Minidiscs at Work

[SileEeles]

I feel like I should have come across Minidiscs at work before now, but strangely, this is the first.

 

I work in a PC refurbishment place, but we collect crap from schools and businesses who are getting rid of theirs, and recycle it (we resell it, or it gets shipped in a container to pakistan for some reason).

 

Much of the stuff that comes from these places isnt just computers. You are likely to get boxes full of old mobile phones, ethernet cables, projectors (which just get chucked, so I aquired one for myself without thinking that I couldnt really use it ), keyboards, mice, TV's, speakers, whiteboards, and so on.

 

Generally the stuff that gets chucked you can have if you want, since we have a warehouse full already. The only thing we can't really have are hard drives, since these NEED to get wiped and/or crushed by law.

 

I would have expected to come across Minidiscs sooner, but today is the first that I've seen any. Alas, there was no player, but some cables and a Sony battery pack thing (the grey boxes that take 2AA batteries, it often screws to the player/recorder so as to extend battery life etc).

 

 

I am always looking out for them, and for anything MD Data related since we get alot of old white/beige computers in from Windows 95/98 days.

[freddyjollo]

well did schools ever use minidisc? I think they probably used tape cassette machines? I know  that was true of the college where I used to work. There were specific cassette machines intended for education looking like  bricks. same for my local library for audio books ( later these would be on cds) . Mini discs would probably  have  gone walkies? What would Businesses use for dictation? Not minidisc but those  micro cassette  things? I seem to remember the national archive in the UK did use them eg

 

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/rd/N14062522

 

 

http://www.bl.uk/pdf/playback20.pdf 

 

( 1/2 way down )

[SileEeles]

I suppose, it just seems like something that I thought I would see a little more often. It is not just schools and businesses, but people will drop stuff off, or we collect from them, which is possible where it came from.

 

We get a fair amount of tape decks in, from schools especially albeit with no tapes. I have yet to come across the micro-cassette dictation machines, but we have plenty of answer-machines that used the same tapes, again with no tape.

 

We have a redundant supply of DAT Tape though. We get ALOT of computers and server machines that used it as their backup system.

[freddyjollo]

well I bet the small micro cassette dictation machines  went walkies after declared redundant?   I suppose people  try to sell their minidisc stuff on ebay first? At my local dump you see lots of crt tvs that no one - no one, wants so not worth trying to sell. Blame ebay  for not seeing any minidic stuff, it hasnt yet been elevated to junk status, that webpage I posted yesterday shows the optimism of many people yet re  resale values

 

()

 

and any way easy to put in the bin outside for the bin men to take away if really broken?

[SileEeles]

eBay is pretty much the only place I've ever bought or been able to buy minidisc stuff. Except of course for a unit I bought from a member here, Jim.

[SileEeles]

Strangley enough, look what turned up at work today:

 

 

It is a mini cassette recorder. It differs from the microcassette I believe in that it has no capstan and pinch roller etc. It is just moved passed the heads by the reels.

 

It does not record however. At least the built in microphone doesn't. Could be the batteries (duracell from 2001, they were in the unit when I found it) or it could be something else.

 

[sfbp]

Strangley or not, I think this lot belongs in the loft.