Young MiniDisc user from Poland

[hobby30plus]

First of all, I would like to say hello to members of this forum. I find this page is very useful and I haven't found any other pages in English apart from minidisc.org. Unfortunately there isn't any MiniDisc page in Polish. I've been reading posts for a while, but I decided to register recently, so here I am.

I'm twenty two years old student from Lublin in Poland (and Poland is not a part of Russia - as I was informed by almost every person on my last trip to Italy - we are in European Union now).

My adventure with MD began ten years ago, when my dad bought a car with MD car unit installed. We used the car for a short time, then decided to sell it, but we kept the radio. MDX-CA580 - as it turned out later - was then installed in my mom's car. At that time any equipment that recorded MD was extremely expensive in Poland - we used Compact Cassette. I forgot about the MiniDisc and lived happily ever after.

Things changed in 2010 when I passed my driving license exam and got a car from my mom. I also got the MD unit, but decided to listen only to radio. After two years I wanted to change the unit, but then I have read the news that Sony plans to stop manufacturing and supporting MD. I did an online research and realised that MD is now so oldschool and that I should keep it - lets say - for future generations.

My first purchase was MZ-R501. I bought it after reading an announcement on tablica.pl - service simmilar to Craigslist. It cost me 50PLN/12EUR/16USD. I also bought some blanks and an optical cable. It was a right time to start adventure with MiniDisc. I listened to what I wanted in the car and used the Walkman - making my friends always ask what kind of audio player is it. I explained it's old format, but worth using. They never understood me and listened to their MP3's on Android smartphones.

I spent a lot of time on tablica.pl searching for blank disc - typical price is 6PLN/1,5EUR/2USD for used and 10PLN/2,5EUR/3USD for new. I also got broken MZ-N505 as a gift to few MD blanks. I tried to use it, got strange noises and put it in a drawer.

After some time I bought MZ-B50 voice recorder for 40PLN/9,5EUR/13USD. Seller told me he hasn't got any MDs to try it, but I took the risk. The unit arrived, but didn't recognize any disks. I disassembled the unit and changed the laser. Finally MZ-B50 worked!

The best bargain on tablica.pl was MDS-S39 deck bought for 20PLN/5EUR/6,5USD. The unit doesn't record, but plays perfectly and has digital output that allows me to copy discs using optical cable. I was fulfilled with my equipment, but there was still one thing going through my mind - the HiMD.

Finally after two months of wondering what to do I decided to buy my first HiMD unit. It is MZ-NH600 that I bought last week. Now I'm discovering NetMD and HiMD audio and data storage - the last of innovations that kept MD technology from dying. All of these things work thanks to YOU - your drivers for Win7 and ultimate SonicStage.

Just to inform: MZ-NH600 cost me 230PLN/55EUR/75USD with 1 HiMD 1GB disc included.

 

Thanks for your help and reading my history. I will answer all questions and appreciate all opinions.

I'm a big fan of Sony and I also have other equipment, but I will save it for later stories.

I also attach a photo of my mobile MD devices - maybe later I will take photos of the rest

 

PS. I haven't written so long essay in English since I finished high school in 2010.

[freddyjollo]

well welcome to the forum Losio, glad u atlast joined. your english is first rate. Had u not told us I think no one would have thought it wasnt your native language. You are braver than me to take apart a unit and swap over laser units. Welcome to the world of Retro!

[ShriDurga]

Welcome to the forum, Losio. I second Fred's compliment on your language skills.

How about some photos of the car and the mobile MD unit?

[bluecrab]

Thanks for the history and welcome.

Could you tell me if the PLN is pronounced "ZWA-ta," "ZWA-ty," or another way (in Polish, not an English version of it)?

Dziękuję :-)

I recently saw an excellent Polish movie - In Darkness - and found the dialog that was in Polish intimidating. Good thing it was subtitled!

I know that has nothing to do with MD...but if I could somehow accumulate enough zlotys or their equivalent, I could get another MDS-JB940 or, if one ever, ever turns up, perhaps an MDS-JA50ES.

bc

[hobby30plus]

Thanks for all the compliments about my language skills. I've been learning English since I was 7. In 2009 at he age of 18 I passed Certificate in Advanced English and the result was B.

bluecrab, "zwaty" is the most similar to pronunciation of "złoty" which of course means "golden". My native language is not easy to learn. Proszę.

