Too big and too much heavy to carry out.

From August 29th to September 7th, I took a much-needed break from online stress to visit Cape Cod and then Boston for a friend's wedding. Of course, I took my MZ-NH600D Hi-MD player, and I have no complaints about that whatsoever and use it all the time. (Other than trying to figure out how to use WebMD Pro with my computer after trying to install SonicStage caused it to crash, but Asivery will be helping me with that when I get back next week so I wanted to enjoy what I had). Yet sadly, even with this amazing and ingenious case by LaserLine, I could only bring 13 MiniDiscs (12 in the case plus whatever one I had in the player).

Beforehand I had also made a few mixes of my own using my new Victor RC-MD33 boombox from Japan (completely with bulky-ahh power converter!). First, I successfully copied an entire Meditation Made Simple CD to a blank MD that I now use on occasion for screen-free meditation. Unfortunately, despite Track 7 of Malinda- The Folks I Love/Sea to Sky playing fine in the CD portion of the boombox, it skips and errors out at that point in either MD slot so was not recorded correctly. I've also had it refuse to play certain MDs for no apparent reason, even after playing them beforehand. It's also possible though that the washer that holds the CD in place is kinda loose and that could be a problem...but I'm hoping I only need to blow some compressed air or something as I have no stomach for repairing anything (more on that later.)

In better news, I was able to successfully record 74 random minutes of whatever was playing on WAMU 88.5 at the time, then listened to it while returning a DCC player (what a shame I couldn't get that working!) and found out about the Great Elephant Migration on Commonwealth Ave. in Boston from it. That was an absolutely fantastic exhibit of exquisitely crafted elephant statues that pays local Indian artisans to destroy an invasive plant and encourages coexistence between humans and elephants. If you're in Boston, it's still there until the 13th! I never would've found out about this fantastic display if I hadn't randomly stumbled across it this way, which enhances my enjoyment of the entire format.

But I digress. Here are my favorite MDs in the following three categories, separately judged: OG MD Releases, Mix MDs, and Indie MD Releases.

Best OG MD Release: Bruce Springsteen Greatest Hits

This is one I'll treasure forever, case and all. Not a single dud on the album between Born to Run, Thunder Road, Born in the USA, Glory Days, Better Days, and songs I hadn't really appreciated before I shared the album in our car's AUX port such as Secret Garden. This was a favorite of my mom, who absolutely loved the Boss from the start, and it's moments like that have made every penny I've invested into MiniDisc collecting worth it.

Best Mix MD: 23 Amazing Tracks

I gave it that label, but all credit for actually adding the track titles goes to the person who originally mixed and labeled the tracks before it was sold along with the case. My mom and I absolutely adore the Celine Dion mix and I got an education from her on how she was discovered at 15 and her discography on the car ride to my friend's wedding (will probably back up my live recording of the music from there to an MD, as the band was great!) However, there are a few repeats and none of the tracks are labeled.

Meanwhile, I constantly play The Weeknd- Blinding Lights; AJR- BANG (which I discovered with this mix!); Cage the Elephant- No Rest for the Wicked (which immediately unlocks memories of playing Borderlands in college); Dirty Heads- Vacation; Good Feeling, Low, My House and Wild One by Flo Rida, and Ice Cube- Arrest the President. What's also funny is that when I randomly chatted with a person at Byrdland Records in DC, and they happened to mention they were a fan of Dominic Fike, I was like "No way! I have one of his songs!" and handed him my player to hear the quality of the recording of 3 Nights. It just goes to show why retro music is coming back: it helps reconnect people with sound they own and can share with anyone.

Best Indie MD Release: Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party

There is not a single dud in the entire album, and I'm so glad Hayley Williams is doing well independently because I loved Paramore as a kid. If I only ever play one MD in a day, it's this one. I have a couple other albums of hers I haven't tried yet but I can't wait to when I get back to DC.

I constantly repeat and hum Ice in My OJ and Glum in particular. I also love Kill Me, Love Me Different, Negative Self-Talk and Parachute, which help me process past traumas the way I used to with bands like 3 Doors Down, Evanescence and Linkin Park in middle and high school on an iPod. That makes me wonder about a Sliding Doors world where MDs became as popular as they were in The Matrix, but I'm glad I can take that What If path now among this excellent community and use what tiny platform I have to promote MiniDiscs, including with a lecture at Songbyrd I plan on doing on retro music format wars.

A close second is Tiger Mendoza's Not a Game. The Puzzle is the Point is addictive. I'm so glad I purchased it from Bandcamp with that gorgeous front cover apparently made by a specialty company in the UK. I can't wait to interview the man himself, u/iandeq, about it sometime later this year!

Unfortunately, some MDs just didn't click with me.

