I really like the new Minidisc HI-MD format (makes MP3's sound like a piece of old Tin Can) -- and the new 1GB minidiscs can hold a massive amount of music at MUCH MUCH higher quality than an IPOD or equivalent.

An entire CD can be copied digitally to a recordable Minidisc in this new format in a matter of minutes so it really is great for "music on the move".

However the software that drives this is a piece of Sony stuff called "Quick Burn" which is of course designed to run on 'Doze.

The minidisc is attached to the computer via a USB connection.

Surprise Surprise however this works under WINE -- you have to install the windows program as the ATRAC3 Plus codec is proprietary SONY stuff and is unlikely ever to be open source.

So if you like your music on the move and want better quality (BY FAR) than MP3's try it --- and if you are still convinced MP3's have it --then by using the HI-MD Long play format (not to be confused with the older MD formats MD-LP) you can store an amazing 45 entire CD's on 1 small minidisc.

Pretty cool that it works in Wine! It's always good to hear that useful software is functional in Wine; the more of that we have, the easier it'll be for some of us to stop using Windows...

MP3 can actually have fairly high quality, as long as a good encoder (like Lame), and VBR with a high maximum bitrate are used. It's hard for me to distinguish high-bitrate VBR from the original recording. 128kbps mp3s very often sound like crap to me, though. Can Atrac3plus do VBR?

Too bad it doesn't support Ogg Hard to find inexpensive portables that do.

Hi there --there are some OGG related progs out there


Have a Look at the Minidisc site --- I'm afraid however it's primarily 'Doze users --still you might glean some useful Info.

ATRAC3 Plus beats MP3 by so far that MP3 is not even on the starting grid by the time the HI-MD has finished the race. You can also record Pure Un-compressed sound from CD's as well --but unless you have really exceptional ears and are playing the music in a proper environment then to all intents and purposes ATRAC3 Plus is really indisinguishable from the CD quality.

I've just recorded 8 entire Cd's on to a 1GB minidisc and it only took around 20 Mins !!!!.

Here's the link

http://www.minidisct.com/forum/showt...=simple+burner


Cheers