In this post I would like to present you the rest of my MD units as well as some of my Sony digital devices. If you want to, next time I could present some Sony analog equipment that belongs to me.

So in the photos - all taken by DSC-N1 - you can see:

- car unit: closed and open

- CD and MD deck

- my treasure box

- PSP (replaced my GameBoy and I'm not going to go back to Nintendo)

- dead MZ-N505 kept for parts

- my favourite GPS logger: Sony GPS-CS3 KA bought on tablica.pl for 120PLN/28EUR/38USD

- Sony Memory Stick Voice recorder ICD-MS525 bought on tablica.pl for 20PLN/5EUR/6,5USD

- mobile phones: old CMD-J5 and new Xperia tipo - both used by me

You can also see my car here: http://www.motostat.pl/vehicle-gallery/31499

If you click "powrót do karty pojazdu" in bottom left corner you can see how much money I spend on the car in Poland.

[hobby30plus]

I just got my new unit - it's MZ-RH1!

As usual I made a deal with a person from tablica.pl - I can give you a direct link, it should be working.

http://tablica.pl/oferta/sony-mz-rh1-kultowy-nagrywajacy-minidisc-walkman-CID99-ID4IdZR.html

There are very few HiMD units available in Poland, because at the time they were manufactured the price was really high for us. The problem with RH1 is that on international auction services prices are going up and up - and the same situation is beginning to start in Poland. You can see it on Polish ebay known as "Allegro": http://allegro.pl/listing/listing.php?string=mz-rh1&utm_source=opera&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=opera There are two units for 1500PLN/360EUR/490USD and 2000PLN/480EUR/655USD.

So the person I made deal with probably didn't know what he was selling. First I thought that the price of 750PLN/180EUR/245USD is a trap, but I took the risk. I asked the seller as much details as he could answer to, then I just waited for delivery (it was done by Polish Post, because seller lives 500 kilometers from me).

So when the unit arrived I was very surprised. Everything works perfectly fine!

I also got:

- RM-MC38EL remote

- LIP-4WM battery

- earphones

- power supply

- stereo microphone

- microphone preamp (I don't know why the seller even bought it.)

- three HMD1GA discs, one Premium 80 min disc

- CD with SonicStage and all the papers including instrucion manuals and...

... an invoice from Polish Internet shop dated to 2007 with a price of 1100PLN/265EUR/360USD for brand new MZ-RH1

Everything was packed in original RH1 box.

I think it was a really good deal and of course a bargain. I didn't even expected to buy MZ-RH1 when I began my MiniDisc adventure, because of the high prices. Right now I'm using it and listening to "Digital love" from Daft Punk's "Discovery".

I will inform you when I buy next MD unit. Poland seems to be a good MD market if you are patient. When the spring comes I will try to write something about my analog Sony devices. Stay tuned.

[syn010110]

RH1s are in extremely high demand because they're the only unit that can transfer from MD to PC regardless of format or recording method. This has resulted in eBay "speculators" sniping them for 150-200 from people who don't know any better and then re-listing them for hundreds of dollars more. I saw a local computer shop in my area with four of them, brand new in box, just a month ago... they wanted $200 each. I would have bought one in a nanosecond if I could have afforded them. When I went back later with money, all four were gone... presumably to end up on eBay for $600+.

I hope I can get one before they all disappear or become (even more) ridiculously expensive... but I don't do enough recording to really justify spending hundreds on one. :/

Sony should really do everyone a favor and release firmware updates that unlock the security bits and let all HiMD units transfer as freely as the RH1, but I am not holding my breath.

[sfbp]

Sony should really do everyone a favor and release firmware updates that unlock the security bits and let all HiMD units transfer as freely as the RH1, but I am not holding my breath.

Not going to happen. It's simply not possible with the earlier units - for one thing their firmware is not reflashable. For another, the hardware (USB) simply isn't fast enough to do the upload of legacy MD (upload of Hi-MD is no problem, of course).

[syn010110]

Yeah, I figured it was an impossible pie-in-the-sky dream.

[qualia017]

Dear. Losio. Welcome !

I'm one of user living in Korea. Our country also doesn't have the Korean website about minidisc. We only have little communuty on the web portal site called by cafe.

http://cafe.naver.com/minidiskworld/