BearBoy

Haven't found the battery case for my MZ-N910 yet but the ones for my MZ-E909 and MZ-E501 are the same as the one that came with my MZ-N710 (including the same reference number 1-251-895 inside the lid). Looks like Sony used the same case across lots of different models.

I dug out the battery case for my MZ-N710 and the only number marked on it is on the inside of the hinged lid: 1-251-895 Need to do a bit more digging to find the one that came with my MZ-N910 but the MZ-N710 one fits and works so I am guessing they are possibly identical.

The remote controls are: MZ-N910 - RM-MC33EL MZ-N710 - RM-MC33L As far as I can ascertain they are identical except for the colour (EL is silver, L is black).

According to the Service Manual for the MZ-N910, the AA battery case is part number 1-251-895-11 I can't find the Service Manual for the MZ-N710 on MiniDisc.org but have got both players so will dig the cases out later and see if they are the same/have any reference numbers on.

There's an FAQ over on MiniDisc.org that might help explain things in a bit more detail: http://minidisc.org/mdlpfaq.html

Blank discs are not MDLP or otherwise - it is the encoding method that is using whilst recording to the discs that could be MDLP. Blank discs will hold 74 or 80 minutes of SP (standard) quality recordings (there were also 60 minute blank discs in the earlier years). Later players had the ability to record in long play mode (known as MDLP) so you could get more music on a 74 minute or 80 minute disc. There are two MDLP modes on standard MD (i.e. not HiMD): LP2 - will give you twice the recording time as SP (so 160 minutes on an 80 minute disc or 148 minutes on a 74 minute disc) LP4 - will give you four times the recording time as SP (so 320 minutes on an 80 minute disc or 296 minutes on a 74 minute disc) If you try to play a disc with MDLP recordings on a player that is not MDLP compatible then you will just get silence.

Strange. My MDS-JE500 (earlier version of your JE520) doesn't have any issues with 80 minute discs. Can you record to a blank 80 minute disc using the JE520? Do the 80 minute discs it won't play contain MDLP recordings?

Another user successfully transplanted the drive from an MDS-JE470 into an MDS-JB940 recently:

Hello and welcome to the forum. The Sony MDS-JB940 has an MDM-7A drive unit. This unit is shared by: MDS-JE440 MDS-JE640 MDS-JE470 MDS-JE770 MDS-S50 See Kevin's post here:

Did some more testing this evening with a couple of albums where two of the songs flow into each other (i.e. no silence between tracks): Recording from a CD the recorded MiniDisc had the track markers in the correct place, including for the two songs without a gap. Recording from Spotify the recorded MiniDisc had the track markers in the correct place except for the two songs that flow into each other. Recording from iTunes produced the same outcome as using Spotify. All recordings were done digitally. TBH this was what I was expecting to happen but what I still don't understand is why recording from two different Blu-ray players (from two different manufacturers) leads to a MiniDisc with one long track and no track division, even where there are obvious silent gaps between songs.

At what point are you removing the disc kris01? it works fine with my MZ-N910. IIRC removing the USB cable before ejecting the disc causes the device to write the TOC.

They're the ones. I was thinking of trying one out and, if they seem decent, getting some custom ones done to fit in some drawers in my office.

Thanks Kevin. I've been looking for some storage for my MDs. I've got some Sony plastic racks that I bought back in the 90s but they're full so was looking for some alternatives. I found someone on eBay who 3D prints MD racks in various configurations (including for cased MDs or just the discs) so was thinking of ordering one of those to see what they're like. If I do, I'll post some pictures etc.

Nice stash of discs Kevin Am I right in thinking there is a gap down the far side of the outer two columns? If so, do the discs rattle about at all?

Don't know where you're located Stachu but the only one I can see on eBay at the moment is 250 Euros from Germany. That's way over priced if you ask me. I paid about £80 for mine IIRC. If you don't need SACD then take a look at CDP-XE and CDP-XB models. The XB ones are QS models so have aluminium fronts if that sort of thing interests you whereas the XE ones are plastic. There's a UK CDP-XE320 here for a good price: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SONY-CDP-XE320-CD-PLAYER-OPTICAL-OUTPUT-EXCELLENT-WORKING-ORDER/174237844638?hash=item289162849e:g:Hn8AAOSwXj1ehM5X

Back in the 90s I had a Sony CDP-XE500 connected to an MDS-JE500 via toslink and never had any issues with the track markers not coming across correctly. More recently I've been using a Sony SCD-XB790 connected to an MDS-JB980 via both coax and toslink and, again, have not had any issues. I think you'd be fine with a Sony CD player tbh and there are usually loads on eBay.

Turns out I couldn't live with it and quickly became frustrated at being unable to program tracks so I picked up a second hand Sony Super Audio CD player (SCD-XB790) from eBay. This worked perfectly and the track divide information passed across to MDs correctly, even when there is no silence between tracks on the original CD. It was also a nice aesthetic match for my MDS-JB980 as they're both QS machines. All was good in the world until a couple of months ago when the drawer mechanism on the SCD-XB790 started playing up and eventually deteriorated to the point where the drawer would not stay closed. I did a bit of research and it seemed possible the issue was a degraded belt in the mechanism so I ordered a replacement from eBay. Whilst I was waiting for the new belt to arrive I decided to connect up a Marantz Blu-ray player (UD7007) I had bought and see how that fared. Unfortunately I got the same results as I had with the Sony Blu-ray player and any recordings to MiniDisc came out as one single track. I had level sync enabled and tried changing the thresholds via the set up menu but nothing made any difference. I mended the CD player (it was the belt) and so am back working again now. As an aside, I made some recordings from Spotify a few weeks ago and, to my surprise given my experience with the Blu-ray players, the tracks were divided correctly on the recorded MiniDisc. I used the Spotify Web Player connected to my MDS-JB980 using digital coax via a Focusrite Scarlett 8i6. What I don't understand is why Blu-ray players (or, at least, the two I tested with and Stachu's mentioned in another thread) seem to not work.

I had similar issues using a Sony Blu-ray player Stachu, although their DVD players worked fine. I posted about it here: I had been meaning to update that thread with some more recent testing I had done but never got around to it. I'll try to update it later today as I am still a bit puzzled by why some sources work correctly and others do not.

Thanks Kevin - have bookmarked that store.

That's great Stefano - thanks for the confirmation.

It also says that: I'm sure I recall reading somewhere that SP in SonicStage was some sort of "fake" SP and not the same quality as you'd get doing real time recordings on a deck/portable. I never paid too much attention tbh as I've never (until yesterday) tried using NetMD. Stefano, do you know if your app does "full quality SP"?

I've almost bought some of those TDK MDs in the video you posted a number of times but always got out bid on eBay. I didn't realise what the actual discs looked like though. They look quite nice. Might try again.

There's possibly a number of different implementations of NetMD out there and trying to get an app working with every NetMD compatible device without access to the devices themselves must be a nightmare. I'm not too bothered about the MDS-JB980 personally as the app works fine with the MZ-N910 (I've also got an MZN710 too, which I assume will also work okay as that's what you have). Having said that, I would be happy to test things with the JB980 if it would help you get it working for other people with NetMD decks.

The person who wrote that other application put this on the reddit: Might be worth a try?

So I wiped the MiniDisc I was using and ejected it (so the TOC would get updated). Re-inserted the MD and tried again but got the same outcome (i.e. it just shows "loading" but does not connect).