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I bought a Sony MZ-N10 with an old battery and just the docking station without any cable. I know that the quality of the data cable and the 6V power adapter cable is very bad and almost falls apart. Mainly because the data cable isn’t available anymore I wanted to modify the docking station. Changing the proprietary Sony port to a common USB-C port would be a nice solution. Bit I also wanted to get rid of the 6V port. too. I thought that it must be possible to step up the 5V from the USB-C input to 6V via a step up converter. This would be quite convenient. So I ordered the needed parts. Battery: https://www.ebay.de/itm/224470036406?var=523253029851 USB-C breakout port: https://www.ebay.de/itm/353151668332 Step up converter: https://www.reichelt.de/entwicklerboards-spannungsregler-dc-dc-wandler-debo-dcdc-down-4-p291460.html?CCOUNTRY=445&LANGUAGE=de&trstct=pos_0&nbc=1&&r=1 The installation of the battery was quite easy. I ordered a 402050 battery. I guess its 420 mAh is the maximum capacity that will fit inside the MZ-N10. To install you just have to unscrew the jog dial and the back plate. Just solder the wires to the two pins next to the battery port. This video shows the procedure, but take a larger battery. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qkwfSVickU To install the new parts into the docking station you have to unscrew the two screws on the back plate. Take a plastic opening tool to release it. Now desolder all 6 wires from the port and solder new wires as shown in the picture. Set the step up converter to 6,4 Volt. You have to cut some plastic parts to make the new parts fit. I also had to extend the space inside the docking station to make the step up converter fit. I used hot glue and plastic parts to cover the gap. This mod makes the MZ-N10 easier to use than ever before. Especially if you use the great website „Web MiniDisc“ by Stefano Brilli. Now I can sync my favorite songs with my MacBook Air without any problems. Syncing and charging via one USB-C cable. Uploading my photos failed consequently. The 4 wires of the Sony port are standard USB wires. Ground and Voltage wires also have to be connected to the input ports of the step up converter. The two wires from the output of the step up converter have to be connected with the 6V connection from the Sony connector. Pictures are available on reddit.

Hi Trying to record from my stereo to my JE780 via the optical cable but I get the Din Unlock C17 error as soon as I press the record button. Cable at both ends is seated correctly and is working correctly as far as I know. Sony suggests a "power reset" but can't find how I do that. Also, the Optical In doesn't seem to have a red light which I guess is the nature of the error; is there a simple fix for this? Thanks in advance.

hmmm if you can figure out how to add PC-Link to the 640 I for one would be eternally grateful.

Hi to everyone here. I'm new to the forum and I have a Sony Mds-je 510 minidisc deck which is now dead. It was working fine,but was showing blinking 'standby' when you switch it on. This is a sign for a weak battery and I decided to replace it. It all went smooth, I disconnected the three ribbon cables and ac cord from the main board, pulled it out of the casing, desoldered the old battery, soldered the new one and put back the main board in place. When I switched it on - disaster! No signs of life at all. I went for a cigarette, thinking what might be the problem and when I came back I saw I forgot to connect all the ribbon cables. Lol, easy! But I didn't notice that I left the deck plugged in the outlet. So, after connecting the ribbon cables , probably I have shorted something. Now I have only the standby light, it goes to green when I switch it on and to red when I switch it back off. The loading and ejecting works, but the disc doesn't spin, no display and no buttons working. I have checked B+ on pin 64, 3.3 V and B- on pin 56, -32.6V of IC 701, the display ic, as per service manual, they are there. Any help will be highly appreciated, thanks. Stan

So this has happened twice in a row now. An error shows up during HiMD data transfer. Subsequently SonicStage immediately deletes all tracks from recording group! This is unforgivable. The tracks play fine after the recording. I know this for a fact because I try to bleed the battery dry before connecting to PC (to prevent battery memory), so I play the tracks till the battery runs out. Is there a way to prevent this (would the write protect tab work)? Is there a way to recover audio that has been deleted this way, including the track marks?

