BearBoy

Ooh. Would be interested in hearing about that if you get a chance to post some notes. I've got half an eye open for an old Sony CD player with Control A(II) to link up with my 940 but not really sure it's worth it.

Haha 🤣

I did have thoughts of going down that route at one point (and an MDS-JB730 too, for the sake of completeness) but talked myself out of it. I decided I wouldn't really use the non-MDLP machines that much so it would really just be collecting for collecting's sake. I still get twinges though if I see a nice looking MDS-JB930 on eBay for a reasonable price... 😲

You finally got your 940! 🙂 How are you finding it @kgallen?

Having just posted that, I took another look at the Retro Style Media site and they have some template links for the larger cases:

Hello Vax4. That's a good question. I've seen templates for the smaller jewel cases (like this one: LINK or this one: LINK) but I've not come across one for the larger cases that came with the pre-recorded MiniDiscs. Maybe now that the cases are available someone will make one?

Lovely looking pair of players @Richard 🙂 Not sure if it's just my monitor but that "blue" looks pretty much black?

A while back a site appeared offering replacement cases for pre-recorded MiniDiscs: https://minidisc.me/ They were offering them in a variety of colours but they never actually seemed to have anything in stock, at least not when I looked. Anyway, Retro Style Media in the UK, who also sell blanks and the smaller jewel cases for MiniDiscs, have now got the larger cases in stock: Full Size MiniDisc Case with a Black Inner Tray They're not cheap but might be worth a look if you've got some cracked cases?

You must have an amazing collection of rare and exotic discs @Richard

Ha, that's great @kgallen 🙂

It’s pretty grim here too tbh. Spring can’t come soon enough!

Cheers @kgallen. Been a productive afternoon; learned some new things 🙂

Is "Super Undo" an official feature @kgallen? What do you mean by a "dirty TOC"? One when you've made changes but haven't ejected the disc/turned off the deck in order to complete the "TOC writing" stage?

Success! That is useful to know. Do have any other decks you can test it on? Have lost track of what you have now 🤣

Googling Portogram does seem to indicate that their market was dance studios and the like (although their own website seems to be defunct now). Given that, you'd imagine the amps would have needed to be reasonably powerful?

They'd dropped the "A.SPACE" button from the remote control by the time the MDS-JB980 came along (RM-D10E) so you have to go into the Setup menu on the deck to enable Auto Space and Auto Pause. The remote control for my MDS-JB940 (RM-D49M) does still have the "A.SPACE" button and it works with the MDS-JB980. Would be interesting to see if those remotes will enable the feature on decks that supposedly don't have it.

Must admit I'd never heard of the "Auto Pause" feature. Looking at the operating instructions, it was still present on the MDS-JB940 and MDS-JB980. I can see how you'd need that for your shows so you didn't suddenly get an unwanted crash of thunder after a sound effect of bird song or something 😲

Amazing @kgallen 😃 It's interesting that there's more to it then simply slapping a couple of Sony decks into a box with an amplifier, which is what I assumed it was when I first saw it. Do you think you might be able to find a use for it in your theatrical productions? Being able to vary the speed of MiniDisc/CD playback could be useful. Do any of your "pro" decks have that functionality?

Yeah, I do have a multimeter so could check if I do purchase one.

Yeah @kgallen, on further reading he describes that lead as "untransformed". Given that my USB plugs would be outputting 5V, rather than 3V, I'm guessing it's going to be kicking out too much voltage. He's also advertising a "transformed" lead, which he says "consists of transformed 5v to 3v USB plug connected to Sony sized barrel jack plug" (LINK) Kind of a bit wary now though given that he's selling leads as being compatible with MD players that seem to be 5V...

So I dug out all of my adaptors to check them. In addition to the AC-ES305K pictured above, I also have an AC-ES3010K in a similar state. I then have an AC-ES3010K, AC-ES305S and AC-MZR55 that are all currently okay. I did see this on eBay so might buy one and see what it's like: For Sony 3v Minidisc players USB 1.5m power supply lead

I am assuming it would be a really bad idea to continue to use an adaptor in this condition @kgallen?

Started new thread:

Carried over from the This Week I've Mostly Been.... thread. I've got a couple of the Sony 3V power supplies where the cables are perishing. Example below: This is probably the worst example where the wires are exposed at both ends and at two points along the length. The cable feels quite brittle. This model is an AC-ES305K. I've seen similar issues on portables for sale on eBay so I doubt this is specific to me and my units. Can anyone (UK based) recommend any decent quality alternatives?

@kgallen sure. I’ll take some pictures and post them this evening when I’m back at home.