Mini disc player + optical port

[Pauly Man]

My friend just bought a mini disc player, and apparently it uses an optical cable to connect to a computer. I think I know what an optical cable is, but I've never heard of an optical port, and I've never seen one on a comp before. Are they a fairly recent development, or am I just blind?

[damgo]

Fairly recent -- they've been around on higher-end audio equipment for a number of years now, and I think I've seen some sound cards with them recently.

[Greg Bernhardt]

Hi Pauly. My father has a mini disc player, but doesn't use the optical connection. I think there is also USB.

[Considering]

Now that I think about it, Greg is right...they do come with a USB connection, but you still use an optical cable to plug into the player. I never liked my MD player, because of the way you had to record onto the media. But supposedly, with the newer Sony NetMD players, you can copy from computer to disc at 32x the normal speed.

Like damgo said, Optical technology has been around a while, but the cables are expensive. Excellent sound quality, however.

[Pauly Man]

Thanx for the replys guys. I see him tomorrow so hoepfully I can find out if it has a USB and sought it all out for him. [;)]

[mikehuntsloose]

Optical Cables actually arent that expensive. You could probably buy a 7-10 ft optical cable for around 10 bucks.

[Greg Bernhardt]

Heres some info
http://www.techtv.com/callforhelp/answerstips/story/0,24330,3332514,00.html:

[russ_watters]

Very few computers have optical ports. Its probably there for connecting to high end recievers.

[Pauly Man]

Thanx for the info guys. We got it sorted, it did have a USB cable with it.