jonny mac

Is this new?

My sister's Vaio laptop needed a minor repair (a key replaced on the keyboard). She shipped it to Sony Europe (Belgium, I think), they replaced the key & shipped it back... But it disappeared after that, no doubt purloined by someone along the way. She got a nice shiny new Vaio from Sony.

There I was thinking the EU were the only folks dictating what you can & can't do with your MD unit. Whenever past hacks have been released it's always been strongly stated that if you mess up anything whilst in service mode then it's on your head, not the board's. People need to understand the risks & that it's their responsibility should anything go wrong. I find the above statement very condescending, as if the people here are not capable of judging things for themselves. I don't mean to get anyone's back up with this, perhaps it's just the way it was worded, but I think it's a bad precedent that things like this are withheld from this community because you can't get everyone to sign waivers that the board won't be held responsible. However, I don't imagine there would be any noticable difference between 4.8 & 5 mW of output, though I echo the sentiments of other in that, if I had an RH1, I would hack it anyway just because I wouldn't want to have a unit I knew to be crippled, however minorly.

Wow, cool. Don't you think you owe the guy for it then, as it's not broken? What kind of battery does it take? If it's standard ones then that's fine, special LiIons may be hard to come by. How does it sound compared to modern units?

There's no point in cranking every EQ band up to the maximum, you'll achieve the higher volume without the distortion by just raising the volume. On the plus side, I certainly welcome a review of these phones. Given the popularity if the S70X series that come with these it's good to know that the headphones upon which they're reliant can hold their own. I think you're right about the unusually long cord, I can't see that being useful to anyone, these aren't generally for home use after all.

Perhaps in 2 to 3 years there'll be portable players at 150 - 200 gb or so but most people will ot buy one of them & use lossless. Instead, they'll buy high capacity flash players (say 32 gb) & continue using mp3 etc. This is because the flash players will be smaller, lighter & more convenient. And what's portable music about if not convenience? Really high capacity HDD portables will be a vey small niche market.

Originally MDs were only available in 60 or 74 minute so really old player/recorders have problems. As to whether or not it's actually recording... I suggest you try playing the disc in some newer equipment & see what you get.

I would suggest disassembling hte unit & checking that there's nothing interfering with the thread that moves the head to the correct position. Sounds to me like this is the problem.

I'm guessing from this that you're messing around with service mode then. Never a good idea.

I don't think it needs a reset. I think it's broken. I've never heard of any MD unit being able to be reset.

Discount Discs are a great retailer, can't recommend them enough. Shame they don't carry much MD stuff any more.

If you have a charged gumstick in the unit while it's operating then you can switch AAs as & when they're needed, even while recording or playing.

The way I get around this is to insert a small piece of paper over the write-protect tap thingy when inserting a disc. It's not pretty but it works. I fear my NH900 is on it's last legs anyway, the front metal plate is now completely detatched on one side. I've consigned it to at-home use only & may look into some kind of replacement for it if it bites the dust. Maybe an RH1 or maybe something else.

Err, why not just use the AA battery add-on pack?

I eventually went into a Sony Centre last time I was home in the UK & they very helpfully provided me with (& fitted) a spare screw, no charge. However, they weren't able to provide me with any spares for the future. Smekma, I don't know where you are in Spain but there are Sony Centres here, in Madrid at least. You could try them. Below are a couple on online retailers in SPain, both specialising in Sony stuff. Maybe you could contact themto help you out? http://www.tiendasony.com/index.php http://www.sonygallery.com/