I have a MDS-JB940 minidisc deck. Having an issue wilt TOC writing. issue is: 1. when I complete recording a disc and eject, TOC writing will occasionally lock up the machine. Only option is to unplug it, which ejects the disc and is then blank. 2. whenever I completely erase a disc and eject it, TOC writing will always lock up the machine. Only option is to unplug it, which then ejects the disc, and has not been erased. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated. Other than this TOC issue, the machine works fine... Thanks, Gareth

Hi I've recently got an MZ-S1 off of ebay. The seller says it was working fine before shipping it and it does look in mint condition but when I try to read a disc it seems to be stalling and never starts playing it. It does recognize when there's no disc inside but nothing happens when I insert one, just a low whirring sound. Anybody can help? Thanks!

I have an old minidisc player that is not working anymore, and a disc is inside of this player that I am not even sure how to take out. Any recommendations will be greatly appreciated. After I take that disc out of that player I would have to copy it to my computer hard drive. I just found out that some MD players have USB outputs, and weirdly enough some players can only download through the USB ports, not upload, but most of them do both: uploading and downloading. Question: If I find a player that will be able to transfer data through USB port into the computer, what format it will be transferred in and what format is it recorded on the disc in, and how exactly can such transfer from a disc to the computer hard drive be done? Thank you.

I just recently got a MZ-N505 second hand. And when I put a disc in it reads it, then starts playing, it even has the bar up top showing the levels. BUT there is no sound coming from the player. I know that the disc's are good because I have a MZ-NE410 and the discs play just fine on those. I dont have the remote for the MZ-N505 but I did try another remote I had. Does anyone have a clue as to what the issue might be that I can not get sound out of this player? I have also tried other headphones for the player as well.

Hello All, I'm after a new deck to add to the collection! The two in my sights are the Sony JB-930 (or 940 which has MDLP) - this is a premium Sony deck and I'd be looking for one in black with the red "UK tuned" emblem. I think it also has a PS/2 port so a keyboard can be plugged in to aid MD titling. The Tascam MD-350 is a German made beast, which I understand was designed for long haul professional use in a rack - it also has metal gears inside to improve robustness. I really like the sound of the Tascam, it reminds me of a German premium car or something. The Sony though visually looks better and is probably more consumer-friendly since I don't use it professionally. It's just for occasional recording and playback. Any owners here of the respective models? Thanks!

Hey all, Recently came across a NetMD MiniDisc player (MZ-NE410) and was having some trouble with it. While it does work and plays discs fine, it seems to have a problem staying on. Whenever even a bit of pressure is put on the lid of the player (whether there be a disc in it or not), the unit shuts off. I thought it was a problem with the battery compartment but after trying multiple batteries and different methods, this phenomenon only seems to only happen when putting pressure on the lid. Any ideas? Thanks.

Hi everyone! I just found my old Sony MZ-R35 player after 15 years. It is in decent condition, but some of the controls on the unit do not work (volume, pause, mode, display). The remote that came with it can control Volume and Pause but not the Play Mode or the Display. Would the remote of later units - like the RM-MZR50 or RM-MZR55 - be able to achieve that? If you know other remotes that could control the Play Mode and the Display for the MZ-R35, please let me know. Thanks in advance.

I have a MZ-RH1 unit , black, almost new, original box, in mint state, I used it for 12 hours in total. included are: 1GB HIMD MINIDISC AC charger 100-220V RM-MC38EL remote control with LCD and backlight USB CABLE SONY E0921 headset Rechargeable battery lip-4wm Manuals I could sell the unit at an interesting price and to somebody who takes good care of it. The MZ-RH1 is located in Spain, but could be sent to anywhere is needed. Nothing to hide. Here is a set of pictures taken yesterday, with different views of unit, package box, manuals, etc.