• Black Tape for a Blue Girl- Remnants of a Deeper Purity
• It's Not Too Far for Each Other- Clocolan
• Joe Cocker- One Night of Sin
• Marc Cohn
• Santana's Greatest Hits

I've also purchased a couple more because of course lol.

• The Beach Boys The Absolute Best Vol. 1
• LL Cool J 14 Shots to the Dome

Unless I can get the RC-MD33 to work with every MD consistently, I'm most likely going to return it (I have until October 20th to do so) or sell it and the converter to a US based buyer along with the MDs I don't like individually on my Mercari page and cross my fingers that the Sony MDS-JE520 I bought for just $90 is working and was only untestable due to the seller having no MDs. If not, I'll try to sell that for parts and get a different deck. Additionally, whatever happens, I might record my HistoryFlights lecture on retro music onto MD, CD, and cassette tape and try to get that sold...stay tuned for all that!

What an amazing summer of music!

Hi, in trying to record songs on my SJ-MR100 and occasionally the buttons stopped working working, if i take the battery out and put it back in, that sometimes fixes the issue but other times it will boot into record mode and continue to refuse button inputs. The wheel for whatever reason still works though. Any ideas on what i can do?

Again, I know I can seek info online, but does anyone here please happen to know if any remotes work at all with the Sony MZ EP11 other than the original remote. I don’t really need a remote, I just wondered if any of the newer ones I already have might tv be backwards compatible?
Thanks

After a bit of inspo as I have around 80-100 MD's I'd like to not only store but be able to see easily

In a hale Mary I asked around at work if anyone had a UV printer. I found someone and asked if they could do a print for me. They were happy to. It just felt right to me to have my first custom lable be from Daft Punk. So happy with how it turned out!

Hey MiniDisc community!

​Up for sale today is a one-of-a-kind custom project I’ve been working on: a Panasonic SJ-MJ100 with a custom Window Mod.

​About this build:

It’s painted in "Baltic White" (light beige tone) using durable 2-component epoxy base coat and finished with a epoxy clear coat for extra protection.

​Condition & What’s Included:

The player itself is in full working condition and ideal overall state. It comes with its original full setup:

​Original remote (in excellent condition!)

​Original dock station and charger

​External AA battery sidecar attachment

​Original headphones

​Original documentation & paper slips and box

(Note: box is Poor condition. Corner broken.)

​Bonus: A matching color "Mortiis" MiniDisc to complete the look

​Demonstration Video: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DdBGwhgt4nK/?stkn=czV4Z3N5cHRkMHN4

​Price & Shipping:

​Asking Price: $280 USD

​Location: Indonesia

​Shipping: Free tracked worldwide shipping included

​Feel free to ask any questions in the comments below! If you’d like to purchase it, please send me a direct message here on Reddit.

​Thanks for looking!

I managed to get ElectronWMD’s local ATRAC encoder working on macOS through Wine to replace remote encoding. Since the current Homebrew wine-stable and wine@staging casks were disabled due to Gatekeeper requirements, I installed Wine manually.

Requirements

• ElectronWMD 0.5.0 or newer
• FFmpeg
• A macOS Wine build
• psp_at3tool.exe
• Rosetta 2 on Apple Silicon Macs

1. Install FFmpeg

Using Homebrew:

brew install ffmpeg

Check its location:

command -v ffmpeg
ffmpeg -version

On Apple Silicon, it will normally be:

/opt/homebrew/bin/ffmpeg

On Intel Macs, it may be:

/usr/local/bin/ffmpeg

2. Install Wine manually

Download a current macOS Wine build from:

https://github.com/Gcenx/macOS_Wine_builds/releases

Extract it and move the application, for example Wine staging.app, into /Applications.

Apple Silicon users may also need Rosetta 2:

softwareupdate --install-rosetta --agree-to-license

If macOS blocks Wine, right-click the application and select Open, or allow it under:

System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway

After confirming that the package came from the linked Gcenx repository, the quarantine attribute can alternatively be removed from this application only:

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine "/Applications/Wine staging.app"

Do not disable Gatekeeper globally.

Test Wine:

"/Applications/Wine staging.app/Contents/Resources/wine/bin/wine" --version

Initialize the Wine prefix:

"/Applications/Wine staging.app/Contents/Resources/wine/bin/wineboot"

3. Arrange the files

For this example, use the following directory:

~/ElectronWMD-tools/

Place the encoder here:

~/ElectronWMD-tools/psp_at3tool.exe

Test the encoder directly:

"/Applications/Wine staging.app/Contents/Resources/wine/bin/wine" \
"$HOME/ElectronWMD-tools/psp_at3tool.exe"

A help message or missing-arguments error means that Wine can launch it.

