Does anyone actually like minidisc remotes?

[Ral-Clan]

Does anyone actually like or use the remote controls that come with some Sony MD portables and are in-line with the headphone cable?

 

I have both an MZ-R700 which comes with the basic black remote (no display) and an MZ-R910 which has a very nice RM-MC11EL remote with a display.  My wife also has an Mz-NF610 which has a silver FM radio remote.

 

I will admit these remotes are very cleverly designed and look cool, but I've tried to use them and they just don't make a heck of a lot of sense in everyday practice (to me) for the following reasons:

• if you don't use the stock "short cable" headphones, you have to find a pair with a short cable or else you end up with 6 to 8 feet of cable between the portable and your ears.
• they look dorky clipped to your clothes out in public (unless you are the type of person who also likes the look of a bluetooth earpiece)
• they really aren't small enough - the MD player is already small enough to hold in your hand and glance at / change tracks on - why another device that is the same length as the player?  Sometimes I feel like I'm carrying two music players connected by a tether to each other.
• Sony decided to put the FM radio circuitry (on the FM radio MD portables) IN THE REMOTE instead of the player! This makes the remote HUGE. I'm sure there were technical reasons for this (reception, interference), but it just seems like a kludge.
• they suck extra power from the unit (the ones with lighted LCD displays or FM radios in them).
• this is hard to describe, but it doesn't seem to me that the way the cable is connected to them is very handy - it usually comes in one end of the cylinder and exits out the other.  If you have the MD portable in your shirt pocket and the remoted clipped onto the outside of your pocket (or your jacket) then the cable has to come outside of your shirt pocket/jacket and hang down across your chest to reach the bottom of the remote. I think the cable should enter from same end as the headphone socket to reduce the amount of cable that dangles loosely.
• the way the clip is mounted never seems to be in the right orientation - it should have been made to swivel or something so you could adjust it to mount the remote in different ways depending on what you are wearing.

The only reason I keep remotes plugged into my portables is to reduce stress on the headphone jack. I had used headphones without a remote plugged directly into my MZ-R700 for many years and eventually the headphone socket developed the internal solder break which is quite common to this unit. By keeping a remote plugged into the headphone jack, the additional edge-connector reduces lateral stress and torquing on the socket (the headphone male pin can't spin or pivot in the hole).

 

Any thoughts on remotes?  Does anyone actually love them?

[PsychoPimpKiller]

I haven't used them too much but I always that they seemed a little too big and didn't make it easier to listen to my music. I have a bunch of them and have debated on selling off some but I never do.

[PhilippeC]

Too much cables for me, I like a headphone / earphone direct connection

[SileEeles]

Pretty much the same as everyone else. They are cool, but ultimately fairly redundant, since most people will use their headphones of choice, nobody needs a cable that long, as Ral-Clan said.

 

I find the buttons on the unit itself work well enough. I'm not really using Minidisc much at the minute, mostly because at work I just leave my phone on Shuffle which has a 32GB sd card in it. Much as I love the player I use, Power Amp, I wish Android would build in the volume rocker to change track feature, rather than just being a cyangen mod feature.

[stargazer_tom1]

I love the remotes. One of the reasons I still use MD. Love laying in bed and easily changing tracks with a little flick on the RM-MC40ELK

[PhilippeC]

I like to listen to the ful MD without changing the order of the track list (tracks that I disliked have been erased) 

[Silly French]

this is hard to describe, but it doesn't seem to me that the way the cable is connected to them is very handy - it usually comes in one end of the cylinder and exits out the other.  If you have the MD portable in your shirt pocket and the remoted clipped onto the outside of your pocket (or your jacket) then the cable has to come outside of your shirt pocket/jacket and hang down across your chest to reach the bottom of the remote. I think the cable should enter from same end as the headphone socket to reduce the amount of cable that dangles loosely.

I'm not so annoyed by this. Generaly I'm transporting MD unit in a MD pocket attached at belt.

the way the clip is mounted never seems to be in the right orientation - it should have been made to swivel or something so you could adjust it to mount the remote in different ways depending on what you are wearing.

