Format's demise leads to Australia facing massive Minidisc liquidation.

[Christopher]

We've been in communication with the owner of a favored Internet retailer, Minidisc Australia. As you may know, Minidisc has been discontinued in Australia. The result has been a massive surplus of first generation Hi-MD units (Australia never saw the second generation) that is literally sitting idle waiting to be snatched for the absolute lowest price ever.+++

Sefu, the owner of Minidisc Australia, had this to say:

As you know Sony Au has discontinued their MD range in Australia, problem is that they are left with literally thousands on 1 gen Hi-MD units left in their warehouse. I am not sure where these unit popped up from but it looks like Sony over ordered.

We have been assigned to clear these units at a heavily discounted price, savings of at least 58% off RRP and go all the way up to nearly 70% off and they come included with the Sony Bundle pack which is stuff like Sony quick charger and batteries, ATRAC CD, blanks, carry case for the lower end units and for the 900 and NH1 it comes with a ECMDS70P microphone, ATRAC CD, 10 blanks and a carry case. To sum it up, these prices are insane. The NH1 we are selling for $229AUD, thats like $170US! and it comes with the bundle pack!

Now these deals can only be found online, they are not allowed to be sold in retails channels due to Sony wanting to protect their brand name; they dont want to look like a discounted brand thus they will only allow these units to be sold online.

We have a job of clearing over 10,000+

Units from Australia can be found at this link ($1USD = $.7AUD; check xe for conversion -- so you can get a new NH900 for $149ish):

http://www.minidisc.com.au/default.php?cPath=1_47

International shipping is now available.

Edited November 17, 2005 by Webmaster

[bobt]

wow

that is pretty incredible prices, will have to see about another NH1

Thanx Chris

[MZ-NH1]

Yeh those prices are insane quite frankly!!!

I got my MZ-NH1 for about $700 AUS .. now you can get them for $230!!!!

I will definately be telling all my musican friends about this!

[Funkmother]

Oh, BABY!

FuMo.

[ninjaturtle]

I might be interested in some 1 gig media.

thx, d.

Come to think of it, maybe the people in the US can do a group buy on the Hi-MD media?

Edited October 19, 2005 by ninjaturtle

[Syrius]

ARGH! They had to wait until I bought my used NH900 for 190? AAAAAARRGGGHHHHH!!!!

[bennu]

Man, I just bought an MZ NH1 about a month ago for $410 Australian (as the bundle) after a big search and a short haggle. I'm thinking of buying a second seeing as how they're so cheap. Should I get another NH1 or should I go the 900 for something different? Any ideas/quick reviews?

[easeback]

Man, I just bought an MZ NH1 about a month ago for $410 Australian (as the bundle) after a big search and a short haggle. I'm thinking of buying a second seeing as how they're so cheap. Should I get another NH1 or should I go the 900 for something different? Any ideas/quick reviews?

I'm in the same position, having bought my NH1 last year for around $600. For all intents and purposes the NH1 suits me fine, but a different unit may be nice.

[lynel]

I'm in the same position, having bought my NH1 last year for around $600. For all intents and purposes the NH1 suits me fine, but a different unit may be nice.

Well I just ordered my new NH1 to have as a spare, after nealy buying a 600 for 150 bucks yesterday!

Really at that price and if you can spare the cash...why not!

I'm now begining to wonder if I shouldl get a spare battery as well!

Any way I'm happy

[bennu]

I'm now begining to wonder if I shouldl get a spare battery as well!

Any way I'm happy

As soon as I bought my NH1 I wanted to go out and get another so I could have a spare battery, charger and usb cable (the usb cable is not a standard design). If the usb plug on the 900 was industry standard I might get that, although I'm very happy with my NH1.

Happily I've also got a discount voucher for Minidisc Australia

[Sefu]

If the usb plug on the 900 was industry standard I might get that, although I'm very happy with my NH1.

Every Hi-MD unit except the NH1 uses a standard Mini B connection.

Just a small update, we are hopefully getting the stock tomorrow. I dont think we can get out all the pending orders tomorrow, there is not enough hours in the day so for you guys who are waiting please remain patient while we get rid of this back log.

For new customers please expect around 1 - 3 day lead time after tomorrow, this is because we are receiving more orders than we can pack.

I can pretty much forget about my weekends for the next few weeks

[bennu]

Just placed my order for a 900. I want the extended battery life. Now I can go bush walking/camping for like a week and just pop in a AA with the adaptor.

Choice bro!

[minidisciskewl]

do they ship to canada

[easeback]

Ha, I just ordered another NH1. I'd have been stupid not to, right?

