You can buy new discs on Amazon. While there are many minidisc players on eBay, my best finds are on Craigslist. Why? Demographics. The old guys who find them in a shoebox in their closet think they might be worth $20. I’m not exaggerating- I travel a bit and in large or small towns I’ll scan local CR for “minidisc”, “mini disc”, “minidisk”, etc. I recently acquired five players from a single seller in Bend, OR for $50. All in nearly pristine condition.
I buy empty minidisc clear cases from Japan (similar to CD jewel cases) on eBay. I have a photoshop template for printing card stock on my Epson that allows me to create art and graphics that fits perfectly in the case. Once the completed minidisc is placed inside it fits like a glove. I find it all very satisfying.
I also bought a Sony MXD-D3 ( hard to find and expensive on eBay) so I can quickly rip an entire CD. Or I can use the “Rec-it” button and just capture a single track.
One of my other decks is a Tascam MD-301 MK II which has a keyboard port so I can easily tag albums and tracks with text that dances across the player screen on most playback devices.
All of this is so cool. I’m in Australia so minidisc gear is still damn expensive here. Having said that I have a marantz cm6000 that can auto rip a CD.
Sadly the minidisc half doesn’t record anymore :(
I have to put in the metadata on my other Sony deck using the rotary encoder :)
You can import discs from Japan for about $1.50 a piece. Players/recorders aren't that hard to find on Ebay, I even found one at a local "reuse center" but I did have the laser burn out on my NetMD recorde, tried to get another on Ebay, and the laser was burned out on that one.
MP3 CDs were definitely a thing, including ones people burned themselves, but I don't think I've seen anyone use a cassette adapter. Most people put aftermarket CD stereos into their cars.
American-designed cars often had nonstandard sizes for car audio even before fully integrated entertainment systems became common. My 2001 Chevrolet has an odd, not-quite-double-DIN-sized space. If I wanted a screen for it, I would have to do some physical modifications to the dash or buy one that has a smaller main unit and a screen that sticks out from the unit (to avoid other overhanging things near it). For now, I'm happy to keep using the Bluetooth unit I put in it fifteen years ago.
What! I grew up in the UK and it was everywhere. For years you couldn't get on a bus or a train without seeing someone listening to MiniDisc. The little inline remotes were very obvious.
They stuck around for a long time, only finally being killed by the iPod.
Around 2001 pretty much all my friends had one. I owned 3 over that period (a friend destroyed one, the other me: skating falls were tough on them!)
They were easily the best format for portable music until mp3 players got their capacity problems sorted out.
They were amazing for copying music and making mixes. No one ever bought a new release on MD to my knowledge. You bought the CD and copied it onto MD. We also used them to record our band practise sessions.