On most of remotes you can change the way of the clip On the RMMC40EL it's easy : just rotate the clip. On most of them just remove it and change the way.

[footmobile]

The remotes are part of the experience imo. They were a status symbol back in the 90s. You had that backlit beacon on your jacket or shirt..

 

Useful too imo, Just today I was buying beer and didn't have to remove my IEMs to complete the transaction, didn't have to do an awkward cable removal which seems to be the only remote way to pause a modern DAP. just tapped my RM MZ2s which was securely on my backpack strap. I don't have any problem with cable lengths, most Sony head/earphones designed for portables have a basic shorter length designed for use with remotes and then an extender cable for direct from unit use. I mostly use D55 eggphones and MDR-EX700 in ear units..

 

btw I'm after a black RM MZ2s currently and found apparantly unlimited mint condition ones on Tao Bao! Are these for real? Fakes?! Might order one through a proxy and see what happens?

 

http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.6.kTmis0&id=2432754144&ns=1&abbucket=0#detail

[Ral-Clan]

@footmobile

 

You must be the opposite of me, because two of the traits you listed as liking about MD remotes are what make me dislike them;

 

"They were a status symbol back in the 90s. You had that backlit beacon on your jacket or shirt.."

 

Ugh. I hated/hate having the MD remote hanging off my jacket or shirt.  Not only can it get caught on stuff, but I feel it looks really dorky.  I am not a cyborg.

 

"just tapped my RM MZ2s which was securely on my backpack strap."

 

One of my pet peeves. You attach the remote onto your backpack and then when you need to remove the backpack, you realize you are tethered to it.  Or you just plain forget, remove your backpack and rip the headphones out of your ears!

[footmobile]

That's right, MD requires a higher plane of consciousness. You must remove your remote before your backpack my son. Go in peace.

[Another MD fanatic]

Must admit I don't bother using the remotes very often but when I do I find it mildly amusing to see some spotty faced teenager across the bus looking out the corner of his eye and obviously thinking "what's that, what's it connected to", especially if I'm using one with a backlight.

 

On a more serious note there are one or two models where you haven't got much choice. I think the Sharp MT290 is one that doesn't have the bass boost button on the body of the MD player.

[nathantw666]

@footmobile

 

You must be the opposite of me, because two of the traits you listed as liking about MD remotes are what make me dislike them;

 

"They were a status symbol back in the 90s. You had that backlit beacon on your jacket or shirt.."

 

Ugh. I hated/hate having the MD remote hanging off my jacket or shirt.  Not only can it get caught on stuff, but I feel it looks really dorky.  I am not a cyborg.

 

"just tapped my RM MZ2s which was securely on my backpack strap."

 

One of my pet peeves. You attach the remote onto your backpack and then when you need to remove the backpack, you realize you are tethered to it.  Or you just plain forget, remove your backpack and rip the headphones out of your ears!

If you don't mind me chiming in, I personally love the remotes. I normally carry the mindisc and the remote in my coat or jacket pocket. I can basically just reach in there to fast forward, reverse, stop, start, change albums and change volume all without taking anything out of the pocket. Everything is by feel. That's better than taking my phone out of my pocket when listening to music since all I can do by feel is change the volume. 

 

At concerts I use the RM-MC40ELK. It's great because my minidisc and the microphone battery pack stay in my pocket and I'm able to change levels by just looking at the remote's backlit LCD screen that's clipped on my pants pocket making it easily accessible.

 

By the way, I've done what you said about ripping the headphones out of your ear, which is the reason why I don't attach it to my backpack any longer. 

[footmobile]

Everything is by feel.

 

That's a key thing imo. Even if you blu-tooth up your mobile as a remote for your DAP you have to look at the screen to pause it. I never have to look down, I can just reach for the remote and feel the stop or pause buttons if I need to.  Whenever I walk into stores I like to pause it if I need to talk to staff.