MiniDisc in the Press and Technical Journals

General

• 07/01 USA Today article pitching the MD format against solid state devices.
• 06/01 A USA Today article covers Minidisc's comeback.
• 06/01 The Toronto Star mentions Minidisc in its annual Achievement Awards ``Best audio recording technology: MiniDisc, due to its editing capabilities and portability.'' (See the entire article [2MB PDF]).
• 04/01 The South China Morning Post (HK) carries a positive Minidisc article that quotes us. (We make several comments on the article.)
• 01/01:A Wired article briefly mentions MiniDisc MDLP as it sizes up the latest audio and video products.
• 11/00: A CNET.com article talks of different digital audio technologies offered today, including MiniDisc.
• 7/00: A Stereophile article states that, aside from computer based recording, MD is the leading digital recording format in the US.
• 3/00: Terence Chea, Wired writer, grudgingly accepts that MiniDisc is the best recording format in today's consumer digital audio marketplace.
• 3/00: An E-Media article finds the MiniDisc to be a useful and valuable audio format after all these years.
• 7/99: Both Telegraph (UK) and TDK Japan talk of MD's success and acceptance in the world.
• 6/99: Bill Sturrock points out a relatively objective Gadget News article on MD and the Sony MZ-E40.
• 2/99: Journalist Gus Silber, alerts Johannesburg to the dawn of MiniDisc.
• 2/99: Stereophile advocated MD on its convenience & quality.
• 12/98: Lee Chin has written a USC term paper on MD.
• 7/98: Top (Tower Records Magazine UK) wrote enthusiastically about Pre-recorded MD in an article last year.
• 7/98: EE Times article with a bit of inside information and discussing Sony's MD strategy.
• 5/98: A favorable Telegraph (UK) article about MiniDisc has links to several short equipment reviews.
• 2/98: T3 magazine had an interesting interview with Sony and Philips PR folks in which they discussed where they think audio formats are headed.
• 11/97: Time Magazine article about A New World at Sony comments on how Idei is adapting Sony to the networked, digital era. (Not directly MD related).
• 11/97: Rolling Stone article a few MD comments.
• 10/97: Singapore airlines inflight magazine had an article covering MD.
• 8/97: German Stereo magazine discusses the current status of MD in Europe (alternate translation).
• 5/97: A review of an article from the Nikkei Business Weekly sheds light on how Sony's MZ-E50 MD player was created.
• 4/97: On the cover of their April issue, the German Stereo Magazine wrote ``MD now definitely better than DAT'', they discuss the relative standing of both formats in their review of Sony's top of the line MDS-JA50ES MD deck.
• 4/97: In these excerpts of John Borwick's Grammaphone review of the MDS-JE500 he states that he finds MD and CD to be virtually indistinguishable.
• 4/97: In a Sound On Sound interview with one of the Sony MDM-X4 designers, mention is made of possibly using ATRAC on the internet.
• 6/96: Excerpts of German Stereo Magazine about Sony's ATRAC 4.
• 1992: An article from Audio magazine gives a good general introduction to the technology employed in MiniDisc.

Professional Use

• 2/99: An EQ article by Craig Anderton suggests a few interesting ways for musicians to make good use of normal (2-channel) Minidisc.
• Art Chimes considers the use of Minidisc in Radio Journalism.
• Radio College has an array of pro audio recording technical topics for the aspiring radio journalist.
• David Cohen describes his success using MiniDisc for theatre special effects.
• Mike Ward contributes an interesting article about MiniDisc use in radio news reporting.
• A page has been found talking of one person's 'conversion' to Minidisk [sic] for dance-calling.
• An EQ Magazine article discusses MD's usefulness for musicians.
• A Studio Sound article describes how a commercial CD was made from a recording session mastered on MD.

Self Reference

• 9/01 Gannett News extols the virtues of Minidisc (quoting us in the process).
• The South China Morning Post (HK) carries a positive Minidisc article that quotes us. We make several comments on the South China Morning Post MD article.
• A Home Recording Magazine article on MiniDiscs mentions both MiniDisc.org and MiniDiscussion.com.
• The Wire (UK) mentions the MDCP.
• We find ourselves rated by Planetclick.com as the "most techy site."
• An October '97Hi-Fi World article says kind words about the MDCP. (Thank you Mr. Price!).
• A Washington Post story talks about MiniDisc's Second Coming, mentioning its Internet presence as well.
• The MDCP gets passing mention in the WSJ.

