Record your favorite songs with smart MD

Gatot Tio, Contributor, Jakarta

Want to record your favorite songs on discs? Thanks to the introduction of a new device called Mini Disc (MD), you can make your own disc with songs of your choice.

In many ways, a MD recorder is like a miniature recording studio. With a little practice, you'll be able to make amazingly good recordings.

MD was introduced in 1992 by Sony Corporation or 10 years after the launch of the Compact Disc (CD). The idea of creating the CD format came after Sony felt that the sound quality of the cassette system was not optimal.

Sony then developed a new disc system, with perfect compactness and a strong resistance to vibration. The system later called Mini Disc (MD) is a recordable format. You can record on an MD the same way you can record on a cassette. MD can be recorded, erased, rerecorded, and edited up to a million times.

The primary difference between the MD and cassette is that the MD is a digital audio format, and is read optically, with a laser, just like the Compact Disc (CD).

MDs are manufactured exactly like CDs with the same materials. Recordable MDs use Magneto Optical technology, a technology first used on high-end computer workstations and servers (the "MO drive"). MD, which is designed to allow people to make their own recordings, is more flexible in its recording playback abilities.

The new CD technology certainly offers much more fun for users. You can record a song from any audio source such as a CD player or a personal computer -- and then play it. Whether as a home player/recorder, car player, or shirt-pocket player, MD has many applications. MDs have a set amount of stereo recording time (currently available with 60, 74 or 80 minutes). Some MD recorders have the option of recording in mono, which doubles the amount of time available on the MD.

A MD recorder uses a data compression algorithm called ATRAC to store 74 minutes of music. The ATRAC algorithm has been significantly improved, and most listeners cannot hear any difference between a CD and a MD.

A MD disc is similar to a computer hard disk. The data is stored on disk and is both writeable and erasable. It also provides fast random access and robust shock-resistant portability making a MD recording extremely easy. In many cases the source player and the recorder can be interconnected, allowing one-button operation.

Before buying one, there are many things that you have to consider such as: price, battery life and the type of MD you most like.

MD players are available in a variety of models and sizes. They come in the forms of Boombox, Home Deck, Home System, MD Size or Pocket Size. A boombox is a unit that you can carry with a handle, which comes with speakers and often other components built-in, such as a cassette deck or radio. Home Deck is a component of a larger stereo system, with no speakers, and requiring input into an amplifier to hear the music from the MD.

MD Size unit is only slightly larger than a MD itself, while a Pocket Size unit is portable. A Home System, also known as a "Mini System", also has speakers and other components, but is intended to be left on the shelf in one place. Many MD units, especially portable units, are equipped with memory that allows them to play music without skipping, even when the unit is jostled.

Some models have a feature which allows you to connect your MD System to your PC (through the computer's USB port) to copy music files onto a MD. Most PC Link-enabled MD Systems allow you to copy MP3 or WAV files directly from your computer to a blank minidisk. Sony's MD, NET MZ-N1 is the first MD that works like a MP3 player which enables up to 32X recording speed from your computer.

Now Sharp is pushing for MD as actively as Sony. A few other companies such as Denon, JVC, Kenwood and Yamaha, have recently introduced MD hardware.