Hey gochefs, Unfortunately I cannot answer your question, but i can sympathise with you! I have the same problem with a MZ-R55. The headphone socket only plays through one earphone channel unless pushed in. What do you mean by shorts? I also am having probs playing from battery, i recently bought a new one on the cheap, gonna givet hat a go tonight. Hope it fixes the problem. I would also like to know if this is easily fixable. Ben