End of An Era

I've dabbled in Minidiscs for a long time, almost for as long as they've been in the country. At first, they were too expensive, but then I was able to buy a used Sony MZ-R30 and I fell in love with it. Back in those days, you could even walk into a Sears (SEARS!!!) and buy blank discs, which might explain why I have 45 recordable MDs sitting around. 

I even took my R30 out and recorded with it in "the field". No; I didn't "bootleg" any concerts (although Minidiscs were a favorite of that crew): I just did our church choir's performances. I would even title the discs and tracks using the scroll wheel! This was essentially the perfect medium to replace the cassette for me. ....Yes, I was a "mix tape" maker. I even lusted after the very rare versions that attached to a computer which allowed a PC to do the editing and titling although I never could afford one.

I could and did afford this though: the Yamaha MDX-793, one of the top MD decks of the time. It recorded and played beautifully, AND fit perfectly in my extensive A/V system. We were so minidisc-centric in those days that my wife even had me buy her one so she could have music while working out. Things percolated along pretty well for some time, till we moved about 9 years ago. They got packed up and over the course of the next few years, we just stopped using them. 

There was a variety of reasons, not the least of which was the arrival of the iPod. Although, I'll defend the sound quality of the minidisc to my grave, you just can't deny the convenience of the hard drive devices after all the music has been ripped to it. We might have been some of the last hold-outs, as we didn't get one till the 5th Generation (video) version. I bought a 30Gb one for my wife and as they say; the rest is history. We now have 3 working iPods, plus some dead parts units. For me, the ability to do all the organization on the computer and the ability to stream one set of files throughout our network was the ultimate "killer" feature. In fact, my 80Gb "Classic" also doubles as my portable mass storage.

 

Actually, for me, the last few years have seen a renaissance of sorts. First there was a pair of Sony professional decks (one record, one play) that was picked up from a college radio station for $20. Then I came across the Sony MXD-D40 combo, CD/MD deck at a local Goodwill for $8!

At one point, I almost went whole-hog and got the last (and greatest) recorder/player that Sony brought out about 6 years ago in the MZ-NH1. But I decided that north of $300 was too much for a rarely used "hanger queen". Which brings us to the cross-roads I was at about a week ago. While doing one of my periodic readings on the state of minidiscs, I came across an article discussing the end Sony production, which if you didn't already know it, effectively means the end of all minidisc production period. Of course, this brought on the usual bout of nostalgia, so I looked around on eBay to see what prices were doing. Apparently, they are now "up" some, so I was left with a dilemma. Hold on to it as a "collector" format, or sell off?

....And after careful consideration, which included weighing my various other hobbies, space restrictions, pricing etc., I've decided to "List It". Thus the end of an era.