Mini disk a storage solution?

[timmyquest]

I'm not even sure if its possible. Do portable mini disk players have writing capabilities. And if so, could i use that to put pictures on it?

[tpinchback]

Great idea but, I have no idea if will work. :oops:

[timmyquest]

Great idea but, I have no idea if will work. :oops:

I'm gonna look into it for sure...i've already put my IPOD on ebay. Part of the reason i got it was because it can store pictures...at the time i didnt realize it took about 30 mins to take care of 512 of flash :roll:

[CyberDyneSystems]

Why keep experimenting.. why not just get an X-drive or Image tank?

How would you transfer images from a CF to a Minidisk?

Minidisks don't even hold 512MB... there like,. 256 or some such number,. less than half of a CD anyways.

[timmyquest]

I'd just like to find a format that plays MP3's (in an organized fashion...thus as far as i know rules out the x-drive) and stores pictures as well.

Newegg.com had a 5gig microdrive for $140...it sold out, but if it comes up again i may just buy it.

[MarkH]

I'd just like to find a format that plays MP3's (in an organized fashion...thus as far as i know rules out the x-drive) and stores pictures as well.

Newegg.com had a 5gig microdrive for $140...it sold out, but if it comes up again i may just buy it.

X's Drive Pro?

[Jesper]

I'm not even sure if its possible. Do portable mini disk players have writing capabilities. And if so, could i use that to put pictures on it?

I have a minidisc player that also has a recording facility (you can connect a microphone to it), so there are portable minidisc players that can also write data.

Unfortunately I've never seen any device that uses minidiscs for computer data. I wonder why, because minidiscs would have been an interesting substitute for the old 3,5" diskettes....

[Cadwell]

Be aware that the minidisc format uses a "lossy compression algorithm" (much like JPEG). You will not get the same out as you put in. This may be a problem.

[timmyquest]

I'd just like to find a format that plays MP3's (in an organized fashion...thus as far as i know rules out the x-drive) and stores pictures as well.

Newegg.com had a 5gig microdrive for $140...it sold out, but if it comes up again i may just buy it.

X's Drive Pro?

Thats the one i was refering to ;-)

[Jesper]

Be aware that the minidisc format uses a "lossy compression algorithm" (much like JPEG). You will not get the same out as you put in. This may be a problem.

But that's only the way the digital data is encoded (it uses something similar to MP3). The minidisc itself is a digital medium just like a CD, it records 1's and 0's. In principle it could also be used for computer data. The data doesn't necessarily need to be compressed with a lossy compression algorithm.

[OviV]

I have the X drive Pro and it leaves a lot to be desired as an MP3 player. Its menus are very rudimentary and not the greatest. The battery life is also very bad (aroud 1 hour and 45 minutes of continuous play). It is a good image storage device but if you want something that can serve as a real MP3 player you might want to research the Archos Gmini's. Here is a link to the 120: http://www.archos.com/products/overview/gmini_120.html

[gyelland]

Minidisk cannot save data at the moment

because its Sony copyright, it uses ATRAC encoding not MP3
and is only any good for music, it is lossy and optomised for music.
no good for pictures

I used to hack the ATRAC code to fit more information onto the disks (but not by much) and it will not store pictures

If sony see any future for mini disk they had better find a way to write data to them, this would be a great storage medium, otherwise they will be overtaken by flash memory (if not already).

[jambo]

Hi-MD, which is due out in april i think addresses this. 1 gig on a minidisk that will act as a USB drive and store JPEGs....no word on raw though