Myths

• Sony has their own MiniDisc troubleshooting FAQ? The trouble is, it is woefully misinformed in places.
• Sound on Sound makes an argument for sonic differences among blank discs (upshot: "better" sound only occurs in MD equipment with marginal analog sections).
• Two What HiFi articles describe how it is that MD blanks can sound different. (We've added some commentary within the article).
• A HiFi World talks about the subtle quality differences between MD Blanks.
• A TDK listening test reports that their pro blanks have increased "depth and richness".

Media and Artwork

• The T-station held a pixel contest where budding artists can help promote MD. The results of the contest can be found on their site.
• Gary Binger's collection of unique MiniDisc blanks is on display at The T-Station.
• James Meister's MiniDisc unit icons offer a wide selection of MD-related icons for Mac OS.
• A collection of user-made MD artwork can be found at the MD T-Station.
• More exotic MD blank designs available from Beyond HiFi: "Alien Rock", "Out Of This World", and "Brainstorm".
• Sony's Flash-enhanced MDLP promotion page has an Ad Gallery where you can view still image advertisements and also watch a 30-second MDLP commercial (Quicktime .MOV format).
• For those in Australia, you can subscribe to Pulse (Sony's half-magazine, half-catalog publication) for free.
• Beyond HiFi has a photo collection of some of TDK's latest designer blank MDs: Ministry Girotondo and Bow wow styles.
• Gerrit Dijkstra has handcrafted images of the Sony MD logo in .gif and .eps formats.
• Marco Rossen passes along a closeup of Sony's new Walkman logo, found on the MZ-E800. According to Sony it emphasizes the new Sony network era.
• Beyond HiFi points out a set of 3 designer MD blanks being marketed by TDK Europe and currently offers the Happy Cyclop (1st of the series).
• A PG-13 rated MD ``Dream'' advert (2.7MB .avi) was produced for Sony UK that they declined to air.
• MD screensaver for Windows95 (Sony Music Europe).

Humor

• The story of Ancient MiniDiscs.
• A Zits MiniDisc Cartoon from the SF Examiner.
• Sony's PG-13 rated MD ``Dream'' advert (2.7MB .avi)
  April 1st entries:
• 2002: Russian hackers reverse engineer Sony MZ-N1, adding MP3 capability. Exclusive interview with Sasha Breginski
• 2001: Sony takes the merging of different electronic devices one step further, with the release of their MZ-TST1 dual MD drive recorder/bread toaster.
• 2000: The Sony MZ-R110/120 PDA, which even fooled TapWeekly.
• 2000: Sony S-core transformer.
• 1999: Sony gives up on MD! Pushes MD-CC instead.
• An IDG article states that 9% of geeks own Minidisc players.

