MD: MD good enough for vinyl archiving?

[Eric Woudenberg, Minidisc.org Editor]

Hi Josh,

I'm responding to the MD mailing list as well.

>       I am an avid record collector and I specialize in independent
>label rock releases.  However, the nature of this particular genre is
>that many indpendent labels release only a few thousand of each album,
>making popular titles hard to find. Because of this, there is alot of
>trading and borrowing among myself and my friends of records that are
>out of print.  I have been looking for a way to copy a record onto a
>different format so that I can keep copies of the records for my
>archives.  I considered cassette tapes, but I just don't think the sound
>quality is going to do the music justice.  Reel to reel was also a
>consideration, but the potential damage and long term degradation has
>made me reconsider that also.  Someone suggested I look into Minidisc
>recording.  After researching it, it seems like a reasonable option, but
>I am still not sure. 

MD is a good choice. I have been archiving a lot of my old vinyl on to
it, mostly for the sake of convenience. It's so easy to pop in an MD
and listen to a whole album without worring about cleaning and
flipping them over.

> The reason I prefer records to CD's or other
>digital media is the warmth of the sound that the analog provides.  Is
>this going to be lost if converted to Minidisc format? 

I don't quite know how to respond to this. I'm not an "analog" freak,
and find the surface noise, clicks and pops, and reduced SNR of LP to
interfere with my listening enjoyment to a much greater degree than
any "missing warmth" from CD. MD copies of CDs have remarkable
fidelity, very few folks can tell the two apart, with even fewer
really caring about whatever remaining differences there may be.

>Is there a
>noticiable difference in the sound between a minidisc copy of an album
>and the original?

I think you can expect the same difference between LP and CD in an MD
copy of an LP.

> How much can I expect to pay for a pack of blank
>minidiscs?  

They're about US$1.50 to US$2 per blank these days.

You might take a look at this interview:
http://www.minidisc.org/martin_stephenson.html , wherein the musician
finds MD recordings to be fresher than DAT and A-DAT. I don't really
understand his rationale for this however.

Rick

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