Seriously, those prices are crazy. Thought about an NH900, but the plastic back kinda put me off. Have also read too many stories (in my time lurking these forums) about people having random issues with their NH900s, but my NH1 has always been rock solid so I'm hoping these units should keep me going for a few years to come.

Oh, and big ups to Sefu

Peace

[bogon07]

The bizarre world of Sony Australia ! These prices are as extreme as the weather here.

10,000+ units and their bonus packs is just gigantic.

Where were they hiding them all. Now we know why Sony hasn't released 2G HiMD in Australia yet.

I wonder if there is a possibility of this sort of price slaughter for 2G units sometime in the future ?

It would be interesting to see some statistics on Sefu's sale rates for the various units as this progresses.

(Especially compared to the MZ-E310 which was the only unit for sale at Minidisc Aust for sometime)

[StevieP1234]

wow i wish i had the money right now

and a credit card

i would be buying a mz-nh900 or a mz-nh1

(can't decide)

hopefully ill get a nice little christmas/hannukah present

although i doubt it..........sigh..............

well maybe theres a way i can get the money

so how much would shipping to the US be?

Edited October 21, 2005 by StevieP123

[Valder]

I should have a solution on our website for international orders soon, my main priority at the moment is getting rid of all these Aussie orders we have received, once that is done I will let you international guys know when to get your wallets out

Thanks Sefu....I'll be waiting on that. Any word on the NH1 power supply voltage and if it is

a world votage?

Valder

[bennu]

wow i wish i had the money right now

and a credit card

i would be buying a mz-nh900 or a mz-nh1

(can't decide)

hopefully ill get a nice little christmas/hannukah present

although i doubt it..........sigh..............

well maybe theres a way i can get the money

so how much would shipping to the US be?

Like I said, I just placed my order for 900, I found it hard to decide and am now thinking of also getting another NH1. Hopefully they'll sell out before I decide and I'll save myself some money.

I liked the idea of a mini b plug on the 900, that way I can hook it up without having to carry my usb cable everywhere.

[Sparky191]

I liked the idea of a mini b plug on the 900, that way I can hook it up without having to carry my usb cable everywhere.

Yeah true. Nearly all my USB devices use a mini b plug. Even my mobile phone charges from it. I leave a cable at work and another at home. Whoever decides on these non standard cables needs their butt kicked. For me a MH900 makes most sense, however the NH1 just calls to me. It just screms cool gadget to me. But in fact I really was looking for a MH800. Theres a decent radio on my old G750, I was hoping to replace it. Pity the bundle isn't as good though. I have a horrible feeling I'll get a 800 and a NH1. Though I know I shouldn't.

Edited October 21, 2005 by Sparky191

[Justin42]

Will the radio work in America? Does the digital tuner move FM in .1 or .2 increments? (I ask as all FM radio in America is on "odd" decimal points-- 95.5, 102.7, etc; in the UK I know it's on "even" points.. I don't remember what Australia uses) I know I've tried bringing digital-tuners to the UK and being disappointed when I realised that they couldn't properly tune in since they only allowed the odd numbered stations to come in...

I'm definitely interested (even though I should save my money!!!). I'm tempted to cash in my Best Buy extended warranty on my NH1 (that has recording issues) and buy an 800 and another NH1.

How would warranty work internationally? Or would there basically be no warranty, for all intents and purposes?

Edited October 21, 2005 by Justin42

[Sparky191]

Good catch, I never thought about the frequency problem...

[Hironiemus]

Will you accept PayPal as a payment method?

I live in Germany

[silence]

What a sad headline, wouldn't "overstock forces massive bargains" sounded better.

Should the US expect similar clearance situation?

[bogon07]

Will the radio work in America? Does the digital tuner move FM in .1 or .2 increments? (I ask as all FM radio in America is on "odd" decimal points-- 95.5, 102.7, etc; in the UK I know it's on "even" points.. I don't remember what Australia uses) I know I've tried bringing digital-tuners to the UK and being disappointed when I realised that they couldn't properly tune in since they only allowed the odd numbered stations to come in...

I'm definitely interested (even though I should save my money!!!). I'm tempted to cash in my Best Buy extended warranty on my NH1 (that has recording issues) and buy an 800 and another NH1.

How would warranty work internationally? Or would there basically be no warranty, for all intents and purposes?

Justin42

The AM/FM tuner remote has an FM range 87.5-108.0 MHz and my wife's NHF800 is tuned to Australian FM radio stations with both odd and even decimal points eg 102.5, 103.2, 104.1

Does US FM have the same band range or does it start and/or end lower ?

Depends on where these units are sourced from so it may be best to check with Sefu.

Also the bonus pack includes a Ni-MH Battery charger BCG-34HC . It has an input 100-240V 50/60Hz 7W.

