recording from minidisk

["Peter McGuire" <peter.mcguire@xxxxxxxxx>]

I've been grappling with the minidisc problems for quite a while now.
Virtually all minidisc player/recorders available currently suffer the
limitation of not being able to transfer data via the USB line to computer.
This means that no digital transfer is possible from minidisc players to
computers, even though the converse is not true. Sony's rationale for this
is to protect copyright content; however; it also limits people from
transfering their own recordings digitally. This bug will be remedied in the
new models due to come out this summer (I think one model may already be
out). Check www.minidisc.org for details.

Analogue copies of minidisc content is possible using the headphone jack.
This technique has already been described. Personally I like the software
"winMD" available at http://hello.to/klukas . Unlike most recording
software, this one is designed to work with minidisc, automatically titling
tracks and using your MD-trackmarks to seperate the files. It's the next
best thing to a digital transfer.

This digital-transfer limitation is not an issue with the hard-drive/flash
based recorders. The trade off is mainly in size and performance. I find
minidisc recordings to be very good sounding (despite the compression) and
the devices themeselves have been around for a lot longer than hard-drive
recorders, which may say something for robustness.. or not.

That's my $0.02
Peter