Richard

I have a few of these same discs recorded on and have not had any issues with them to date, same with other Maxell discs. You will be fine I'm sure 😉

Oh, no problem. it's a good question. I haven't had any issues with them. Like I say, they can be a bit bare bones sometimes, but I definitely use them. All of these models were indeed Japan only. Sounds like the Twinkle's (or just Color Collection I think they were called outside of Japan). Is it like this one - if so, yes it's a plastic shutter. 🙂

Yep, the majority all have metal shutters. The main proponent of the plastic shutter was Maxell, who used it because they claimed it vibrated less. The TopValu MD's also made by Maxell have it, and those Sharp ones on sale in Europe were also made by Maxell. I haven't had any issues with them to date personally, but I know many people don't like them. Interestingly Maxell reverted to using metal shutters for their last 3 series of discs in 2006, but I think that was because they had outsourced the production to Taiyo Yuden and were not making them in-house anymore.

PS: I'll do some more mainstream discs shortly, I am just waiting to see if any more of Ishii's original pictorials can be recovered before duplicating those. In the meantime, I was going through my collection and doing the discs that have never been posted before here (even if some of them are not very glamourous).

Not that I've ever noticed no, the discs and the cases are good. The labels and overall design can be a bit plain design-wise, but I never had any issues at all. Most of them are made either by Saehan of Korea who also made discs for Victor / JVC, Axia / Fuji and others or by Ritek in Taiwan. I would say of those two manufacturers, Saehan are probably slightly better overall in terms of quality of the shells of the discs and cases, but I've never had a single issue with any of these kind of discs. The TDK's, Axia's, Maxell's etc.. just have more interesting designs for me and much more attention to detail on the labels, cases and index cards (especially Axia), but I quite like the "nostalgic" feel of some of these discs.

SunnyTechs MD | Clear Sound (80 minute variant) This budget range of discs was made in Taiwan by Ritek, but sold in Japan. The 80 minute variant comes in 3 colours (purple, pink and green), only available as single discs. The 74 minute version came in 5 colours (3 available as single discs) with 2 of these colours only available in the 5 or 10 pack slim case sets.

Daiei MD | "Savings" range 10 Pack Slim Case This was another set for Japanese supermarket chain Daiei, from their "Savings" range of products. Made in Korea (presumably by Saehan), they came in 10 packs only, in these "Slim Case" flip top boxes with just the discs and no individual cases. The disc colours are the same in each set (Green. Blue, Clear, Purple and Pink). The 74 minute variant had a green wrapper and the 80 minute set an orange wrapper as seen here. Again, date unknown, but presumed to be early 2000's. Product Code: 10MD-80SV / 10MD-74SV

I have now updated the original post with a photo to show the size compared to an actual disc. The case is about 2.25 times wider than a disc. The disc inside I have seen elsewhere and it's just the usual dark grey pre-recorded type disc from Sony with the track listing on the back and a smaller version of the cover on the front label.

Welcome to the forum Aaron (I think I recognize you from the Facebook Minidisc group). 😉 * I'll move this one to the general Minidisc forum for now as it's not strictly a technical tip or trick (yet!)

Looks great Kevin - fairly close to what I imagined! 🙂

That is a great, practical use for them, really interesting! I was imagining you with a whole rack full of the things, hooked up to some wall-to-wall mixing desk, with lots of blinking lights.. 😁 Was thinking the same - haven't seen him for a while either.. Fingers crossed he'll be back soon..

I'm always amazed by your technical knowledge Kevin and it's always fascinating reading these kinds of posts. I was always curious about the MDS-E12, but couldn't really think of any sensible place I could put one - how do you have it connected up to an amplifier? Via the analogue out / digital out? I would have no idea! 😆

Saehan MD | Power Wave This range from Saehan from the early 2000's was only available as 74 minute single discs. There are two main variations, one with a white-backed disc and another version with black-backed discs. The discs themselves are relatively ordinary compared to the wrappers. The 5 colours are Green, Blue, Orange, Yellow and Red.

This promotional disc was given away at Volkswagen dealerships in Japan in 2001 by the VW service department. There is also a second one which I don't have, which if I recall correctly contains music from films. Case Comparison with actual minidisc

Excellent - good news. I also tested my NH1 with the 38EL and wasn't able to do anything. Glad you got it working. 🙂

Nice try 😁 - that's not exactly what I said, but if I happen to come across another, I'll let you know!

To be fair, most of my discs are just stored in boxes or stacked on bookshelves as well 🤣 This one is quite a unique piece, but actually because you need to remove the discs from the cases, I don't really use it. It's nice as a display item or if I wanted to have a selection of regular discs to hand.

This Panasonic MD case was a competition giveaway prize, with winners selected from a draw. I picked it up unused from a Japanese seller and don't have too many details on the nature of the competition. I scanned the letter that came with it, but it is not dated and just says "Congratulations on winning this Panasonic MD case, your entry was drawn by lottery from a high number of applicants. Thank you for your continued patronage etc..." (or words to that effect). Anyway the "glow" in the name comes from the fact that when the light hits the translucent windows of the disc holders it produces a kind of glowing effect. The discs are inserted without cases, shutter side down and there is an interesting king of rotation mechanism on each slot to rotate the holder so the disc can be inserted. The base of the case is made from aluminium.

Actually you are pretty close. I was mistaken, these ones are also aluminium too. I just double-checked. I must have been getting mixed up with something else. This one is very similar to a business card holder in fact!

Oh yes.. That one is a magnesium, single disc, hinged case. Also sold at Daiso I believe. Very useful! I'm planning a separate pictorial on Daiso cases. Will add that one to it 😉 The magnesium case came out around 2006/07, these MD's themselves are from the late 90's. Not 100% sure of the exact year.

Thanks Kevin, appreciate it! Yes, I do have quite a few in the collection.. I actually quite like most of the Neige discs. To be honest I like all MD's, but I guess the Japanese market certainly was filled with some great designs.

Saehan MD | Melodia These discs from Saehan were available as singles (I think 74 minute only), 74 and 80 minute 10 packs and 74 and 80 minute 5 packs in a slim case (the packs were all without the Saehan branding, but sold under the Vertex brand).

TDK MD | Special Packs I'll use this topic to record any of the TDK special packs that don't really fit anywhere else. TDK Music Jack 5th Version - "A Small Gift for Big Sound" The first is a gift box presentation box, containing 2 single Music Jack discs. I am not 100% sure of the origins of this pack - whether it was a competition giveaway, a presentation pack to TDK employees or something else altogether. Any information gladly received. 2nd Variation TDK ho 【ほ】 - Blue, Paper Wrapped Singles There may be nothing "special" about this pack. It seems like it is a retailer box of the blue discs designed to be sold as singles. The discs inside are indeed the single 80 minute blue ho discs, but I have no idea why they went to the trouble of individually wrapping them in paper in sets of two's using the same TDK gift wrapping paper used on the presentation packs...

* Pictorial Updated

Topvalu MD | Topvalu 2nd Color Series Topvalu is a brand of the Japanese retail giant Aeon. These discs were made by Maxell and only available as far as I am aware in these 5 packs. Not sure of the date, but I guess it's somewhere in the early 2000's.