You would think MP3 and mini-disc would be a perfect union. A mini-disc holds around 140MB of data. The media is cheap, readily available, and can hold over 2 hours of MP3 data. A portable player could utilize the same technology that the hard disk based MP3 players use: spin up to load a buffer, then spin down. That provides great shock resistance and better battery life.

Too bad Sony owns the mini-disc technology. Sony hates MP3s, and loves SDMI, which is the customer-hostile version of MP3. When "content-providers" also manufacture technology, it's never a winning situation for consumers. SDMI is a technology only a music company would love. "Can I get a digital music format that is less supported than MP3, restricts my usage, and offers no additional benefit? Wow! Where do I sign up?" There's a "networked mini-disc player", which talks about "recording MP3s from your computer on to your mini-disc", but I think it's converting MP3 to the native mini-disc format. I could be wrong, though. Still, it's made by Sony, and I don't trust them.

I don't trust TiVo either. Ironic that Sony is partnering with them now... But lately, giving up all television watching in general has been good for me. That, and I don't need to spend money on any more gadgets. Well, maybe one of those mongo MP3 players with the hard disk...
posted 12:25 PM | link |