BearBoy

Another great restoration/transplant job, Kevin. And really useful information re the differences between the Pro and non-Pro versions. I actually think they look really smart in your racks, Kevin. I like "studio" looking gear though. I did have a look on eBay a while back, after admiring them in one of your earlier posts, but the prices seemed pretty high (although what MiniDisc stuff isn't these days?) and I don't really have a need for the additional flexibility around SCMS (a bit like @sfbp and his Behringer, I can run mine via a Focusrite interface to make copies of SCMS protected MDs if I need to).

Is there a noticeable difference in build quality between these sort of “budget” discs and the standard fare from Sony, TDK etc?

Oh. Haha. I didn’t realise there was an E11 😄 Renders my “joke” somewhat meaningless 😧

You've invented the E11😉

Sounds like you've really got your work cut out with this one. Good luck!

That looks really cool, Richard. I've just bought some white cardboard boxes from Ikea to keep my discs in. They work well enough but can't really compete with yours from a style perspective 😂

Reminds me of a Muji aluminium business card (remember those?) holder I used to have in the late nineties 🤣

Wow. I love the case the purple one is in.

Love these 🙂 I bought a lot of JVC MiniDiscs (same company as Victor, I believe?) back in the day as they came with the mini jewel cases. I managed to source some more in a variety of colours a month or so back, although nothing as exotic as yours.

I'm loving all these photos of rare MiniDiscs you're posting, Richard. I was only very vaguely aware of the variety of discs available in Japan and the rest of East Asia and didn't realise quite how many different limited editions there were. We got such pedestrian blanks in the UK by comparison.

Nice little stash to stumble across!

Thanks Richard; that’s very kind of you to offer. When I’m back home, and not reliant on a phone screen to view the photographs, I’ll have a proper look through and see which ones I’d be most keen to pick up.

That’s a great site @Richard, thanks for sharing. Already spotted a few discs I wouldn’t mind picking up 😀

The MiniDiscs I most enjoy stumbling across are the ones where I’d made an unlabelled (except for possibly noting the month/year) “mixtape” back in the day and being reminded of a point in time. It’s interesting being reminded of what I’d been listening to in, say, May 2001 or August 1998.

Glad you figured it out. I know you’re joking (I think?) but I actually enjoy the manual elements of making a MiniDisc. In a world where I can rip a CD and then copy to my phone, complete with titles and artwork, in just a minute or two (or just stream pretty much any album ever released), I actually get some pleasure from recording music in real time and typing the song titles in manually. I’m far more likely to actually remember the song titles that way 🤣

😆

I’m also on the English East coast. Weather’s been a bit rubbish so far but due to clear up for the rest of the week.

I’m sure I read something recently that said CD Text titles were often copy protected but can’t remember where now 🤔

This week I’ve mostly been pottering about on the beach as I’m on holiday 😀 Prior to that, in this site’s absence, I’d picked up a bunch of blanks and a couple of new portables. I’ve still not got around to trying to fix one of my MDS-JB980s, which is struggling to read discs (I’ve swapped it out of my office set up for my MDS-JB940 for the time being). I’ve also been doing some recording and using up some of my blanks.

It’s surprising, to me at least, how error strewn Sony’s MiniDisc Service Manuals appear to be. Must have made being a repairer in the late nineties trickier than it needed have been…

In his YouTube videos, Techmoan uses Brasso to remove scratches from plastic screens etc on MiniDisc players/remotes etc. I’m not sure how widely available it is internationally. Not tried it myself but I think @kgallen has used it successfully.

Just to update from the parallel conversation elsewhere, an owner of an MDS-JA20ES has posted a photograph of the inside of theirs over on Tapeheads showing that it does have the Type-R CXD2656 chip.

🤣 Well, I’m glad you did find the time. I’m certain it’ll be a really useful resource and with all the knowledge on here I’m sure we’ll be able to expand it and clarify any potential anomalies.

Nice work Kevin. I started doing something similar a while back but gave up when I encountered discrepancies that I couldn’t easily check. I’m not at home at the moment but seem to recall the Service Manual for the MDS-JB940 listed two different CXD ATRAC decoders? Although it that case it was fairly obvious the Type-R one was correct. Similar to the MDS-JA20ES Service Manual we’ve been discussing recently… Speaking of which, someone over on the Tapeheads thread has posted a photo of the inside of their MDS-JA20ES confirming it has the Type-R chip.

Nice. I’ve got the MZ-E630 on my watchlist too and, like you say, they’re often a bit “scarred”. Looking forward to the pictorial.