Odyssey

HEY PhillippeC I have spent a lot of time looking a MiniDisc History, I really do like this format. But I can say I did not find nearly as many as you have. I will be looking through the collections... Thanks for the links Keep Those MiniDiscs Spinning! WHY ELSE ARE YOU HERE?

It sounds like you found something that someone took a great deal of care of. I started with the MZR50, which I don't believe was too far down the line from when yours was produced. You have to remember, other than leaving functions out on various MD recorders for marketing purposes, the ability to reproduce sound would become better as they moved up to the next model production. Thus, the MZR1 was a great sounding unit, but it is blown away by the RH1 or M200, which in my opinion is the best MD recorder SONY ever put together. I had to look at a picture of the MZ1 to see what type of buttons SONY used, they do appear to be the rubber type. I read somewhere that SONY used parts from a Dictating Machine to keep cost down, the display of the MRZ50 is from a Dictating Machine, so I have read, also. I Think because it was a new product, SONY tried to keep the cost down as long as they could. So its great to hear that you have all the functions working, the electronics inside these units keeps working a long time unless you drop it a few times. These machines don't like that much . The bad news is the button coverings... Rubber generally has a limited life, it takes a beating with UV and just atmosphere, slowly drying out. It would seem those buttons have lasted a long long time for that machine and It seems SONY realized this because I can't think of another MD unit that uses that type of button covering. In time, rubber will become brittle and flake away, crack, all good things rubber can do when it degrades. Automobile vinyl covered dash boards use something that is applyed periodically to try to protect the vinyl from cracks and drying out. In the case of your buttons, it is most likely too late as the damage has already occurred and/or over this amount of time, the rubber compound they used just naturally degenerated. The more you use the buttons, the more they are going to flake apart. Sensibly speaking I don't think there is anything that you can do, without taking away from the looks of the equipment, to stop the buttons from falling apart. Rest assured, when the button finally falls completely apart, it will stop working because on the bottom of the button there is a resistant pad and when you press the buttonn it makes electrical connection with two copper contacts which will trigger the function required. When that resistant pad is gone, it will stop working. The buttons are difficult to replace even if you could find replacement, which I doubt. UNREALISTICALLY speaking, I have to ask how badly do you want to keep this unit working? I am not a pro but I have done some saves of older things at one point or another, and this is a first at this type of problem. But give this consideration You say the buttons are working perfectly, only the rubber is cracking and coming apart..... I assume most of the buttons remains. I just looked at the MR1 pic again, the buttons with the numbers seem to be in a slight depression, for finger contact with the buttons. I am thinking maybe clear silicone sealant. Silicon remains flexy and should allow the press of the buttons to make contact as normal, may be a bit stiffer to press but would work. There will be a couple of steps. Take some plastic food wrap, lay it flat on a table or flat surface, apply a bead of clear silicone ON THE PLASTIC wrap long enough to cover the area that the buttons take, making it larger/longer is ok, this stuff will cut with sissors. Lay another piece of plastic over the silicone and press with something flat. You want to be about 1/16 inch thick so you can use pennys to make that space holding the flat object up. You are using the plastic to keep a flat shiney look to the silicone. Try to keep any wrinkles in the plastic stretched out. Once you have this prepared, let it cure, it will take a few days. Now for a test version after a few days, remove the flat object, slowly and carefully remove the plastic coverings, at least one side. You will find the edges are cured but the inside is still soft and curing. Once the inside is cured more, maybe another day you are ready. Cut the silicone to cover all the numbered buttons and the round button to the right. Leave some overlap as this is a test version. temporarily tape some plastic wrap to cover the buttons. Make it large as this is not a finished piece, you just want plastic between the MR1 and the silicone. Cut it large enough that any silicone you apply will not touch the MR1 body. Now apply enough silicone ONTO THE PLASTIC WRAP over the buttons, to fill the space and form the silicone over the buttons when you press the flat piece of silicone you made previously. You may need to put something that weighs light over it to hold it down. Again, it will need a couple of days to cure. This is because the plastic does not breathe and the silicone needs air to cure. After a couple days, when you remove the plastic wrap with the silicone on it, from the MR1 you should have a perfectly formed silicone cover of the button area. Remove the plastic wrap and trim the silicone to shape. If it is still sticky you may want to allow it to cure another day. TEST without applying silicone, lay the button mold over the buttons and operate the MR1. You want all functions to operate as before. My thought is the silicone is flexy enough to allow the buttons to perform their function. PERMANENT If you feel absolutely sure that this is working as you need it you need to make a decision to glue temp or permanent. I am not sure how long the rubber will stay together, only you can determine that. A TEMP glue down might be to just use a touch of silicone to the edges of the silicone form. It will somewhat protect the buttons and may allow easier disassembly if it is ever needed in the future. PERMANENT glue down is at your own risk. You would glue to fill in all the void and the button surface. Tape around the area just big enough for the silicone form to fit inside the tape, apply the silicone, press down, and carefully remove the tape leaving a clean button surface, which will now be more or less, flat. POSITIVE: the silicone will hold the buttons together, even the cracked pieces. The silicone is flexy so there should be no lost functions. NEGATIVE: If the buttons ever have to be taken out, the silicone would have to be cut off around each button to allow this. Another way, which I have no idea how you could acheive this, would be to use clear silicone and form around each button individually. How you can do this and make it look good, I don't have a clue. Well this is my thought, and I have done some work with clear silicone and this process before so I know it works where I used it before. But I will caution that I did not use it on buttons like these. If you do hazard to try this, it would be at your own peril. No Guarantees here. You are trying to save something that probably should be in a museum and altering it will cause the value to drop. I think if you do everything up to the temp trial, you would be ok, you can throw out the silicone if it does not work well. But let me assure you, PERMANENT is just that. You can remove cured silicone but it is a mess and I can't guess what the surface of the case would look like if you tried. JUST A THOUGHT FOR YOU...... Keep Those MDs Spinning! WHY ELSE ARE YOU HERE?

