the r-space
12 - MiniDisc and the return of the Bedroom Dresser Setup
29/08/2025 at 12:41
(this is probably the highest-res image i've put on this website)
It's been a bit since the last post (again), but mostly because I've not had much to talk about. However, I do now!
As you can tell from the image, I've undergone another bout of Responsible Money Management and put together more stuff for my dresser. Don't worry, the ThinkPad is safe and lives on my desk.
I won't go into too much detail about the specifics of each thing on here, (that'll be for a video at some point on my YouTube) but i'll give the model numbers before my inevitable rambling about MiniDisc in this post.
Amp - Sony STR-D515
Speakers - Sony SS-CCP333
MiniDisc deck - Sony MDS-S707
CRT - JVC TM-1010PNK
TV - Sony KDL-40W5500 (this TV has some history that I'll talk about at some point)
With that out of the way, you may have noticed something on top of the MiniDisc deck. You remember how I talked about getting a PS3 a while back? I have done just that. I didn't buy it from CeX but frankly that's probably a good thing
I've been putting together a pretty nice collection of games for it (for some reason PS3 games are stupidly cheap on eBay in the UK) and it's cemented itself as a cornerstone of my bedroom entertainment experience and also the best console ever made (in my opinion, please don't kill me) Again, I'll talk about this stuff later but now I'll go onto the main bit-
MiniDisc is a format quite a few people have talked about and it's pretty easy to see why. CD quality audio* with the convenience of a cassette tape, and editable table of contents with complete rewritability? From what it boasts, it should have exploded in popularity. Unfortunately, it didn't exactly do that (at least in the West). Thanks to our good friends the record labels (and the RIAA) with their previous war against Digital Audio Tape, MiniDisc's launch in the West was pretty poor.
Fast forward 25 years however and you'll find people still using MiniDisc out of love and nostalgia. I am one of those people (despite not being alive in the 90s). I record and put together mixtapes, I have a MiniDisc head unit for the car I'm getting 8 months from now, I use an MD Walkman, the whole 9 yards.
Something about the tactile and engaging nature of recording each track, naming and ordering them, then enjoying them feels a lot more fun than just streaming music (I don't actively use Spotify or similar services, but still)
And the discs. Good Lord some of these look actually amazing. Thankfully due to the 90s and 2000s design culture there are countless different designs for the minidiscs themselves and they're just beautiful to look at. The Sony Bianca and Neige line come to mind, but the TDK wa look great too. I now own about 35 discs (lots of 10 discs are pretty cheap on eBay) and regret nothing about my unhealthy money management.
(Above: Sony Bianca recordable MD)
(Below: Sony Colour Collection recordable MD, sealed. The Japanese text at the top reads MDはソニーからはじまった, meaning roughly 'MiniDisc started from Sony'. I'm still learning Japanese :D)
There's something about the size and designs of MD that delights me. Not to mention, they actually sound pretty good!
This is where that little asterisk on the 'CD quality audio' bit comes in. MiniDiscs are much smaller than CDs yet hold the same length of audio, if not more? in the 'same quality'? How is this sorcery possible? The answer lies in the compression algorithm. You remember MP3, that groovy way of compressing audio making internet transfer easier?
Sony has a similar algorithm called ATRAC. It works by finding areas of the spectrum of sound deemed inaudible to the human ear, and removing them to save storage space as well as general compression of audio. Despite it sounding (no pun intended) like the end result will sound bad, it actually sounds just as good to my ears (and to a lot of people, too) while managing to compress quite well onto MiniDisc.
When recording directly from an optical input (using TOSLINK, which for those who don't know essentially sends digital audio over optical fibre cables, negating potential audio hissing and interference that exist with analog audio) You can get an absolutely wonderful listening experience with MiniDisc.
For those thinking of getting into MiniDisc I'd recommend looking into an MD Walkman with recording functionality. Unless you just want to play prerecorded discs the thing you'll be primarily doing is making your own, whether it's putting an album onto a disc, or making mixtapes.
My Walkman is an MZ-R55 my late grandfather bought in the 90s and it's going strong even now. Optical and Analog line in, analog line out and mic+headphone ports, plus the remote is super fun to use and clips onto a shirt collar or something.
I'll talk about my Hi-Fi setup in further detail in another blog post/video, since this one is getting pretty long.
To conclude, MiniDisc is fun and music is more enjoyable now because of it