Prices have plummeted recently, and smart shoppers can find MiniDisc home decks for well under $300, shirt-pocket-size Walkman-style players for as low as $99, and 74-minute blank discs (which can be recorded and erased an estimated 1 million times) at just under $5. The results are, to me, indistinguishable from a CD. To fit an album's worth of music on a platter half the size of a CD, MiniDisc uses data compression that discards sounds inaudible to the human ear. The 2 3/4 -inch, squarish discs combine the high-fidelity sound of CDs with the re-recordability of cassette tape. Now there are signs that the tiny disc with the big sound finally may be on the verge of the mainstream acceptance its supporters say it deserves. MiniDisc has survived those near-death experiences. In truth, those same megachains have rolled out MiniDisc recorders and players several times since their introduction by Sony five years ago, only to see lackluster sales and consumer ambivalence over high-priced products with limited abilities. Reading those ads, you might get the impression that two of the nation's largest home electronics retailers had just discovered MiniDisc technology - and liked it. Another excitedly announced that 'New MiniDisc technology records digital-to-digital quality sound!' 'Digital recording is here!' heralded a half-page advertisement that appeared last month in Sunday newspapers across the country. The 'new' digital successor to tape that arrived five years ago

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