I started out with the MZ-R50 also. built like a tank. It is still working, still records, still plays. But, as for what have you missed, well SONY has made a few changes along the way. things got better but it took the RH1 or M200 to finally come out with all the enhancements. Sony slapped the name "PROFESSIONAL" on the recorder and sent it out to market. in my opinion the RH1 / M200 are the two very best units SONY ever made, mostly because SONY stopped playing games and did not leave anything out this production. It is the most complete MD recorder/player Sony ever produced and you will really like how it works and sounds. go to the MD community and read the owners manual for the RH1 . M200, it sure does a lot of great things. Good luck Keep Those MiniDiscs Spinning! WHY ELSE ARE YOU HERE?

I joined the MD users with an MZ-R50 and just kept going. It seems after you have your first unit, there isn't any going back. The Cassette was good in its noisy time but the MD is so much more superior. I did not use SS, I have been old school and always recorded with either the mic or Line in and played line out. I have used the opticle on occasion but generally never need it. My recordings are always very good, even my mic recordings of nature sounds. If you still have your damaged unit, there is a guy on this forum that does repair and may be able to help you. I've known a few people that have the IPUD but they always look like they are so cheap and some have tole me they fall apart or stop working.... I don't know, never had one. Since I do remote recording, the MD has always been great for on the spot editing/recording and I just don't see anything else able to do the same thing. Hope you enjoy the MD as much as you did in the past. Keep Those MiniDiscs Spinning! WHY ELSE ARE YOU HERE?

MiniDisc is in a sort of NederWorld where sort of just exists. The MD following continues to use the format and are very happy with it while those not aware that it ever existed ( they are out there, I have been asked what I have in my hand and when I tell them a MiniDisc, they want to know what that is ) thanks to SONYs very sparce or lack of advertising. As far as MiniDisc availability goes, the PROFESSIONAL DISCS are already out of production. They are on store shelves at a price of about $6.99 each and are being sold as first come, first served. I think at that price, they will be available for awhile. SONY still produces the Premium GOLD MDW80PL and as far as I know the Neige MiniDiscs. VICTOR is also producing an 80 minute disc in two versions. I don't know of any other company making them but they dropped the MiniDIsc long before the TSUNAMI hit Japan. This brings on interesting thoughts as TASCAM has at least 3 new decks out now. One is a professional unit and the other two are Pro but more affordable for the consumer. The hitch is TASCAM does not make MiniDiscs themselves, having to depend on SONY or some other manufacturer to supply the discs. It really does not make sense that a company like TASCAM would go into design and manufacture without knowing that there would be a supply of MiniDiscs for their product. This is a scene that will have to be watched and see how it plays out. Keep Those MiniDiscs Spinning! WHY ELSE ARE YOU HERE?

