Arr-Nine-Hundred

@Tekageek Hi! That is a great story - may you have many years of great use form this MiniDisc deck!

Belated Happy New Year to you all Good to see my thread still active! I'm tracking a JB940 on eBay right now. It's a "UK Tuned edition" - what is that all about?

As topic thanks, he has a bunch of stuff for sale.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlRsN04-ZFw i found a few, here is one. I did not remove as many ribbon cables as this guy, just enough to move the drive assembly to get access to the belt.

So, I have a MDS-JE770 deck. It was the one I referenced in an another post where I described it having a dodgy drive belt and eject problem. I replaced the belt from one from eBay and all was well. Recently though, after it had been out of use for a month but with a disc in, I noticed that it would not eject. It just sort of seemed stuck, I did not seem to hear any rubbing/spinning sound at all. On opening it, I gave the white plastic piece pictured in image a nudge and that made the disc eject. I just wondered if you guys had seen this before. Is it a symptom of another issue or was it simply because we should not really leave discs in a deck long term? Thanks

Is that the Mona Lisa pixelart one in your video? It looks very cool! It's a style that is actually quite "in" these days (8-bit retro). Sorry I have no Bit Club for sale

4 discs in total in blue, pink, and green - £10 including 1st class postage.Will be sent quickly and well-packaged (check my feedback on this forum

Nice! Back when I got my first sportscar, a 1997 BMW 323 couple, I removed the headunit and fitted a Kenwood KMD-671R myself, I really miss those days

It's too new to have a cassette and too old to have aux-in or USB. It's like the "app gap" generation in human beings! Otherwise the tape adapter thingy would be a really good solution. I was looking at a more beefy portable speaker inside the car but to be honest I think within a few years I'll probably change the car. The poor thing is starting to suffer some age related issues.

Wow Chris, I could not find a used MD-02 on eBay even in "sold items" - how did you find such a rare and beautiful creature? http://www.avc.hr/en/sales_programme/products/md_02/

I got the FM transmitter, got all excited to try it and... ...nothing. I could not get it to catch the station I set on the unit. I tried several FM frequencies, I tried putting the unit near the boot (my car has the FM aerial built into the rear window I think). I tried it with a FM radio to confirm it works at all and it does work... but the sound quality is really not acceptable. I returned it for a refund. I thank you for your suggestion though I have toyed with the idea of a aux-in mod but in my Car 2007 Honda Civic, it entails removing half the dashboard. There are some car audio shops that will do it but I'll be probably looking at £150. Only from model year 2009 did Honda introduce an aux in to this model - argh!!

Try searching this forum for "belt fix" or similar, I found loads of topics on the subject and some of those mention the JB-940. I fixed a similar problem on my JE-770 using a belt from eBay, search "minidisc drive belt". This topic mentioned some genuine belts:

Thanks man, I have ordered one based on reviews and your recommendation The good thing about it is that I can then control volume from my steering wheel. Too bad I can't skip tracks from the wheel like I can do with my mp3 CD. Truth be told, I've tried one of these about 10 years back and was not impressed. Hopefully they have improved in the intervening years. I'll let you know when it arrives on Friday! If performance is not good I can return it. Onereview mentions the fake FCC label on the back so maybe they have boosted the power above the FCC guidelines? Philippe - my car is 10 years old and has done 176,000 miles - it's a reliable workhorse and I'm keeping her

That was a lovely read Matt, it's also a testament to "less is more". I really understand what you meant by indulging in the "mixtape" thing - this is exactly why I return to the format and continue to use it. You just don't get the same satisfaction from pointing and clicking to create a digital playlist on a screen. These days I enjoy compiling my own albums from recording from YouTube. It's real-time recording but I avoid a lot of faff otherwise in messing with YouTube downloaders and the like. The sound quality is also acceptable. I was curious to know how you are listening to MD in your car? My car is a 2007 Honda Civic and has a mp3 CD only. My current solution is this: https://photos.app.goo.gl/jKhOaqzHblekth3I3 which sadly not stereo or that punchy but does a fair job. Thanks again!

That is amazing fyrebug, do keep us updated. I would be interested in buying coupla small 10-disc towers so consider making a post in the "Trading" forum when the time is right.