Marketing

• 8/2001: Sony's advertising campaign placing big red stickers on a Toronto street as part of a treasure hunt.
• 8/2001: A BBC News article mentioning that pre-recorded Minidisc sales have fallen off.
• 12/2000: A Sony Hong Kong page describes Sony's MDLP promotional event in Asia.
• Brandon Seong-Shin Hong's detailed economics class paper on MiniDisc discusses the marketing of the format and its future prospects.
• A Sony press release outlines plans to license the ATRAC3 LSI. Update: Sony and IBM have struck a deal to master and distribute secure ATRAC3. IDG has a story covering Sony's online music retailing venture.
• A Headwize page discusses the psychological content of a Sony MiniDisc advertisement.
• In a May 99 press release from Sony's European Business Products Group they mention that the MiniDisc market is expected to exceed 20 million units worldwide in the year 2001.
• Articles from ABC News and Apple cover Minidisco, our sponsor. The MD Cave has also conducted an interview with Minidisco.
• Sharp will be the first to produce portable MiniDisc recorders outside Japan when it begins production of the MD-MT20 and MD-MT15 series in Malaysia in May 1999.
• Samsung UK (XIOD, T:0181-2323235, F:0181-2323227) are seeking UK distributors for their blank MD media, contact Ning Ning for further information.
• PR Central gives an unusual inside look at how marketeers go about positioning Sony's MiniDisc as a hot product.
• A December '98 Stereophile article on MD's growth reports that the number of US retail outlets selling blanks has grown to about 9000!
• An August '98 Herald Tribune article on MiniDisc states that MD is eclipsing the cassette.
• An October '98 Washingon Post article states that MiniDisc is alive and well in the US.
• The MD Push '98, articles:
  • from Sony's press release.
  • from TWICE, August '98.
  • The Robb Report wrote briefly about Minidisc's Revival in Feb '98.
  • from U.S. News & World Report by Leonard Wiener.
  • from Stereo Review.
  • from Webnoize, this one though holds to the old misconception that MD is intended to replace CD.
  • from The Arizona Daily Star discussing MD's reemergence.
  • from a PR Newswire clip, and a RealVideo clip of one of Sony's MD TV commercials.
  • from TWICE, regarding Maxell and the coming MD ``boomlet''.
  • from The Good Guys store, along with a brief bit of historical context.
• A June '98 Forbes article states that in Japan, portable MiniDisc players have outsold portable CD players for the first time ever.
• A Jan/98 Popular Mechanics article muses about why MD is popular in Japan but not in the US.
• An Oct/98 MD intro article from Popular Mechanics mildly praises the format.
• An article from the October issue of Audio Video International discusses Sony's recent US MD marketing campaign.
• In a Washington Post article about Sony's recent profitability they note that MiniDisc sales have soared.
• In a brief interview with Sony that appeared in What HiFi? magazine, we hear that 1997 is to be the year of the MD in the UK.
• In a March 1997 article on the recording industry Forbes Magazine mentions that MiniDisc is starting to catch on, showing a chart indicating that worldwide sales of MiniDisc hardware tripled last year.
• An April 1997 Nikkei article states that a surge in MD player demand is expected.
• Press clippings from the Wall Street Journal and the Oregonian about Sony's re-intro of the MD to North America.
• A Jan. '97 Home Furnishing Network article covers Sony's recent MD marketing push.
• Audio World briefly reports on a Frost & Sullivan study indicating that the market share for professional MiniDisc will increase.
• An audio clip of Sony's North American MD commercial has micro-snippets of a few cool tunes.
• A TWICE article states that Sony's MD promos are building momentum.
• BPS' Layers magazine special edition on optical storage has articles about MiniDisc's bright future and how MD growth represents opportunites for disc manufacturers.
• An article in Time Magazine mentions MiniDisc (Time's Tech Watch section carries it too).
• A 1996 Austin Chronicle article discusses MD's success in Sony's test markets.

Intro, Fluff

• Etown offers newbie tips for getting the most from your MD.
• A MiniDisc intro piece from Ziff-Davis unfortunately exhibits a few misunderstandings.
• An newbie article in The New Paper from Singapore gives MD coverage.
• A January 99 article in the Chicago Sun-Times talks about CDs in the presence of upstarts like MD.

Politics, Legal issues

• A WSJ article states that Microsoft and others aim to render MP3 obsolete.
• A Scientific American article mentions MiniDiscs in its discussion of copyright management in today's digital world.
• Copyright Board Canada issues a press release outlining a new levy being imposed on various recording media, including MiniDisc. Neil Herber explains the effects of the levy.
• The RIAA recently wrote email clarifying the legality of home audio recording, stating that consumers are free to copy CDs to MD.
• Cornell University's Legal Information Institute has the complete US Copyright Code concerning digital audio recording devices and media (see Subchapter D, which prohibits copyright suits against consumers making non-commercial digital recordings).
• In an interesting LA Times interview, Geffen Records' Jim Griffin discusses intellectual property rights, and surprisingly feels copy protection would be ``a tragic mistake.'' (original version, for those with good eyesight)
• Articles in Wired and The Lousville Cardinal discuss the recording industry's campaign against MP3 on the net.
• October '98 articles in Stereophile and Wired discuss the RIAA vs. Diamond suit (wherein the RIAA tries to prevent a portable MP3 player from coming to market).