Well MiniDisc users, we are seeing time once again pull at the strings of SONY or shall I say the bean counters are looking for ways to recoup money. Look at this artical and also look at the comments. http://techcrunch.com/2011/07/22/sony-pulls-the-plug-on-8mm-video/ By the comments, this was again another format that the users liked and it performed well as a piece of equipment, does this sound familiar??? I heard that the leaders of SONY were not the learned engineers of old time SONY but accountants who make decisions by dollar signs and graphs. Well, it shows by the decisions that SONY has been making to abandon various products. Not to mention the huge laptop battery recall. If it seems SONY is not in friendly waters, its because they seem to be making some bad decisions. Whether abandoning the users of the 8mm video format is a good choice or not is something SONY will have to live with. But it seems they are orphaning quite a few products that were in the buyers eye as a useful convenient tool. Things have become quiet about the restoration in Japan and one might think this announcement may be for SONY to rebuild a damaged facility for production of another type of equipment. This makes one wonder if SONY is really in as good of shape as a company as they once were. Time will tell.... Keep Those MiniDiscs Spinning, WHY ELSE ARE YOU HERE?

Absolutely INSANE!!! But understand, the clerk told me they were scheduled to be destroyed...... SONY no longer gives them a value at the SONY STOREs. Keep Those MDs Spinning! WHY ELSE ARE YOU HERE?

Keep Those MDs Spinning! WHY ELSE ARE YOU HERE?

NEVER HAPPEN... the Minidisc has a lot of technology in them and there are a lot of collectors that still use the MINIDISC technology. As long as there are discs out there, the Minidiscs will be there because of the features, portability and editing functions. There has been nothing like it. Ebay is an auction, might as well be a casino, so the items get bid on. Minidiscs still have a high desire by those who know, and so the bids go up. THE BEST PRICE will be found by private parties. Some just want to get their money back or come close and may throw in a mic and some discs. Ebay will be high because its like gambling, " If I bid one more time, I may win it ".... but they just keep bidding util the end of the auction. Prerecorded discs are now too expensive. The sellers are buying up everything they can get there hands on, tripple the price and put on ebay to make a fast buck. Unless you really really want that prerecorded MD, I would let it go. Again, I would look for a private party if the sellers havent already bought them up. AS far as the MiniDisc equipment taking up space on a Junk Shop shelf, don't think you will see it in your lifetime. A lot of former MD users keep coming back, digging their MD equipment out of the closet and using again. It is really quite interesting how this is turning out. I thought that the hard core MD users would hang on and the rest would fade away but it seems they come back and are happier with the MD than the other equipment. Just my viewpoint but still a curious turn around. I have read at least a few articles where the messages said the Ipud was not holding up or broken or malfunctioning, coming apart, etc and said they were again using the minidisc equipment. So the JUNK SHOP SHELF just does not seem to be the direction the minidisc is going. At the very least, it will fade away with this generation, remembered as a great recording medium and very flexible and portable recording hardware. Those that are really into the MD will remain there and those that moved on, which everyone will eventually do, due to becoming obselete, will remember them as well. But the MiniDisc will remain a viable piece of equipment for a long time. Keep Those MiniDiscs Spinning! WHY ELSE ARE YOU HERE?

The SONY STORES are taking the HI-MD discs off the shelf. The store near me took them off a year ago and they were at the warehouse. They were going to destroy them. I had come to the conclusion to start buying them from the SONY STORE at 6.99 each and get a stash built up. When I could not find them I asked one of the sales people about it. They were not sure and sent the manager over. He told me they were moved to the warehouse. I asked if they would sell them and what the price was. He said he had to check and a day or so later called. He had about 125 of them and they were going to let me buy them at under cost each.... My suggestion is to talk to the manager at the Sony Store and see if they still have them at all, even at the warehouse. Give it a shot, you never know. Keep Those MiniDiscs Spinning! WHY ELSE ARE YOU HERE?

