No, the blank disc idenfication works perfect. If I erase a disk it says BLANKDISC, if I record something it shows as recorded and I can see the track numbers, edit the track titles, save TOC, all works perfect. Only the records have drops and the MD stalls when trying to access the recording for playback on certain points.
I tried 2 different maxell color 74 MDs, they are not new, but almost like new.
All my older minidiscs play just fine though all the audio, no drops, no skips, not even a slight interruption if I move/rotate the MD player around. Seems rock solid in this regard.
Yes, the machine certainly has been sitting unused for a long time, but as I said, playing works fine.
I tried recording on fresh NI-MH batteries and on plugpack, the result is the same. I would try to grease all the axels and gears, but I don't think it's worth it as playback is perfect.
On every recording I made, the sound skips though. In most cases can reproduce exactly after 10-15 seconds of recording it stalles (no sound) and if I FF more 10-15 seconds it plays again, but never plays back the missing part, so looks like a recording issue. On the other hand, I have just managed to make a 1:30 recording with no interruption that sounds perfect, so it is quite an intermittent issue, but the recordings mostly miss parts and skip. I really can't understand.
Edit: I have just got my first DISK ERROR after erasing a disk, tried the disk several times, and now works again.