While MD was real neat for the time, the first revision of the format didn't sound as good as a good quality cassette recorder with a high bias tape and Dolby B, especially with transient broad-band signals like cymbals and snare drums. Later on they fixed this to some degree but the issue was compatibility hell. A couple friends of mine had MD portables and while they were neat I was never really tempted because as a Linux user at that time, there was no way to get music onto them. I also had blown a big wad on a professional cassette Walkman.