Jimma

I stumbled across this picture which covers roughly half the MiniDisc's life (from Hong Kong I believe) and it clearly demonstrates the disparity between the numbers of Sony MD Walkmans and the tape equivalent that Stephen mentioned.

I have been DJing for many years using vinyl and my trusty Technics SL-1210s but I am also obviously a huge fan of MiniDisc so these types of decks that are orientated towards DJ use have always been of interest to me. Sadly I've never had the opportunity to try out either the DRE1 or one of Denon's DJ setups such as the DN-M2300R. I think that as the Sony decks are individual I would favour these over the combined Denon units and I would assume both are similar to cd decks as far as DJing is concerned. Having used cd decks such as the Pioneer CDJ-1000 on several occasions with great success, I still find myself sticking to vinyl as it is a much more physical, hands on affair and I feel like I'm putting on much more of a performance. Saying that though, I would still one day like to acquire a pair of MDS-DRE1s as I think it would be fun and very unusual to be able to play a set from MiniDiscs for a change rather than recording my live sets onto them.

slugbahr thanks for the offer but I think I'll see if Jim can help me out first as he's based here in England which makes things easier. Jim, I'll message you regarding the power supply. Many thanks to everyone for your help Jimma.

jonathanpotato the primary side of the transformer seems to be at fault but I can't see any sign of a thermal fuse and I've made a bit of a mess of the transformer trying to find it so I think that power supply is permanently dead unfortunately. slugbahr I don't know how you can help unless you're prepared to part with the power supply from your HCD-CP33. That would of course stop your unit working altogether which is no good. Thanks to all of you for the help so far.

To be honest, I'm not sure if it's the transformer or another component on the board that is the problem. All I know is that I have no power and that the transformer doesn't get warm or hum when the unit is connected to the mains. It hasn't blown any fuses, either in the plug or internally.

I've just acquired a Sony CMT-CP33MD bookshelf system (or HCD-CP33 as it is referred to without the speakers) which is in great condition but the power supply board seems to have failed. I know it's a long shot but does anyone know where I could source this part or where I could get it repaired for a reasonable price. There appears to be two model numbers on the part. The one printed on the board is 1-677-889-12 and the one on the transformer is 1-435-368-11. I would think that it is the former number that I'm after as I would presume the transformer and board were available as one part. It's a lovely little unit and it would be a terrible shame to have to scrap it. Thanks for your help.

This may have been posted before but I was just looking through these photos again and thought it would be worth mentioning for any of you that haven't seen them. A truly stunning colection of MD players and recorders I'm sure you'll agree. http://www.akiba-gad...isc-collection/ There are also loads of MD photos from various people at the link below. http://www.flickr.com/groups/minidisc/

The Discogs list has one of my dj mix releases on page 3 PhilippeC I also have a set of TDK WA blanks. They were only released in Japan as far as I'm aware so I ordered a 10 pack from Bluetin. They really are beautiful blanks.

I just spotted this listing on ebay. Although it states that the items are KMS-260E optical MD pickups, the pictures would suggest that they are supplying the entire drive mechanisms and circuitry. If this is the case this seems to be a good price (£21.59 or $33.92 each including international postage) for anyone that needs a replacement or wants a spare. Someone with more knowledge than me may be able to list which models this would be suitable for. http://www.ebay.co.u...=item43ab83aaff

At the other end of the scale, I was recently very surprised to discover that n5md.com still had three of their releases available to buy from their website. The MDs cost $1 each and the postage to England from the US was $4.33. Roughly £4.46 for three brand new pre-recorded MiniDiscs, still fresh in their wrappers, straight from the record label, in 2011, what a bargain! As a matter of fact, for anyone who likes electronic music I've just checked and two of the three albums are still available (Punctuated by Quench and Distal by Portland). Just look under discography on the n5md website then click the album covers. I also bought a great ambient/dance album (Are You Shpongled? by Shpongle) straight from the Twisted Records website in the UK about five months ago. I think that was about £9 so not too bad. Again I was surprised I could but original MDs from the labels but what a pleasure it was when they came through the post. I doubt I'll ever come across anything like this again.

You can get Hi-MD blanks from quite a few places if you search for them on Google. I'm in England and they are still easy to get from Sony Centres, which I guess is still the case in a lot of countries. Since they are still stocking the RH1 until stocks run out, I would presume they will still supply the discs for them.

You are right about the NH1. It is a speed control rather than a pitch control as I incorrectly stated earlier. The MDS-DRE1 decks on the other hand have seperate sliders for speed and pitch so either can be adjusted if required.

Pitch control is definitely a function I was aware of. My NH1 has it, albeit not a particularly smooth sounding pitch control. Being a DJ, I have always quite fancied getting a pair of MD Djing decks such as the Denon DN-M2300R or preferably a pair of Sony MDS-DRE1's, although they are expensive and quite difficult to get hold of. Obviously accurate pitch control is essential for beat matching in such equipment. I would be interested to see people's reactions if I turned up to play at a club or rave and then played a banging set mixing from MiniDisc rather than my usual vinyl. I would think that would be a first for most people, including me.

