CD's should offer higher quality audio than minidiscs but Sony's ATRAC, especially in the more recent versions, is considerably superior to mp3, even at the same bit rate, to my ears. Mp3 at 128kbps is approximately the same audio quality as DAB at 192kbps. A minidisc recording made with a modern minidisc recorder will also have a wider effective dynamic range than one recorded directly to a CD-R recorder. This is because Sony use a higher quantization level and then noise shape down to 16 bit in preparation for the lossy encoding by ATRAC. CD-R recorders generally sample at 16 bit quantization to start with, though some combined HD/CD-R devices, such as the Alesis Masterlink 9600 permit sampling to hard disc at up to 96ksps with 24 bit quantization prior to editing and down-sampling with noise shaping and bit reduction to Red Book CD-Rs.

While we are at it, show me a CD-R recorder, or indeed a decent mp3 recorder which is as small as a top of range pocket minidisc recorder. The smallest reasonable quality mp3 recorder I know is the Zoom H2, and that is over twice the size of the smallest high quality minidisc recorder. That said, the Zoom H4 is much more versatile, and I have not used my pocket minidisc recorders since getting the H4 and H2 devices.

It's just occurred to me that the most recent 1GB minidisc recorders can save as PCM. If they also use 20 or 24 bit quantization with noise shaping to 16 bit, the result should beat that of a standard CD-R recorder on all counts.

(On spellchecking that, the spellchecker objected to "quantization" and suggested 'replacing' it with "quantization". How very strange. )

Nor above 16/44.1 unless you want to waste card space, Ron. Reports of the internal noise levels make the use of 24 bit quantization, or 96k sampling more of a selling point than a useful option, I am advised. That said, there is the option of recording in a sort of 4 channel surround and then editing an burning to DTS 5.1 CD-R standard, which can then be played back via a player with its digital fed to the DTS decoder of a suitable surround amp.

How about now, Ron?

  Thank you, Ted Ryder.    It is comforting to know that I'm not alone in the world of developing technology.

I, too, have used a Sony minidisc recorder for the past decade; only changing the machine for the convenience of acquiring a model with extended recording time facilities.   I also use a Sony DAT recorder but suspect that this will be seen on the Antiques Road Show before my MD recorder.   

Ted, have you tried http://www.discountdiscs.co.uk/?

I've got 1GB discs from them several times and they seem pretty reliable - and cheap as well, especially if you buy in bulk.

I like the simplicity of minidisc, adastra.  I buy pre-recorded CDs but for making my own recordings I think it's hard to beat a machine that can get a whole opera, comedy series or serialised book on one tiny disc with acceptable playback quality.  I'm also quite lazy, so I probably haven't looked that deeply into alternatives.   I was actually quite disappointed when I asked about MP3 players and discovered just how little you get on the more affordable ones before you had to start deleting to make room for new stuff.  I suppose I could be more organised and back stuff up to my PC but I'm happy as I am picking up my MD Walkman and four or five discs from my (now quite large) collection of recordings when I go away for a few days.

Ted Ryder, you might find Wilkinson a bit better value than Smiths.  I get 10 Maxell discs for £7.99 and last time I saw them in Smiths (my local branch hasn't stocked them for some years) they were rather dearer than that.

That's pretty cheap H. I used to get Maxell from Richer Sounds for 79p but they put them up to 99p some time ago so I stopped buying them there. Tho I've never heard of Wilkinson.