Copy Protection

• New Scientist articles on copy-prohibited CDs, including mention of SCMS protected CDs in Germany.
• A Stereophile article details Macrovision's method of making CD's un-rippable.
• A New York Times report shows how the RIAA kept an SDMI cracking technical paper from being presented. (Fortunately Felton's SDMI cracking paper itself made it onto the web, safe for all.)
• The perils of industrially imposed copy protection are covered by John Gilmore, of EFF fame.
• Macrovision Safe-Audio:
  • CD-Freaks article.
  • Roxio technical note on the 'Burst Mode Copy' method.
• New Scientist criticism of a the Cactus system.

Dissent

• 10/00: A grumbling article found on ZDNet talks about Sony fumbling the ball with MiniDisc.
• 7/99: A MacWEEK article claims that MD missed the boat.
• Ken Pohlmann's Signals article in Stereo Review does not smack of MD boosterism (included after the article is a rebuttal). Update 4/01: Pohlmann writes a positive MiniDisc article on HiFiBuys' site.
• 3/97: Ken Polmann's March 1997 Stereo Review article rates the audio quality of Dolby S above Minidisc, though he rates both equivalent to CD for casual listening. Included in the article are spectrograms of a snippet of music reproduced from CD, Cassette, and MD.
• 10/98: In a summary of Ken Pohlmann's Stereo Review article, he seems to have warmed towards the format slightly.
• 2/98: A droopy article by Stereophile on Sony's MD relaunch brings replies from Jon Deutsch and Reg Smith.
• 2/98: A Wired Magazine Hype List predicts MD's meme is not long for this world.
• 3/98: Jon Deutsch made favorable MD commentary in Stereophile's Soapbox column, but, predictably their readers were still grumpy about MD.
• A Japanese anti-MD site (brief English section, machine translation into English) claims that ``it is blasphemy ... to throw out cassette tape as garbage!''

Historical

• A Gamespot.com article briefly mentions MiniDiscs in talking about incompatibilities between various audio, video, and game console media.
• 3/93: A 1993 Studio Sound and Broadcast Engineering article discusses the fledgling MD, DCC nascent CD-E formats.
• 6/91: A mid-1991 article from a Seybold publication talks about what MiniDisc Data could become [read: might have been].
• MPO's French pages (circa 1994) concerning MD manufacture and Sharp's second try with MD-Data.
• 6/93: A Popular Science article shows an MD unit for Ford's 1994 model year (apparently it never really flew).

Technical

• MD Tech, a website managed by Glen Wintringham, has several detailed MD-related essays that investigate both preamplifier and ATRAC issues.
• An April 2000 HiFi Choice article carefully compares MP3 vs. ATRAC Type-R.
• Pioneer describes their ``Advanced Parameter Processing'' in ATRAC, indicating that they've done some of their own development of the codec.
• Included in a Sony Super Audio CD brochure is an explanation of the Delta-Sigma 1-Bit analog to digital conversion process.
• We take a closer look at the MiniDisc's User Table of Contents.
• Clover Systems has good information on the CD (and hence MD) standard's error correction methods.
• Sound on Sound has a good article on audio coding (data reduction) that covers the binaural masking level difference phenomenon.
• Guy Churchill submits the results of his serious listening test comparsion of CD, MD, MP3, VQF and RealAudio.
• Technical Report Summary: ATRAC2 Encoder/Decoder LSI by Watanabe et al.
• Technical Report Summary: One-chip LSI for MiniDisc by Sasaki et al.
• Technical Report Summary: Sanyo researchers pack 48 hours of voice on an MD.
• AMSYS has a brief news story mentioning the Sony 650 MB MD, the same story also appears on TechWire.
• A short article with informative graphs from the Swedish Electronic World Magazine show distortion with respect to ATRAC generation.
• A technical paper from the June 1996 Design Automation Conference discusses the methods used to create Sharp's ATRAC LSIs.

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