How to make an MD reliable

[silverclaws]

When I first got my first MD unit, the MZ-R700, I was very pleased, but it had a few problems which at the time I accepted as it was old and pre owned. But as time went on these problems started to annoy so I sought answers.

The problems were random skipping and blank spots in recording. Fair enough all the discs I had were high end pre owned discs, but I also had a couple of new sealed discs which were totally different in performance.

This lead me to believe though the discs are fairly well protected, they do get dirty.

So, I sourced a rotary minidisc cleaner, a device which uses fluid to wash the disc surface. This sorted out my problems as far as the disc was concerned. As to the MD unit itself, well a combined lens and head cleaner helped.

Since, I have had no problems.

So these old machines suffer problems, but largely the more common problems can be sorted out purely by investing in cleaning devices and giving them a good clean.

Odd though I never thought the MD would require a head demagnetiser, if that is what it is, but then MD is a hybrid between optical and magnetic and the old tape recorders often benefited from occaisional head demagnetising.

So whatever pre owned machine I get now, will get the ritual cleaning, and any pre-owned discs.