I really like MiniDiscs.

Enough to post twice about them.

Well, I'm trying to make my Gemlogs relevant to what's going on in my life, so since I've been curating my MiniDisc collection recently, here's another post.

One nice thing about MiniDiscs is that they're quite personal. MD has never been a particularly commercial thing. By that I mean that, whilst there were some albums released on MD, it's always been more of a personal thing. I actually believe this has largely happened because in Japan, there was a culture of music rental. Rental of music, and then, you know... connecting the CD player to the MD recorder (many players were also recorders) and then you had it on MD too. There were some hi-fi systems with CD-to-MD recording as a feature.

Thus, MD is a lot more of a format for creating your own albums and playlists. So recently, I've been printing off labels to stick on my discs. It's giving them quite a nice uniform feel, whilst still retaining a touch of homemade feel.

It's really nice to have your own shit. I think this is partially why I like old tech. An iPhone has little personality, and it contains pretty ubiquitous apps. A MiniDisc player... even choosing to use one now is a statement, but the choice of device (and there are some super cool ones), and the way you make your discs, is all your own.

MD in its day, in Japan, must have been nice. Being able to trade discs, give and receive recommendations, trade playlists. It would be lovely to trade discs, and share music that way. Whilst I think MD returning in any significant way is a pipe dream, I do hope the low-tech movement that can be seen in quiet corners of the internet can result in a return of customisable physical media.

Tobio