The power cord to charger unit is detachable which should allow you to replace it with a cord to connect to your own domestic power supplies.

[Sefu]

These units are Australian domestic units therefore they have Australian warranty only. If warranty is required you will need to send the unit back to us for repair.

[SleepingInRlyeh]

I was on the fence about getting a Hi-MD, but I can't resist these prices. Even if all MD production and support were to stop tomorrow, these would be an awesome deal because they would be useful for a bunch of years.

I just feel bad for our AU friends who won't be able to get them locally anymore - kind of a lousy way to get a good deal. Hopefully the US won't be next.

Thanks for sharing the opportunity with us Sefu! I'm definitely watching for when you'll open the international flood gates.

[tekdroid]

The prices aren't bad, eh. I held off on the last round of price cuts.

I'm tempted, considering that we'll probably never see a half-decent linear PCM recorder priced like this for some time. And we'll probably never see MiniDisc units selling in Oz for some time, too.

Yes, I think I'll go the Hi-MD now.

The question is: which one? Gah. Decisions, decisions.

The only thing really worrying me about this is: unit reliability.

There are probably a million different (inconclusive) opinions on this, so I might look at other differentiating factors when deciding on which one I should choose.

And now for some thinking music..

[josiane1979]

It depends. When 1st gen came out, I bought a NH900 because contrary to the NH1, it had the possibility of an external AA battery so I thought it was a better option for me at the time, because I wanted to use the NH900 to record university classes (a whole class fits on a 1 gig disc btw, it's wonderful!). The NH900 served me well, until it was sent but Sony to the MTC repair shop for an eternal repair (it's been about 5 weeks now!), after my bf had dropped it from 1 feet and screws from the front panel came out :/

Then, lately, I succombed (can you say that in English?) and bought a japanese silver NH1 for big bucks (but still cheaper than the official Sony price when it came out in Canada) at Audiocubes. From the beginning, I had fallen in love with that unit - it's truly beautiful, the feel is good, it's light and minimalist... The sound is great (but then, so is the sound of NH900), the battery life really surprised me (and what's cool is that you can look on the remote to know how many hours of battery life there are left in the battery)! I never thought I could record 2 three hours classes in a day and still have juice left to listen to music on the long way back to home. In fact, I was so thrilled with the NH1 (best thing since sliced bread IMO) that when I learned that MD could be going down at Sony, I bought a backup unit (gold), still at AC. That was before the Australian story, and frankly, this is pissing me off a little!

That's just my 2 cents. Both units are good. I even tried a Canadian NH800, but since I didn't care about the radio tuner, I thought it was missing a lot of cool stuff, was way too big and too heavy.

[petrucellij]

Hey Minidiscers,

The austrialian deal is definately a good deal . Have not seen any close out in the US yet.

I did some checking on Sony's parts web site . My concern was to purchase an AC adaptor that would work with US currency ( electricity not money).

Well this is what I found MZ-NH1 AC adapter is about $50.00 US (and parts available too) .

MZ-NH700 and MZ-NH800 has no parts listings on the American Sony parts web site . I believe these units are Canadian , European , Oceanian distribution only.

MZNH900 has parts on US website and AC adaptor is around $45.00 US .

Reason why I am posting this is someone brought up AM/FM frequency differences between the United States and the rest of the world ... and it got me thinking .

I thought this info might be helpful .

God willing there might be an Mz-NH1 sitting on my Sony Vaio computer soon. love this Fourm a lot of great infomation here .

Edited October 23, 2005 by petrucellij

[Sefu]

I will find out the voltage of the AC adapters when they come in. I dont have any in stock to check now and when we were in stock I never checked it.

If any Aussies have a Aussie purchased Hi-MD unit please let us know the voltage range, if any, on your charger and what unit you own, otherwise I will try to find out as soon as they come into stock

[disso]

I've got an Australian NH-1 unit. The Power supply states:

Input: AC240V, 50Hz, 7W

Output: DC6V, 800mA

Hope this helps. Bought my old R900 off Minidisc Australia, its still kicking on strong. A great business you've got there Sefu.

[Sefu]

Thanks for that Disso,

Looks like the AC adapters are stuck on 240v.

If I recall correctly the NHF800 has a world voltage.

For you international guys it looks like you will need to purchase a new adapter. You do not have to get a Sony one (they are the most expensice), you can purchase a 3rd party AC adapter from a store like Radio shack which will do the same job

[easeback]

I've got an Australian NH-1 unit. The Power supply states:

Input: AC240V, 50Hz, 7W

Output: DC6V, 800mA

Hope this helps. Bought my old R900 off Minidisc Australia, its still kicking on strong. A great business you've got there Sefu.

