RastaD

I noticed in one of the interior shots that the radio has a Tape/MD button. I'd love to have a minidisc option here in America. Minidisc is not nearly as popular in the US as it is in Japan (not sure about Europe). But if it already has the capability, it should be easy to offer as long as there is some public interest. I for one would get it (I am already a fan of the format). As the radio system doesn't look like it would be easily replaced with aftermarket equipment, it would be great to have an alternate digital audio source besides burnt CDs. Would anyone else be interested in MD?

Rich

Not me, but I have no problem with it being an option. I'd prefer just AM/FM, and I suppose CD is required at this price point. No need to add any extra weight.

Toadman

I think I'd rather have it MP3-compatible rather than mini-disc.

velociti

iTrader: (1)

im a bit of an audiophile so digital or not any kind of compression means its no good to me. I bought a portable minidisc player that had an optical out, and weather I played it through my Grado headphones or my reciever, the sound quality was inferior in every respect. As for convenience? Eh, I guess they're a bit more convenient than CD's, but since you would have to copy the music from a CD anyway in order to make the minidisc....why not just use the higher quality CD? Whatever, to each their own.

Sputnik

I noticed that too, and I would love it if a MD head with a CD changer was available. This is the same exact setup that I've put in my Miata.

The MDs of nowadays (as long as you don't try putting it in the LP mode) are very close to CDs. Close enough that it's alot easier for me to build up a set of copied MDs and take 10 of them and the player all in a little camera bag on a plane trip instead of taking my precious CDs along so that they could be damaged or stolen (and which would take up alot more room in my computer bag). I don't do MP3 because I haven't been able to find an MP3 setup that I'd be happy with.

But that's how I've worked it, other people may prefer other things.

---jps

RastaD

I guess the ultimate audio solution would be to have a hard drive in your car to hold mp3s (or newer formats like AAC). I went with MD for my portible solution due to its good combination of long batery life and cheap media. It would be easy to use in the car as well, but anyone with a computer would be able to take advantage of a mp3 setup. Blaupunkt has a slick new (IBM) microdrive setup for cars. If Mazda offered something like that instead of MD, I would not complain. I'd prefer being able to store my CDs at a higher bitrate than MD does. Still, if they offer MD here in the US, I'll get it.

rototlewski

I like MD's they are cool. they are like high quality tapes. Just pop it in and go instead of worrying about scatching it you could be lisening. Yeah the quality suffers but to me thats not a problem I honestly can't tell much differnce from MP3's ripped in 346 bitrate and 128 bitrates. I guess I have crap-o-sound definition with my ears but i have good hearing. I have a MD player but it is busted on acount of a bottle of coke started leaking for it's own evil perposes and killed my player witch was in the same pocket.

B-Nez

My preference is CD with MP3 or MP3-Pro capability. I use the Fraunhofer Pro codec and do all my encoding at 160kbps or better. I fit like 8 albums on 1 disc. This is my preferred setup, because I deploy overseas often and for long durations, and I like carrying one small case with 10 - 20 discs much better than bringing a huge case with thousands of dollars worth of CDs -- some rare and out of "print". So, it would be nice to have the same setup in the car. Much easier than a mondo CD-changer.

Quick_lude

I would like a in dash cd changer with MP3 capability and three sets of preouts in the back. At least 4V, low resistance, one for the front, one for the back, one for nonfading sub. I usually rip my CD's at 192 VBR.. or if I d/l from the net, always 192kb/s. Good enough.

Sputnik

This is what kills me.

People have low-quality MP3 CDs, which is good enough for them (which I'm not arguing about, what works for you works for you), and then they go and spend all sorts of money for slight increases in audio quality (like 4 vlt inputs).

---jps

2K4RX8

The MD player will be available as an option on all Mazda's. On my wifes P5, you can either add a tape player or a Mini Disc player to the existing unit without replacing the unit or taking any more space. Mazda will use this radio in all Mazda's to reduce cost and for ease of upgrading.

Quick_lude

You think that 192 kb/s is too low? I really can't tell a difference between this and higher bit rates..
I would love to listen to something that in your ears sounds better than other rips. I'm not being sarcastic either.. Maybe my ears sophisticated enough? What setup are you planning for the car?

Sputnik

I think it's as much of a personal preference as anything. I personally haven't heard an MP3 setup that I've liked, yet. I can't say that I've heard a difference between MDs and CDs on my earbuds, but I have noticed that MDs have slightly harsher and brassier highs than the CDs on my Miata setup (the system setup might be as much of a factor in that too). Still, it's not enough to cause me to put the MDs in the closet with my tapes.

Quote:

...What setup are you planning for the car?

I really wouldn't know that until I get some face time with the production model. Seeing how the factory head unit is so integrated with the climate controls, and seeing how they expect to have wheel controls, I will try to use the stock head unit (and changer), especially if I can get a MD head/CD changer setup. This will help keep the system stealth, and save some money at the same time. Then I'll have the head unit feed some amps, and feed some nice components up front, and some subs. I don't think that I'll try any kind of rear-fill.

As I look at the car and think about the stereo, the one thing that I'm concerned about is getting some good subs in there. I'm not going to try to put something in that will break storefront windows. But I want something that will provide some warm, smooth, crisp bass. Simply adding a sub in the trunk won't do that for me, the sub needs to have direct access to the interior.

