What is an MD?
How MiniDisc works
MiniDisc (MD) comes in two types: premastered (prerecorded) and recordable (blank). Premastered MDs, recorded at music studios, can be played back almost endlessly. However, they can’t be recorded on or over like cassette tapes. To record, you must use a “recordable MD”.
Premastered MDs
Premastered MDs are recorded and played like regular CDs. A laser beam focuses on the pits in the surface of the MD and reflects the information back to the lens in the recorder. The recorder then decodes the signals and plays them back as music.
Recordable MDs
Recordable MDs, which use
How the MiniDisc got so small
The
extracts and encodes only those frequency components actually audible to the human ear.
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