response 12 of 53:

Jan 13 06:57 UTC 2000

While on the question of how things work, exactly what is magneto-optical
recording (as used on mini-discs)? That is, how does it work and what
aspects are magnetic and what optical?

response 14 of 53:

Jan 13 18:30 UTC 2000

Magneto-optical uses both magnetism and light to do its recording.  A MiniDisc
reads more or less like a CD, using a laser to look for changes in a
reflective layer.  When recording, the laser is cranked up enough to loosen
things up so that a magnetic field can change the position of the reflective
layer.

response 16 of 53:

Jan 13 22:39 UTC 2000

<shrug>  Search for "Minidisc" on the Web, and you'll find some nice sites.
That's what I did, but I don't remember absolutely everything.  :)

response 18 of 53:

Jan 14 00:33 UTC 2000

Gets more and more interesting. I guess I need to find a technical source
so I can understand the details from the perspective of at least my
profession (chemical engineering). 

I was struck by the fact that the power supply for my daughter's minidisk
recorder is rated at 800 ma, while the one for her Discman is rated at
only 400 ma. It must be that high power laser that required more current
(but, 800 ma?).

response 20 of 53:

Jan 14 13:58 UTC 2000

My own MD recorder will last several hours on playback, but less than one hour
recording.  Yup, that laser takes a fair amount of power.

response 22 of 53:

Jan 14 16:23 UTC 2000

Oh, and my MD wallwart is 1000mA.

response 24 of 53:

Feb 14 07:37 UTC 2000

Sorry I never got back to the questions about compression.  Yes, I was 
talking about dynamic range compression, which I find essential for 
listening to classical music, particularly opera, in a car on the 
highway.  Classical music is recorded with a much wider dynamic 
range than is usual for rock or folk music, and I find that I have to 
"gain-ride" constantly to keep the quiet parts out of the noise floor
while not overloading the speakers and my ears on the loud parts.
 
And as I mentioned, such a compression feature was included in my two 
previous portable car CD players, purchased in 1995 and 1996, but now 
I do not think you can find any portable car CD player with this feature.
I looked pretty hard, in about five stores, plus web searches.  
 
Here's another feature which is gone.  The old CD players included 
a "resume" feature so that when you stopped the player, the machine would 
remember where you were on the disk, so you could resume listening
at the correct place when you got back in the car.
That feature is now gone from the new portable players.

response 26 of 53:

Feb 16 04:40 UTC 2000

I think there are still players for sale that have the resume feature. It
seems to have become a "high end" feature, rather than something included on
all models, though.

response 28 of 53:

Feb 18 22:11 UTC 2000

A couple years ago I bought a Sony plug-in CD player for my car which, 
I discovered, will not start playing anywhere but track 1.  So every 
time I stop the car and get out, when I get back in and want to start 
the CD again, I have to hit play, wait for the 10-second memory feature 
to load up, listen to the first note of track 1, and _then_ click ahead 
N times for track N-1 which I actually want.

It's a nuisance, but compared to the nuisances of Windows and Apple 
user interfaces (equally dreadful, in my view) which most people seem 
to consider FEATURES that they actually LIKE, it's hardly worth 
complaining about.  At least with the CD player I can get want I want 
with sufficient clicks, which isn't always possible with the mouse.

response 30 of 53:

Feb 18 23:52 UTC 2000

Hey, my Sony MiniDisc recorder does the resume bit.  And you can get this
modem (rz-55) for about $250 these days.

response 32 of 53:

Feb 20 08:21 UTC 2000

Minidiscs make the most sense if you do a lot of recording (which
I do of voice lessons and rehearsals to check on my singing
progress) or if you like to make mix tapes in the minidisc format
(which I also do).

response 34 of 53:

Feb 20 17:36 UTC 2000

        Well, that price has improved recently.

response 36 of 53:

Mar 31 20:10 UTC 2000

I've decided that it's time to stop fighting with the Ford factory 
stereo and get an aftermarket unit.  The AM section got very noisy
two years ago; it was fixed under warranty and is now going again.
The tape section started getting murky from the head drifting out
of alignment last year; I paid to have it fixed, and now it's going 
again.

In party, goose was talking up the virtues of the Aiwa stereos.
Aiwa is the only brand which consistently includeds an auxiliary input
jack in its front panel; I would want this to patch in the portable
CD player I use in the car, as described earlier.

Unfortunately Aiwa is not a very popular brand.  So far I have checked
leads at both Best Buy and Sears, and they carry one or two Aiwa 
stereos but not the entire line, and in particular not the high end.
(You have to go to a high-end unit now to get Dolby B.  See comments 
above about how decent features are being stripped out.)

I'm also not sure I like Aiwa's control logic, so I may drop back
to someone like Sony or Kenwood, and continue to live with the 
cassette adapter, as I have for five years.  It's not intolerable.
 
(As I mentioned before, I still use a lot of cassettes: mix tapes, 
radio timeshifting and tapes of old LPs.  So I don't want to go 
CD-only in the car.)