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How useful is a low end MD/LP deck today?

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Sparky191

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i still use my 330's and 520's for DJ'ing (oh!! i forgot;; i retired)well they are great units..

i never did get the courage to "Time-Record" with them (my others);; like i didn't have the "Time" to Time-rec..

i hated recording radio in "Stereo" cause of that creepy hiss on the stereo bands;; had to do it "Mono" to get red of the hiss;; and i always concidered "Radio" the (I-Podroid) of the Media..

Edited by rayzray
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Timed radio recording is undoubtedly a great feature of decks - sadly the ones you mentioned don't offer it. It's usually the mid to high end decks that can use an external timer for this purpose, eg. MDS-JE640, 940, 780, 980 etc. Of course any deck is worthwhile for 'hi-fi' quality connection to a full-size stereo system...

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I *love* my two MDS-W1 double decks, in my opinion the most versatile decks ever built by Sony. They have an impressive set of almost unique features:

1. Built-in timers.

2. Capacity to chain recordings from disc A to disc B.

3. Lossless ATRAC domain move, defrag and *copy* (yes, with a little help of service mode).

4. Wonderful front panel and display.

I do daily analog mono timed recordings of radio programs (FM and Worldspace). I also copy old tape and cassette sound archives to minidiscs. Then I edit my recordings: I divide, delete, copy, swap, move tracks from disc to disc to compose my own mix tapes. I defragment them when needed, often reviving several minutes of recording time. When I am done with a disc, I clone it, label the two identical copies, and send one to my beloved wife (who lives far from me).

20 years ago, my wife and I used to record radio programs on a Revox A77/B77 tape recorder, and to create mix tapes with a Sony TC-D5M cassette recorder. The MDS-W1 deck offers both services, and much more.

How useful a deck? For us, almost vital.

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If you mean SCMS bits, they are completely ignored when cloning a track or a disc, that is they are duplicated along with the tracks, without limitation.

The reason is that the cloning procedure uses the disc to disc track MOVE operation, which creates copies of the original tracks on the target disc, and then ERASEs the original tracks on the source disc. It is clear that moving tracks should not be limited in any way (and that SCMS bits should be moved along) because no extra copy is created in the process.

After moving one or more tracks, I eject the target disc, enter service mode and exit it. This procedure transforms the disc to disc MOVE into a lovely but undocumented lossless disc to disc COPY, because exiting service mode ejects the source disc without writing the TOC! The source disc is left intact, the "deleted" tracks are back, untouched.

You can imagine how happy I felt the first time I verified the procedure, that I had figured out *before* acquiring the double deck. It worked perfectly, creating an island of health and sanity in this DRM contaminated world. Had they trusted their customers, omitted SCMS and DRM in the first place, Sony would have conquered the world of digital music recording.

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i must be "Blessed" ,, having ALL my MD Bling blings;; seems like i have ALL these capabilities under one roof..

yes,, i live in MD Heaven..

i never bought the Double MD Deck when i had a chance cause i could never see the "Point" of it..

since i Back-up almost Every MD onto a CD-R;; the CD/MD Decks seemed more doable..

i must go out on a "Quest" thought in my home town ad search for one;; i know there are a lot of MD decks here amongst the Radio Stations and DJ's..

Perhaps there is an OLD Double Decker sitting in it's Nursing Home waiting for it's Prince Charming..!!

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forgot to tell you i have 14 grandchildren;; the wall color was for them (the Barbie Doll Days);; and the toons are a long story;; my wife sent me out to buy a new computer desk;; and i had visions of buying a Sony bling bling;; but came home with $400 USD worth of Looney Heads..

i guess i shudda bought a Double MD deck and a Double Burger instead..

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14 grandkids all over my house is a "Nightmare";; but two at a time is good once in a while..

they LOVE my MD Decks;; and portables and realize all my R&B-HH/Rap and Alt Rk compilations come from these machines..

i make a lot of compilations for them;; keeps me up-to-date on the Top-40..

sometimes we make music videos and just program a few songs on an MD-Deck and camcord them (the grandkids) to the backgrounds of the world.. (the rollercoaser is my favorite)..

i let them "Touch" my Sima A/V Mixer,, but NEVER EVER let them touch my MD Bling blings..

*as they prance around my house with their fweakin i-Pods*..!!

Edited by rayzray
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they are "All Thumbs" x 14 = 28 THUMBS!! they drop everythign ;; break everything;; and lose everything..

i would rather see them lose their i-pod;; which pleases me;; than lose a valuable MD unit..

and,, they do not know HOW to "Press" a Button;; that is;; they would creamate (sp) squash all the buttons on my Decks;; let alone break my ear-bud cables..

let the kids have their stupid i-pods;; and the smart ppl the MD-Decks-Flex_and trex;; and portables..

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  • 3 weeks later...

I bought a MZ-E50 for 500¥ today because I felt sorry for it , It wasnt DEAD YET , how could someone abandon such a thing ?

That is one cogent comment and funny, and the scary thing is, I know what you mean (and I am sure I'm not alone here in that).

Nice buy, I'm sure you see tons more stuff in Japan than we do here!

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That is one cogent comment and funny, and the scary thing is, I know what you mean (and I am sure I'm not alone here in that).

Nice buy, I'm sure you see tons more stuff in Japan than we do here!

If you ever visit I will show you around , I can speak well enough to get into trouble, and I know where tha Gadjets are !!!!!!!

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