You can get it on the Mazda6, so I can't imagine why the RX-8 wouldn't have it.
I know the RX-8 shown in the latest articles doesn't have it, but as Minidisc is an option on the 6, maybe that particular RX-8 just didn't have it as an option.
Scanned brochure of the Mazda6 can be found here, by the way: http://home.socal.rr.com/atenza/_catalog.html#3

While it's neat, useless for me :)

MiniDisc would be key for me. I am a Dj and so i use minidiscs all the time to record my mixes on. It would be great if i could bump to the beat in my silver rx-8 without one of those stupid, unreliable tape adapters. i would gladly pay 200$ for a MD system. I bet many of you would disagree however.

How about a regular CD player that will also read CDR and CDRW media?

MP3 ability would be a bonus as well!

Originally posted by Aesculapius
How about a regular CD player that will also read CDR and CDRW media?

MP3 ability would be a bonus as well! I don't use CDRWs because they are pretty useless... take like 20 minutes to erase and cost a lot more than regular CDRs. I just use CDRs and toss them.

MP3 ability would be nice but I don't expect to see it... besides I'd quickly tire of my entire song collection then! :)

y'also get really really crappy writes, usually, and CD players (not to mention comps with inferior CD drives) can't read them well, if at all...

Originally posted by Aesculapius
How about a regular CD player that will also read CDR and CDRW media?

MP3 ability would be a bonus as well!

While Mazda's listening... what about OGG... it won't cost ANYTHING to do... since the codec is under a BSD licence.

http://www.xiph.org/ogg/vorbis/index.html

are you sure its availible on the american 6? Minidisc is alot more common in japan and i can imagine the japanese 6 getting the md player, but the md market in america is alot smaller, so we might not get the option on either the 6 or the 8.

Yep, check the link for the brochure - it was scanned from an American dealership.

ok, im very happy then cuz i use md's religiously

Sorry gang, but if you look closely at the features list, it only mentions AM/FM/CD as standard. The interior pic shows a stereo with a Tape/MD button, but that is only to control an add-on MD changer/player. There is no place to insert a minidisc.

I know on one of the prototypes it had a MD button, so that shows they were at least considering putting that in as an option.

MiniDisc, the answer to the question nobody was asking.....

If you aren't gonna use a CD, then why not just have a memory card slot or something? NOBODY has minidisc, and with the popularity of MP3 players, I don't think MiniDisc sales are gonna be increasing.

I almost forgot about oggs (duh, that's pretty much all I listen too..)- if we could have it mp3 and ogg compatible both...good idea Blue Adept.

And, if they don't include mp3 capability, I'll just be buying something to toss in and fix that.

I can't say I've ever used a mini-disc, but I've only heard good things about them.

Originally posted by Jerome81
MiniDisc, the answer to the question nobody was asking.....

If you aren't gonna use a CD, then why not just have a memory card slot or something? NOBODY has minidisc, and with the popularity of MP3 players, I don't think MiniDisc sales are gonna be increasing.

I have a minidisc player :p

Minidisc is fairly popular in Europe, and very popular in Asia. Minidisc is a standard audio format, memory cards are not, so minidisc is easier to implement.

For those of us who use MiniDisc, we all wonder in amazement why it has not caught on in the USA. There are soo many plusses and almost no minuses to them.... as far as music is concerned. data, such as files/pictures and anything else non-music related you can think of are better for memory sticks than md's. The MD is the tape recorder of the digital era!!!! Every other country sees their potential except USA.. I really do not like living here after i lived in japan. The lack of MD usage here has to do with politics, otherwise i am baffled why it hasent caught on.

Yes, but MD is way less popular than is should be because of Sony.

Many companies are reluctant to push MD since Sony are very restrictive about how MD is implimented, how it's licenced.

This is a real shame... Alpine for example are likley to drop MD for this reason.