freddyjollo

yes and still 6 days to go. will go for some silly price. I think the time gone now for cheap ones on Ebay? "UK Edition" which according to Sony is "specially tuned for British ears". I think they tweaked the insides a bit the odd component. don't know if was much of a difference. I suspect compared to hifidelity these days a bit of a joke? I anyway run all my digital thru a new Audiolab 8200CDQ dac I just got at an end of line price reduced from £1000 to £600 so any changes to the audio circuitry irrelevant.

I see there is on ebay uk this jb940 going - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sony-Minidisc-player-MDS-JB940-/252136955041?hash=item3ab4889ca1:g:i-EAAOSwAYtWKRez has a scratched case but maybe transplant the mechanism? the scratched case may keep the price lower? seems like prices in general have gone up very much - I bought my 2 spare JB940 a couple of years ago for about £70-80 each. I saw this advert. is this the bit that broke? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sony-MDS-JB-940-MD-Losch-und-Schreibkopf-Head-over-Light-NEU-/140989709713?hash=item20d3a43d91:g:qWUAAMXQ9qpRXYyb

thats why I berate the use of a small special purpose rubberband for such a non audio action, that will render the deck frustratingly useless( every thing else working), whereas some gears/cogs would have done much better and would I bet have worn better as the insert/ejection process not some thing that happens frequently, & wouldnt have worn out just by being inactive? You can bet I ll be storing the rubber bands in the black hole of calcutta. As I have 4 decks I may need to get more..... Will see what the first ones are like.

I wonder how long the the rubber bands will be available for? That website mentioned only had 65 left ( I bought 5 just in case ) then what?

its a shame no one here can give definative info regarding which decks use the same transports then you might have been able to buy a cheaper deck and transplant the mechanism, which was my question above. Certainly this rubber band issue makes you wonder how long these decks will last as the assumption was that left unused they would be ok? now we know that there was a countdown from new? just because of a silly little rubber band!

i dont know why sony didnt use cog wheels here seems a foolish design decision?

very sorry to hear it didn't go well :(

on a related matter do any of the cheaper Sony decks use the same transport? might be worth picking up one cheap just for the mechanism?

to open the "main hinge" I think you have to remove a small spring at the side that otherwise keeps it closed. This is a very small spring with not too much tension that I think could easily be damaged so do with care. I havent got to that state yet, as I am waiting for a spare belt to arrive.

fourbanks have u sorted yours out yet? did the belt solve the problem?

well I started to dismantle mine. it is nt necessary to undo the front at all as once the saucer screws are undone it lifts out clean. re the grounding straps - cant see any. Now just got to get to the belt, the instructions above a bit un clear. I can see the little belt from the front? only one belt? What should I expect to see? a broken belt? Mine is still intact and in place.Just slipping then? and a new one will do the job?

well well well. I thought I would check my store of mindisck decks jb940 and one also now shows the same problem! Does time deteriorate the belt esp when not in use or maybe the storeage conditions? This is the first time this has happened to me. is it common? as it was fine when stored away and never gave any trouble of any kind. By the way where is the service manual referred to above as it seems I will have to do the same job!!

well 32 gb flash dont cost much so I doubt it would have suvived long? even in some quarters think that blu ray dvd had their days since the younguns use streaming and mobiles ( = low quality) . the shame is sony they didnt include their old atrac software into the latest solid state devices to allow minidisc to migrate easily

talking about Sony JB980 some one is selling a NEW one ( or trying to ) on Ebay for £600......The last new one is the bye line

I would go for a sharp MD-MT88 OR 99 I have a number of these and have nice thick metal cases that shame later models from any brand. They take an AA battery, can be recharged in situ, have a mic input and also optical/line in, is also LP2 & LP4 - but has no tone controls. I bought 3 of these ages ago thinking that if they each last 3 years I have 9 years. I am still on the first one, very tatty but sound. Also has a nice large non recessed display AND unlike Sony ones will erase discs that have been protected ( not with the tab of course ) They normally come with a small remote control.

​keeping LITHIUM batteries cool is a good idea ( not freezing them ) as they are degrading slowly even when not used. Lower temperatures slows this down. Car batteries are not lithium but are acid- lead with liquid in - not a good idea to free them as they then wont work!

My audio hifi is Audiolab, now 8 years old using 8000Q & 2x8000M. At the moment Audiolab is bringing out new versions of their 8200 series and many hifi stores are selling off the current at much reduced prices. SO I got my self the 8200CDQ at a very nice price. This is a combined cd player, preamp and dac so able to route my JB940 minidisc deck directly to the preamp,avoiding the inbuilt dac and audio circuitry of the JB94 and any audio cables, just a much simpler digital cable. About as simple a connection you can make I think., avoiding many audio analogue cables. And I must say it dont half sound good! Has any one else here gone down this route? Certainly a good way to get consistancy of sound from your various bits and pieces? ( I dont often spend money these days on hifi - this hopefully the last)

re soundforge or its cheaper version audiostudio is a great product for editing md sound files and is quite cheap on Ebay & I beleive is part of sony movie studio which can also be got cheap there

hello you need atleast 2 decks - sony JB940 or JB980?

The Sony MZ-NH600 also not a bad player and prob cheaper, again uses AA batteries. The ones to avoid are those that use the special gumstick batteries even though the players may be the best in the world - no good if batteris cant be got? The Sharp MD-MT88/99 also good. Have a better easier to read screen than the NH600 but dont have tone controls and isnt net-md or hi-md so cant download from your pc. Unlike the NH600 has a metal case it does have LP mode

this is us I suppose http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-31647697 hmm not as bad as a guy who has a freeview box linked to a 1949 b/w tv sad man I wonder how he got it to work as they were 405 lines not 625 like modern tvs?

just looked on Ebay - some silly prices being asked for in some cases MXD-D40 machines in cosmetic bad condition; seems like some sellers dont learn

A good reason to keep one pc running XP I think. The later OS so tied up in knots with security restrictions drives me barmy. The security issues with XP are over stated I think for most thinking people

wow thats expensive - time to dump a minidisc that uses such batteries I think Glad all my portables bar the rh1 use AA. I think there is a lessson there about tech that uses propriety batteries - the same will appply to your smartphone in years to come , should u be a contented user and dont want to change to the latest 3-d holographic device....

see here http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/331527054425?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT I wouldnt mind one but not at that price. Though it is new. There seems to be one guy who really wants it