Word. I just want to show my support for Sefu and his business. I've ordered many times from Minidisc.com.au before, and I've got nothing but praise for the way they do business. I'm not just blowing smoke up his (their?) arse either, but I've gotta say, it's good to have someone local who can match the competition and provide great service. People like this deserve recognition. Respect.

[chriswyatt]

The same as the power ratings in the UK, but what do Australian adaptors look like? We have three pin plugs over here, arranged in a triangular shape.

Edited October 23, 2005 by chriswyatt

[Valder]

Thanks Disso! Seems like I'd have to get the 700, 800 or 900 as I can use AAs or the NiMh gunsticks that I already have. Probably better as I have no more room for another cradle with the Kenny DMC-S9Net and soon to be EH1 on my desk.

Valder

Edited October 23, 2005 by Valder

[Sparky191]

The same as the power ratings in the UK, but what do Australian adaptors look like? We have three pin plugs over here, arranged in a triangular shape.

I'm in Ireland (230v 50mhz) I've a AUS MH700 and have the AUS AC charger (3V 1A - 240V 50hz 5W). The AUS pins are two thin flat pins angled at 45 deg. They kinda sit in on round base. Bit like a shaver two pin. I found an simple socket adapter (about €4) in a travel shop that seems to work fine. It even has round depression that fits the round base of the AUS adapter. However my old Sony G750 MD has a AC charger (3V 500mA - 230-240v 50hz 5W) and it seems to work fine aswell. So I use it. Probably charges the internal battery slower because of the difference in Amps. To be honest I don't know. However I mainly use my own rechargables or just standard AA's. When recording I usually use AC power. Haven't had any problems with it so far. If you need photos, let me know and email you some.

Heres a handy table. http://kropla.com/electric2.htm some show the plugs. The AUS AC I have looks like this http://kropla.com/!i.htm without the center (earth?) pin.

Edited October 23, 2005 by Sparky191

[petrucellij]

Hey All,

The AC adaptors are different between the US and Australian models . It is not really a problem because I believe MZnh1 and the MZnh900 models have parts AC adaptors available via Sony's US parts web site . This means you can purchase the correct AC adaptor for the above units which will work on US electric currency 120 volt 60hz . There adapters are interchangeable because they convert Alternate current to 3v direct current (require by the unit) .

The other two models nh700 , nh800 run on AA batteries . There are no parts listed on Sony's parts website because I think theses are Canadian , Uk and Australian models . Researching Minidisc.org shows where these units were intended to be marketed and sold in those locations . But once the Ac adaptor stats are known most likely an equivalient Sony Us version adaptor can be found.

For example I have an MZ-R55 with an original Ac adaptor part number AC-MZ-R55. stats for this adaptor is 3volt Ac120v/ca120v 60Hz 3w Dc3v/cc3V 500 mA( Out put is important --beaware of the mA (miliamp rating). This means I can use An AC adaptor with the same stats like model # AC-ES305K. If the unit requires a 3volt DC - AC adaptor basically the majority of Sony's units use 3volt DC/AC adaptor . This means you can use a power supply from MZ-R55 unit , Mz-N505 unit , MZ-N707 unit , MzR900 or MzR500 . They are all interchangeable .

Research for this can be found at :

www.minidisc.org (equipment browser)

www.sonystyle.com (use site map at bottom of web page to get to DAC parts site. )

One last edit ... you do not want to use a 240 volt power supply with a converter here in the United States .

Reason being is 240 volt electricity runs on a 50 hz cycle ... United States electricity runs 120 volts on a 60 hz cycle.

The higher cycle( 60hz vs 50hz) may cause malfunctions with the AC / DC adaptor and possibly under power the MD unit .

Edited October 23, 2005 by petrucellij

[wahlau]

hi Sefu,

am excited with the great offer from you, after reading it here in forum while searching for a good Hi-MD recorder to replace my old R700. I just wonder whether would there be stock for a local delivery (to melbourne) available in the next few days?

i am still considering between a NH1 and NH900... shall post and ask for comments in another thread.

thanks.

regards,

wahlau

[andrei_g]

One question and one observation:

1. The NH1 power adapter is the whole "Charging cradle" or just an adapter that plugs into the charging craddle ? I'm in Canda and I like a lot the idea of the craddle (ergonomically) instead of plugging in a 3rd party power adapter cable in the player.

2. The radio problem of the radio models: besides frequencies, there is something callled deemphasis that diferentiates the US and European radio transmissions (some sort of equalizing curve). somebody should checkout that to ensure that Australia and the buyer's country radio trans. are compatible (check www.fmtunerinfo.com maybe ?)

[Sefu]

The plug looks like this

http://kropla.com/!i.htm

You should be able to get a converted from a electronic shop