Back in 1997, long before MP3 was anything more than a concept, I was serving in the Air Force and frequently deployed overseas. Some guys on the squadron introduced me to a strange format for making music portable. MiniDisc. I soon got to learn that those tough little discs survived the rough-and-tumble of life in a kit-bag. We each bought portable players, and would ‘pool’ our discs together to make little music libraries, would trade discs with one another, and would copy CD’s for one another back home. No matter where we were in the world, AA batteries were easy to obtain, and just a handful of batteries would literally last weeks. It was a pocket-sized bit of luxury that we could carry with us, and I loved it. ......then, along came MP3 players and the ubiquitous ‘iPod’. Suddenly we could carry all of our music in a small space, and it seemed that the MiniDisc was dead. Within about 3 years everyone I knew had ditched the format and were literally giving away their discs and players, as were oil-rig workers, fishermen, and other locals who worked away from home for extended periods. I too, confined my MiniDisc collection to a box in the loft, and bought an iPod Classic. Fast-forward to 2005, and I deployed for a 4-month tour to Iraq. My iPod came with me, and I had the small luxury of my music collection to fall back on, OR SO I THOUGHT. By the second week I had the sickening ‘Sync Reset’ display (which of course was impossible without my PC) and in one fell swoop I lost my music. Other guys had problems with the portable power-generators cooking their wall-plug chargers, and soon quite a few of us had lost the use of our players, just when we would have appreciated them the most! Back home, and I was quickly falling out of love with my iPod. It seemed that whenever I updated my collection there would be issues with mixed/missing title-tracks and artwork. Any albums entitled ‘Greatest Hits’ would become an amalgamated mess, and whilst the battery-life seemed to get ever shorter, the demands for a ‘sync reset’ increased. The love was fading. I noticed something else, too. My listening habits were changing. My seemingly endless access to music made me a lazy listener, and I would frequently jump from album to album, track to track, and would often skip mid-way through a track. My days of listening to an album the way that the artist intended, had gone. This wasn’t music enjoyment. ....and so, by 2008 I was back to my MiniDisc, and what I revival it was! Equipment that had previously been prohibitively expensive was now dirt-cheap, and I was living the hobby like a millionaire! I soon had units for every occasion with Sony JA20ES and JA50ES decks for hifi use, numerous portable players, and a Pioneer MEH P9000 head-unit for the car. I could afford to be extravagant with discs, and my well used dozen or so swelled up to over 1,000. That was 10 years ago, and nothing much since then has changed. I still indulge in the childhood enjoyment of putting a ‘mixtape’ together in real-time, copying music from my CD’s and vinyl to Type-R SP to listen to in the car, or out walking the dog. Because space is at a premium my playlists are more carefully considered, and I listen to each track in full. My listening-habits are back to where they should be. In 20 years I can count on one hand the number of corrupted discs I’ve suffered, only ever having to re-copy one album. I keep discs and a spare player at work, in the summerhouse and in the car, and I have a physical, tangible connection with my music collection again. MiniDisc as a commercial format is dead, and I’m OK with that. It continues to live on in my household, and probably will do for years to come, maybe even for another decade or more. I continue to love the ‘forgotten format’, and those robust little discs give me everything I need.

I've noticed that in Australia many Sony minidisc players/recorders don't come with an AC power adapter. (lost,broken,whatever the reason). Does anyone know where I can get a 3v AC adapter? More specifically,one that has the correct plug size. (2.35mm). Though,is that the length or the hole size? Any help would be appreciated.

hi i have a mini disc with EL Light display. The thing is that after six months without use when i tried to use it the display went dark, even with AC adapter. The display works (i can see only in deep darkness). Last time i used it, the display was perfect. And that is a device in NM conditions. Hope you can help me to fix this issue.