Yep, I do this except with high-bitrate mp3. It sounds awesome with SP mdoe and just slightly less awesome with LP2. Side-note: not looked into it at all but I perceive FLAC as "not being worth it" compared to mp3 these days (better encoders etc) am I wrong about that and what would be the storage space on my HDD occupied by a typical FLAC album or track? By the way, I enjoyed reading your original post and noticed you had a MDS-S38 - I've just acquired this deck and posted about a problem I had with it and a fix, check it out. I'd be curious to know if you also had any issues with that deck.

Recently I purchased a Sony MDS-S38 from a seller on Gumtree. The seller sounded decent, genuine and nice so I got a friend to collect it as it was in a town far from me. Yeah, risky I know without testing it first but sometimes you get a good feeling from talking to the seller and the way the ad is presented etc. I paid £65 and it looked in good condition with a fully-working remote and manual. I get it home and set it up. It's a nifty little unit. All was good, it recorded fine, playback was fine... however a short time later a few problems appeared. I would be quietly doing something else in the same room and the machine will wake up and start ejecting a phantom disc. It can seem like it's possessed by an electrical angry spirit or something In my case I first noticed it when ejecting a disc. I even took a short video to show the problem: https://photos.app.goo.gl/DrnTrEPD5XUVPZbk1 Anyway, yesterday I had some time and decided to Google the problem for a fix and according to the MiniDisc.org page for the unit - some people have cured the problem using some basic tools. See the "Problems" section here: http://www.minidisc.org/part_Sony_MDS-JE510+S38.html Anyway, I followed this guide http://snnake11.tripod.com/ ...and, feeling very skeptical when putting it back together, was surprised that it really does seem to fix it! The photos in the guide are not for the MDS-S38 but the drive mech seems very similar, I didn't disconnect all the ribbon cables as the guide says either. I just disconnected two ribbons cables connecting it to the motherboard. My other tools were a big Philips screwdriver and a smaller one along with some electrical tape. Fingers crossed it will stay OK for a while. Maybe the electrical tape is enough to shift the position of the microswitch by the crucial millimeter it needs to cure the deck of this problem? I dunno. Just thought I'd share! About the deck itself, my impressions - I really like the small footprint of it. Space is a at a premium in my small house and it kinda matched the Xbox 360 which I have sitting on top of it. Recording is pretty straight forward (one button labelled "Music Sync") although the digital synchcro recording does not seem to stop auto-magically on no signal like newer decks. Also the remote is "fat" and I prefer the slim remotes as it's easier to hold. There is no volume control on the remote either meaning I have to get up and fiddle with the volume on my speakers. It has two digital sound level EQ meters which is a big preference to me on my decks (I just like the old school way they move in tune to music). I would have liked MDLP too but I'm finding that using SP makes me more choosy in crafting a compendium to fill the disc. It seems 74 or 80 mins is just the right length for me in these busy days.

Now sold

No worries! I am in (although it wasn't straightforward!)

Hello Matthew, I think you are remembering it incorrectly (it was back in 1998 to be fair!) The R900 did not have a backlight in the unit itself but it's remote DID have a backlight that activated on changing volume etc. Maybe that is where the confusion lies? Welcome back to MiniDisc!

TDK & MAXELL 80 minute MiniDisc 5-pack & 3 loose with case NEW SEALED UNOPENED 8 discs in total 3 x TDK MD80 in red, green and yellow 5 pack of XL-II MD80 Complete with 10 capacity disc MAXELL MiniDisc case (it has a crack on the base but is still strong and intact) Photos here: https://imgur.com/a/GLpSh Asking for £20 including postage to UK mainland buyers.

Hello BC, I've sent a request to join that group - is it International focus or just USA? Thanks

Many thanks Kevin. Can you please give me some comments on the tactile "feel" of the unit, is it heavy and solid feeling compared to the Sony, how the switchgear is quality wise, does the LED display have all the useful stuff including EQ bars which move to music.

I'm late but welcome back home Were you going to compare your 980 to the Tascam model? I'm interested in the "feel" of the unit, how the switchgear is quality wise, does the LED display have all the useful stuff including EQ bars which move to music.

It was sold via eBay and I used their Global Ship Program, I think I just had to pay £4 or so. I then had to pay the postage to eBay UK shipping centre which was another £3.50 I think.