A few years ago my brother had a Grundig mini system with cd, md and tuner. It was from quite high up their range so the build quality was pretty good and it looked nice. The md deck recorded and played back well and it sounded far nicer than I ever would have expected. Sadly when he moved house the removal company dropped it and that was the end of that. I still have the floor standing speakers that came with it though. They are in my kitchen and sound great powered by my Sony CHC-CL5MD bookshelf system. Considerably better than the speakers that came with the Sony.

Yesterday I wanted to put an album that was on my computer in Flac format onto a Minidisc but some of the tracks had no gaps in between them so I had to go through a ridiculously complicated process to transfer it as if those tiny gaps are added it drives me insane. This is what I had to do and it worked fine but if anyone could tell me an easier way I would be very grateful. I converted the flac files to wav using Flac Frontend and then imported the album into SonicStage. I then burned the album onto a CD-RW then put the cd into my cd player and copied it digitally in real time to my MD deck with no gaps. If only SonicStage would do this in SP mode. It seems to be fine for LP2, LP4 and Hi-MD but not SP. Very annoying!

Having used MiniDisc constantly since 1998 I really thought I knew the capabilities of the format. That was until recently when I purchased a Sony CHC-CL5MD bookshelf system from ebay in excellent condition for the bargin price of £30, including 36 used MDs. As it has a cassette deck I set about copying some of my early DJ sets, mastered to tape before I started using MiniDisc, onto our favourite little discs. This was great as I was able to edit the two sides back together to remake the continuity of the original live performance. The only problem was that the tape recordings were, in some cases slightly longer than the capacity of the disc so the recording would come to a sudden and rather messy stop. Upon reading the manual for the system I discovered that the MD deck could add a fade out at the end of the recording without having to re-record it. I tried this out and it worked fantastically! I own several MiniDisc units, both hi-fi decks and MD/Hi-MD Walkmans and I have never come across this before. You can also add fade ins or outs to the begining or end of any disc or track that has already been recorded plus you can raise or lower the recorded audio level after the event. All very clever stuff and it makes me wonder if there are any other features of MiniDisc of which I'm not aware. I do hope so.

Hi h_fireage. Here is the address for the service manual for the RH1. I really wouldn't mess around with any other values in service mode unless you are sure you know what you're doing though. One wrong input and you could be left with nothing but a very expensive paper weight. http://minidisc.org/manuals/sony/service/sony_MZ-RH1_service_manual.pdf

Or a Ferrari. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1988-E-FERRARI-328-GTS-AIR-CONDITIONING-MINI-DISC-/110634902660?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item19c25aa484

It appears that Fnac MiniDiscs were in fact made by Maxell. https://picasaweb.google.com/minidisc.channel/Fnac

I have a JE510 which has worked perfectly since 1998 and it's had a hell of a lot of use. It doesn't appear to say where it was manufactured on the casing though.

The Nikkei article itself says, "Sony will continue to make the MiniDiscs themselves, as well as stereos that can play back the audio discs. It will also keep producing CD Walkmans." which would suggest that they will still manufacture some MD decks, for the Japanese market at least. Whether that means separates, bookshelf systems or boomboxes is anyone's guess. This is interesting as I previously thought the RH1 was the only piece of MiniDisc equipment that Sony still had in production.

Hi Philip. Welcome to the forums. The write protect problem is most likely caused by the sensor switch. It is worth having a look at it to make sure it is not damaged. You will find it at the front left corner of the floor of the disc compartment. It is a small plunger type switch which should be spring loaded. When the disc isn't write protected, a small circular hole in the underside of the disc is closed, therefore the switch is pressed allowing recording and vice versa. Unfortunately this switch is tiny and difficult to replace but with a bit of luck the problem may just be dirty contacts in which case repeated gentle opening and closing of the switch may just bring it back to life. If this doesn't work, I'm sure someone else will have further suggestions. Hope this helps, Jimma.

If you're still having trouble with your 810 and want to get it fixed cheaply, see my post linked below. I hope this helps.

Here is a quote about your disc from MD Channel. If you click on the link there are also several photos including one of Hikaru Utada, who the disc is supposed to promote. "Sony Redhot Hikaru utada(1999) The Sony Red hot hikaru utada 1999 edition was a special 3 pack with Red Mds for promotion of female singer Hikaru utada. It came with a fan card and was released only in Japan. There seem to be more than one version. Origin: Japan Stock: Discontinued"# http://picasaweb.google.com/minidisc.channel/SonyJapan#

I haven't used this service myself but judging by the feedback from people who have, it's well worth a go if you have a Sony MD portable with a problem. Jim Hoggarth offers a repair service on ebay and can repair many Sony MDs (currently MZ-N1, MZ-N10, MZ-N505, MZ-N707, MZ-NE410, MZ-N510, MZ-N520, MZ-NF520, MZ-NF610, MZ-N710, MZ-NF810, MZ-N910, MZ-R70, MZ-R90, MZ-R91, MZ-R410, MZ-R500, MZ-R501, MZ-R700, MZ-G750, MZ-G755, MZ-R900, MZ-R909, MZ-B10, MZ-E300, MZ-E500, MZ-E501, MZ-E510, MZ-E900, MZ-E909 Aiwa AM-NX9) for a fantastic price of