Well the article is OLD OLD OLD, it may be reposted today, but the message is the same. I am glad to hear that the discs are still being continued as for the equipment, I have not seen any other than the RH-1 and the M-200. If there is anything else out there with the SONY tag, its a surprise to me. Tascam is making units, they are the only one I know of. And considering the back luck I had with my SONY decks, they probably SHOULD STOP MAKING DECKS. They are JUNK!. This is probably what the buying public thought as well. Sonys name has been getting tarnished for awhile now and the fact that their advertising, at least on the MD product, Diminished to nearly none, is it really a surprise that minidisc is lost in popularity??? Oh I know you hard noses will try to say the IPUD has won, get over it but I prefer a piece of equipment that is built well, such as the MINIDISC walkmans. I keep reading reports where the users of IPUDS are unhappy because they stop working or they fall apart and yet the MINIDISC walkman keeps right on spinning. As for finding the Minidiscs, all I can say is beware of EBAY, I don't think it is a good place to buy from and I loathe PayPAL, having had my problems caused by them in the past. I don't suggest you use PayPAL at all. Minidiscs are still available mail order or web at decent prices, but you have to find them. And be aware that SONY is not producing huge numbers of discs so don't be surprised if you are on a back order for a month or so if you order any sizable quantities. Victor has been the other minidisc producer and as far as I know, is still producing discs. Though there may be others, I know of no other manufacturer that is still in production of the MD. AS for SONY to " manufacture some MD decks ", like I said I HAVE NOT SEEN ANY IN YEARS. Maybe they are still clearing out their warehouses but I don't know where they are selling them. Even the web stores are void of SONY minidisc equipment. The MiniDisc was/is a great tool for most of us and still offers functions for a portable device that was unheard of. Time marches on and so does technology and the normal phase out should have been the advent of video. Obviously the SONY Minidisc player with the LCD screen may have been a forerunner of this only to be deemed too far ahead of its time. Now SONY has thrown in the towel and succombed to the IPUD, just as they did when they stopped making BETAmax and made VHS equipment. It was all MONEY considerations and both were the direct fault of really bad marketing. Get into the habit of making your master recordings on CD and make compliations on the MD discs. You can save what you like or erase and record a new compliation. This will help you save your minidisc stash and keep the Minidisc that we all enjoy in service for a long time. Don't forget to get a couple of batteries, especially the weird ones. Keep those MiniDiscs Spinning, WHY ELSE ARE YOU HERE?

When Sony abandoned the MD user world, the price of the pre-recorded went sky high. Ebay sellers are buying them up like crazy at the lowest price they can find and are selling them for as much as they can get ( without holding a gun to your head ). The MD recorders are going to raise in price due to supply and demand, and maybe some clever bidding, it is hard to know if the seller is bidding against you, but I would not be surprised. Disc supplies will dwindle if Sony has stopped production. I can't say if they did or did not cease production, I just have not heard any news since the Tsunami/Quake. There are still ware house supplies and store stock out there. Let me tell you the future, the cost of the MD recorders, MiniDisc and Pre recorded MiniDisc will go up. Supply will go down as former MD users abandon the MD format for the cheapo IPUDs. Maybe I just don't get it, the MD recorders seem better built, easier to use, Sound fabulous and you can edit on the run?? My understanding of the sound quality compared to the Ipud was not as good, is this old news? I read a forum message saying they got tired of the IPUD because they kept falling apart and they went back to MiniDisc..... Makes it confusing why one would change at all, seems to me...... to each their own Keep those MiniDiscs Spinning

I don't know much about the cloud but if you are storing your music on a web site ( cloud ), doesn't it cost you in MB not only to up load but also to down load?? even if you listen, you are charged in MB from your provider. is that smart? Just asking... Keep those MD's Spinning

Tape online is pricing the 80 minute sony Gold at 1.95. If you think that is a good price, go for it. TapeStockOnline is offering the 80 minute sony Gold at 1.52 each or 1.42 at 25 piece package bundle. Tape Online used to be my source util they raised the prices of the discs. Now they can choke on them. Keep those Minidiscs spinning. UPDATE: 07/07/2011 Well if this is to be believed, then discs are still in production.... Keep Those MiniDiscs Spinning! WHY ELSE ARE YOU HERE?