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Bit of an odd one, this. Apologies in advance for the lengthy post... As I mentioned elsewhere, my main MDS-JB980 started giving C13 errors on Saturday. Before I got around to taking the lid off to give it a clean, I plumbed in my second MDS-JB980 so I could do some recordings, which I did on Saturday evening. On Sunday, I tried to enter track names for a couple of songs I had recorded the day before but got a "Cannot Edit" message appear in the display. I was a bit bewildered by this. The disc didn't have the record-protect tab open (and that would give a different error message: "C11/Protected") and the disc had not been anywhere near a computer (so no "TrProtected" issues). I wondered if it might be because I had completely filled the disc (I ran out of space about 8 seconds before the end of the last song I was trying to record) but don't recall this ever having been a problem in the past. I then noticed that the deck was in Programme play mode (i.e. PGM was illuminated in the display). I thought this a bit odd as I hadn't been using Programme play mode but assumed I must have accidentally knocked the Play Mode button on either the deck or remote control at some point. Set it back to normal and was able to enter the track names. Okay, so far, not particularly interesting :-) I carried on messing about with a few different discs before I noticed the deck was now in Shuffle play mode (i.e. SHUF was illuminated in the display). Not sure if I was getting very clumsy but was pretty sure I hadn't been touching the Play Mode buttons. I had, however, had a couple of instances where I had to press the Eject button on the deck more than once to actually get it to eject the disc (not an eject issue in the usual sense with a failing belt but just no response from the deck when first pressed). I then noticed, when pressing Eject on the deck and the eject cycle not initiating, that the Play Mode changed in the display. It's not consistent, and doesn't appear to follow a pattern that I can discern, but I can replicate it and change the Play Mode with the Eject button. On the MDS-JB980, the Eject button is to the right of the loading slot/display screen whilst the Play Mode button is to the left, so they're not in any way adjacent. Has anyone encountered this sort of behaviour before? Any ideas what might be causing it?

Turned on my MDS-JB980 this morning. Screen displays the title of the MiniDisc I had left in the deck overnight. I press play and the name of the first track appears but I can just hear the disc spinning and no audio. After about 10 seconds of this I eject and re-insert the disc at which point I get TOC Reading followed by C13 Read Error. Tried the disc a couple of times with the same results. Try a number of other discs and the same thing happens. The discs all work fine in another deck. I'll disconnect the deck and take the lid off this evening to try cleaning the lens with some isopropyl alcohol but in the meantime I thought I'd try a lens cleaning disc. This worked fine. The deck recognised the disc without any issues and it played fine. Unfortunately it does not appear to have had effect on the deck's ability to play any other discs. I'm guessing that the lens cleaning disc is a pre-recorded/pressed disc. Is there any reason why the deck would recognise and play this without any issues but not play any home recorded discs? Something to do with the required laser power or something?

I'm not having much luck with my MiniDisc decks at the moment. My MDS-JB940 and my main MDS-JB980 are both having eject issues (I think the belts have gone). I've ordered a replacement belt so hope to get one of those fixed this week and, assuming it's successful, will order a belt for the other. Whilst those two machines were out of operation, I put my spare MDS-JB980 into my office system but I am having some issues with it. I bought the device a few years back and, after some brief testing, it has sat in its box in a spare bedroom. It seems to play MDs without any issues but I am having issues with recording. I have carried out two types of test today using three devices (the faulty MDS-JB980, an MDS-JE500 and an MZ-N910) with these results: Test One Insert blank disc into MDS-JB980 Record CD via optical input – tracks show but do not playback (mechanism whirring but never displays 0:00 and starts playing) Eject MD – TOC writing Re-insert MD – shows as blank disc Insert recorded disc into MZ-N910 – shows as blank disc Insert recorded disc into MDS-JE500 – shows as blank disc Test Two Insert blank disc into MDS-JE500 Record CD via optical input – playback works fine Eject MD - TOC writing Re-insert MD – playback works fine Insert recorded disc into MZ-N910 – playback works fine Insert recorded disc into MDS-JB980 – playback works fine Enter track name using MDS-JB980 Eject MD – TOC writing Re-insert recorded disc – shows as blank disc in all three devices Yesterday it seemed slightly better at recording and some tracks (although never the first recorded track) would play back on the MDS-JB980 and the other devices but then the "blank disc" issue would occur after trying to name tracks or re-record the first track that wouldn't play back. The first disc I had the issues with was a brand new sealed Sony MDW80T. I initially wondered whether it might be a disc issue but have had the same results with a different disc (and the discs work fine when recorded on using the MDS-JE500) so I think it must be the deck). Any ideas as to what the issue might be and whether there is anything I could do to fix it?

Does a Type-S machine provide any improvement in sound quality over a Type-R machine when playing back LP2 recordings via an external DAC? Not sure whether the benefits of Type-S are applied during the digital to analogue conversion within the MiniDisc player or before that point. Specifically talking about the MDS-JB940 and MDS-JB980 if that is relevant.

So after receiving my new digital coax switch (http://forums.sonyinsider.com/topic/29423-switch-for-coaxial-digital-cables/), I spent some time this afternoon tidying up my office MiniDisc set up and getting everything connected. At the heart of this is a pair of Sony QS decks: an MDS-JB940 and an MDS-JB980. Both have their original remote controls, an RM-D49M and an RMD10E respectively. Unfortunately both remote controls seem to control both decks (i.e. if I turn on the MDS-JB980 using its remote, the MDS-JB940 turns on as well. If I press play on the MDS-JB940's remote, both decks start playing). Is there anything I can do about this so each remote will only control the appropriate machine? I have checked the manuals for both decks but cannot find any instructions on what to do if you have more than one MiniDisc deck in a set up (which surely cannot have been that uncommon back in the format's heyday). As a last resort I could obviously use some sort of physical obstruction in front of the remote sensor of the machine I didn't want to respond but I was hoping there might be a slightly more high tech solution.

As promised in one of my previous posts, here is the trailer for 'The Field Recordist' which features some of the mini disc recorders, together with recorded tracks: UPDATED - HERE IS THE COMPLETE FILM: Best heard with headphones.