work” on their solid state players - not so fond memories of SonicStage (Sony Connect). I think they either issued a firmware update later, or just a little app that would give you access to just the files - no other “features”.

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#108

Love this idea! One of my projects this year is to repurpose some of my 90s minidisc sketches as kind of a collaboration with my younger self. Following with interest, thanks.