page_title: MiniDisc
section_title: Operation
hierarchical_section_title: MiniDisc / Design / Operation
caption_attribution_description: English: Sony MiniDisc MD Recorder MDS-81 - normally for recording studio or radio studio.
context_page_description: MiniDisc is a magneto-optical disc-based data storage format offering a capacity of 60, 74, and later, 80 minutes of digitized audio or 1 gigabyte of Hi-MD data. Sony brand audio players were on the market in September 1992.
  Sony announced the MiniDisc in September 1992 and released it in November of that year for sale in Japan and in December in Europe, Canada, the US and other countries. The music format was originally based on ATRAC audio data compression, but the option of linear PCM digital recording was later introduced to meet audio quality comparable to that of a compact disc. MiniDiscs were very popular in Japan and found moderate success in Europe. Until March 2011 Sony has sold 22 million MD players.
  Sony has ceased development of MD devices, with the last of the players sold by March 2013.
context_section_description: The data structure and operation of a MiniDisc is similar to that of a computer's hard disk drive. The bulk of the disc contains data pertaining to the music itself, and a small section contains the table of contents (TOC), providing the playback device with vital information about the number and location of tracks on the disc. Tracks and discs can be named. Tracks may easily be added, erased, combined and divided, and their preferred order of playback modified. Erased tracks are not actually erased at the time, but are marked so. When a disc becomes full, the recorder can simply slot track data into sections where erased tracks reside. This can lead to some fragmentation but unless many erasures and replacements are performed, the only likely problem is excessive searching, reducing battery life.
  The data structure of the MiniDisc, where music is recorded in a single stream of bytes while the TOC contains pointers to track positions, allows for gapless playback of music, something which the majority of competing portable players, including most MP3 players, fail to implement properly. Notable exceptions are CD players, as well as all recent iPods.
  At the end of recording, after the "Stop" button has been pressed, the MiniDisc may continue to write music data for a few seconds from its memory buffers. During this time, it may display a message ("Data Save", on at least some models) and the case will not open. After the audio data is written out, the final step is to write the TOC track denoting the start and endpoints of the recorded data. Sony notes in the manual that one should not interrupt the power or expose the unit to undue physical shock during this period.
caption: MiniDisc Recorder MDS-B1, normally used in recording or broadcast radio studios.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "Digital StillCamera", "Image Make": "Supra", "Image Model": "DC-8600", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Ver 3.20 SG", "Image DateTime": "2009:12:19 11:00:06", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "234", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1140", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "16912", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/11", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Action", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "800", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:12:19 11:00:06", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:12:19 11:00:06", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "86/25", "EXIF ApertureValue": "3", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2560", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1920", "EXIF RelatedSoundFile": "", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "982", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "37", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "1", "EXIF OffsetSchema": "-20"}