---jps

Synergy

If I were trying to show you the difference in SQ (sound quality), I would not be comparing the 192Kb/s rip to another rip but rather to the original uncompressed wav file. On a good system, I could show you the difference.

The truth of the matter is that many times the difference is subtle enough that it is lost on the average system. And many times, differences require a trained ear in a side by side comparison on a familiar track to actually pick out.

Basically, what I'm saying is that for most people the difference is small enough that it is negligible. Only for us purists (which can also be read freaks) does it actually matter.

And as far as the high end options (for example, 4 volt low impedance pre's), not a chance on the factory head. They cost too much to do in an OEM setup. And they have no practicality from the POV of the manufacturer.

fuz

Well, alright. I actually have an MD player, a new one, the Sony MZ-N1 so I’ll give some insight.

MD is as good as CD in its base format, and in LP2, as good as if not better than 128kb MP3s. In LP2, the MD can store twice the time length, and in LP4, it can store four times as long, but is only as good as FM radio quality.

In all reality, you could never hear the difference between LP2 and the uncompressed media file unless you have a very good speaker setup. In my experience MD LP2 is better than 128kb MP3 for capturing high frequency ranges, something that even the fraunhoffer encoder has difficulty capturing without a little crackling. This is why all my MP3s on my computer are recorded at 192kb CBR.

Now the main reason for me using MD is that the portables are better, and the media is much cheaper. An MD player is small, lightweight, virtually skip free, and has long battery life for the same price as an MP3 player. The MD media (~130MB), at ~$2 a disk is FAR cheaper than spending $50-60 on a 128MB flash card/stick. True, an MP3 player can transfer much faster since an MD must be recorded, but then again I can keep dozens of MDs around for the same price as one memory card. Much more convenient when I just want to pick a disk and run.

Sure I could get a CD player that can play MP3s on a burned disk, but the portable is large and the battery life only so-so. Or I can get an iPod, but the battery life is only 10 hr, and you can't use AAs if you run out.

And the MDs are nearly infinitely re-recordable, and come in a protective case, so MDs going bad are rare, and cheap to replace when they do. Certainly no worse than the price of a CD-RW (which may or may not work in all players).

There are, in fact so many advantages to using MD I'm not really sure why it's not popular here. You can pick up a cheap MD player and half a dozen MDs for less than $200.

Not to mention that MDs LOOK REALLY COOL! :D

So I want an MD player available in my car, straight from the factory. Even if I have to order it 6 months in advance from the factory with a ~$150 premium.

BlueAdept

MD has one serious problem, namely "Sony"..... Alpine just dropped minidisk because they are pissed off at the restrictive licencing that they have to comply with... they can't even make their own mechanism's!!!

Sony will kill MD the same way that Betamax was killed.

Grimace

Personally, I don't care if the car has minidisc or not. I don't use the format, nor do I want to add a new media to my music collection.

How about an 8-track (ducks and hides :D )?

zoom44

or cassette. i still have those and would like to play them in my new car!

BlueAdept

It'd be nice to have a recordable medium, but personally... I threw all my cassettes out years ago and I have no idea why car manufacturers still put them in cars...

ZoomZoom

I also could not give a rat’s *** about minidisc, AM/FM/CD is fine for me.

The only audio option I would even consider would be satellite radio. Unfortunately, I do not believe that it will be offered to us Canadians. I would be very surprised if the CRTC would allow it, it would have to have much more Canadian content for it to be made available here.

Thank your Canadian government!

BlueAdept

OK, well the yellow prototype has a slot above the aircon **** that CLEARLY says "Mini Disk" on it.

http://media.mazda.ch/dossiers/Wanke...es/rx-8-10.jpg

I don't think there can be any arguement there, however I would far prefer MP3/CD or even OGG/CD (Mazda, note that the BSD licenced Integer OGG decoder is now available, and no licence is required.)

(Note, I just noticed that the Yellow car has a 6 disk CD changer in there too... CD and MD in the same unit!... I guess it'll be CD+TAPE with an option to replace the tape with an MD.)

What would be REALLY cool though would be a type 1 & 2 CompactFlash slot and a player that could play MP3 and OGG files off compactflash. OK, OK, I wouldn't complain if it could play those nasty WMA files too.. but OGG rules!

http://www.xiph.org/ogg/vorbis/index.html

fuz

I still want my minidisc player!

1.3 liter

Personally I am a HUGE fan of the minidisc format. I have two home decks, a portable, and a minidisc changer in my car. I honestly can't tell the difference between a minidisc's music vs. a CD. Maybe my ears are primative who knows. I stopped listening to cassette tapes back in '96 when I got my first minidisc player/recorder. I just can't go back to the cassette format. I have a large library of CD's too, but I'd rather keep them at home because they are too delicate. Minidisc media won't scratch because it's in a protective case, so it's more durable. I hope Mazda offers it as an option in the RX8, but not just Mazda, but other manufacturers also. Can you believe that at one time Ford showed it in their Mustang's high-end system and Cadillac in it's Seville STS, but for some reason it never came to market!

Anywho, sometimes we Americans can be resistant to embracing different formats. Why the heck are car manufacturers still offering cassettes tape players in 2002! Well if minidisc is an option on the RX8 then I will definitely check that box. Another thing that I would like to see is satellite radio because honesly I'm tired of listening to radio stations that seldom play what I like and are filled with stupid commercials.