TL;DR Warning, this is gonna be a fairly lengthy post. Hi all! I'm new to the MiniDisc scene and am super stoked to be part of this community! I am hoping to seek to some guidance from the more seasoned MiniDisc veterans as i have an interesting dilemma on my hands. Allow me to explain. I have purchased 2 separate eBay items, 1 was a used non-NetMD player with 33 MiniDiscs the other a used Sony MZ-S1 player. Included in the MDs i got in the first package were a serious of Sony Color MDs, using my version of Sonicstage which i was able to install on windows 10 via this post : I deleted the old tracks from the previous owner using Sonicstage on 4 of the Sony Color MDs. My issue at hand is that when i try to write music onto the MiniDiscs, 2 things happen. 1 - All the songs list as only 0s (although I've started to think this normal) 2 - The list of songs listed as 0s begin to disappear 1 by 1 and i am then told by Sonicstage that it was unable to transfer the songs to my MiniDisc. On one of the MDs i was able to get 5 or 6 songs depending on how many songs i dragged over all at once. Another thing it did not let me do was write songs 1 by 1. To save everyone a lot of time i will list the things i have already don't, in order to help the troubleshooting process. - I have tried to change the file format of the songs which i transfer to no avail, as i was told that WMA has DRM properties. - I have tried using a XP version of Sonicstage on a virtual machine running Windows XP - I have tried redoing the process several times - I have also tried changing USB port to no avail Here is also a list of some things which might be worthy of note - The player is connected via 3rd party cable - I converted my music files from FLAC to WMA, MP3 etc. using an Audio File Converter called Switch - This is the only NetMD unit i have - I'm pretty sure the old owner of the Sony MZ-S1 used Sonicstage as well because he included a single Sharp MD with LP2 Stereo encoded music That is about i can think of that would be relevant to my problem. I hope my explanation wasn't too convoluted and i appreciate any help i receive! And thank you in advance! - Gas

Hello, I'm needing to replace the laser assembly in a MXD-D40 and it requires the KMS-262E or A. The KMS-260 is a lot easier to find. They look the same and just wondering if they are interchangeable? Is it just one is newer than the other? Thanks

Hi Folks, Long time no post, busy with child rearing. :-) I do stop by to read up on new posts and topics. I ran across this video on YouTube yesterday, sorry to post if everyone has already seen it but it was good to see and I wanted to share with all. Cheers!

So it's finally happened; both of my LIP-4WM gumstick batteries have died and will no longer hold charge. I see many of the LIP-4WM for sale on ebay and random places, but to my knowledge these are all original run Sony brand and are surely pretty old (bad news for lithium-ion batteries). Does anyone make replacements or equivalents for this battery? I dont care if its some tiny specialty place that charges $100 a pop, just would like to snag a couple of new ones

Is it possible to clone a minidisc? MD > MD that retains album / song information? A professional deck maybe?

Hi everybody Yesterday I used my Minidisc recorder (MZ-RH910) for a concert: as always I checked everything it was working (just seeing the volume peaks on the display satisfies me) and put the Minidisc recorder in my jacket internal pocket. When the gig ended, I am almost positive, looking at the display (it was still very dark in the venue) the peaks were still pulsing and I pushed the STOP button making appear (at least I guess) on the display the usual phrase DATA SAVE - SYSTEM FILE WRITING (or something like that). After that very moment I stopped to interest myself about the recorder. When home I transferred the track on my PC and, with my disappointment, the track was only 5 minutes long! As I wrote before I am almost positive having seen the peaks pulsing on the display and so I guess that maybe I could have pushed the STOP button a second time interrupting the DATA SAVE process and the writing of the TOC. Not sure. So I am here to ask if someone can help, if there's anything I can do to check if the track still exists (I tried to explain to myself the existing of the only 5 minutes track, thinking that maybe I could have pushed the REC button putting an INDEX (even though it's very hard to push it as it's so flat levelled to the surface of the recorder). What can I do before giving up to the idea that no sound has remained inside the recorder? Thanks in advance. Fab

I'd like to know what models of MD hardware are currently sold. I guess Sony MZ-RH1? Same for blanks. I see a lot of Sony Neige blanks on sale. Anything else? Thank you so much!

TDK & MAXELL 80 minute MiniDisc 5-pack & 3 loose with case NEW SEALED UNOPENED 8 discs in total 3 x TDK MD80 in red, green and yellow 5 pack of XL-II MD80 Complete with 10 capacity disc MAXELL MiniDisc case (it has a crack on the base but is still strong and intact) Photos here: https://imgur.com/a/GLpSh Asking for £20 including postage to UK mainland buyers.

Hello, I have bought a mint MZ-E2 in my country that doesn’t sounds. It chargues, it displays the name of the songs and discs but it sounds metalic noises trough the headphones. I think the disc rotates well because it displays the names of tags. If I pass the songs I hear the laser movement but it don’t sound anithing, only a metalic noise 1 second. Any idea? I have entered in service mode but I don’t know if changing any parameter will repair the unit? Thanks!!