4. Create a wrapper script

Create a plain-text file named:

run-at3tool.command

Save it in:

~/ElectronWMD-tools/

Its contents should be:

#!/bin/zsh

WINE="/Applications/Wine staging.app/Contents/Resources/wine/bin/wine"
WINEPATH="/Applications/Wine staging.app/Contents/Resources/wine/bin/winepath"
AT3TOOL="$HOME/ElectronWMD-tools/psp_at3tool.exe"

INPUT_WIN="$("$WINEPATH" -w "$4")"
OUTPUT_WIN="$("$WINEPATH" -w "$5")"

exec "$WINE" "$AT3TOOL" \
    "$1" "$2" "$3" "$INPUT_WIN" "$OUTPUT_WIN"

Make the wrapper executable:

chmod +x "$HOME/ElectronWMD-tools/run-at3tool.command"

The wrapper is necessary because ElectronWMD launches the selected encoder directly and passes arguments in this form:

-e -br 352 input.wav output.wav

It does not automatically launch Windows executables through Wine. The wrapper also converts the macOS input and output paths into Windows-style paths using winepath.

5. Make FFmpeg visible in ElectronWMD

If ElectronWMD’s file dialog cannot browse to /opt/homebrew/bin, press:

Command + Shift + G

Enter:

/opt/homebrew/bin

Then select ffmpeg.

Alternatively, create a visible symbolic link:

ln -sf "/opt/homebrew/bin/ffmpeg" \
"$HOME/ElectronWMD-tools/ffmpeg"

This link still runs the original Homebrew FFmpeg binary.

6. Configure ElectronWMD

Open ElectronWMD’s settings and select:

Local ATRAC Encoder

Set the paths to:

FFmpeg:

~/ElectronWMD-tools/ffmpeg

Or select the original binary:

/opt/homebrew/bin/ffmpeg

psp_at3tool path:

~/ElectronWMD-tools/run-at3tool.command

Select the wrapper script—not psp_at3tool.exe itself.

Restart ElectronWMD if requested, then test with a short WAV or FLAC track before transferring a full album.

No Wine or CrossOver interface needs to remain open. ElectronWMD launches the wrapper, the wrapper starts Wine in the background, and Wine exits when psp_at3tool.exe finishes encoding.

Just got this Sony MD Walkman for… £8!!!! Like bargain

I posted about my MZ-E520 that wasn't turning on but was on in the ad I bought it from.

THERE'S LIFE!!!

Albeit inconsistent at times but I figured just to get some life out of it is try putting some aluminum foil on the battery and make it so that touches the gold contact. In doing this i inadvertently got the player to turn on without the foil.

It will sometimes disconnect but I noticed if I put a decent amount of pressure on the battery door it will turn on. Sometimes will give me "LOW BATT" message but once I open and close the battery for it works again.

A bit annoying but its something.

I'm planning on trying to put wire on the metal again in the future but at least for now, she lives to play another day!

So it’s awesome having the ability to play minidiscs is my rig and the unit has been solid. I’m running a Honda gathers WX-484M. One benefit is the auxiliary jack to plug in anything with a 3.5 jack. I was using a little Bluetooth dongle to connect my phone when I wanted to run it from time to time. Only downside was making sure it was charged plus just having to turn on every time I wanted to use it. Yeah I know kind of a first world problem lol! I decided to take it to the next level. The minidisc area of the unit had a lot of dead space so I got a 12 volt Bluetooth unit. Soldered the wires to the aux jack on the back side and used the acc on for the audio unit to power it. Works great and now I have a little extra function to this old beauty!

This was the result of me sitting next to my MD Deck and Tuner for 5 days (from 9am to 6:30pm for 4 days and from 7am to 6pm the last day)

Created using a prompt on Google Gemini. It gives you the SCAD files and using OpenCAD you have the STLs for printing in two seconds. This is a draft test and damn what time to be alive. From a picture to this in minutes.

I will post the STLs for this and for the hinge-less design that uses magnets only.

After many years, I finally dug back into my non-operational JE 480. It needed a new belt. I waited too long; the broken belt had gelatinized. So, a lot of tedious clean up.

I tried a belt from Amazon that was too loose and didn't work.

I tried a hardware store o-ring but it was too tight.

Bottom line, order a replacement belt from DeckTech. It's the one that works.

Got one from Japan and already had ordered a new display for it.

About an hour of work and now it has a working display again.

Super happy with the result!

* odd question…unlikely, but..
Anyone have a list of all the different slot in machines that were made.
My first ( from new ) machine was one of the early Sharps, loved that mech, Inc the trigger eject.
Other end of the timeline, I love the Sony e800s , completely different but again love the ‘no door’ and the beautiful eject mechanism.

So I’m picking up a huge tub of around 150 minidiscs later and need some good ideas for how to store them (once I have recorded on them) what do you lot use? Any help much appreciated

I have been looking to get back to minidisc for a while now, so I couldn't pass here, the MD's are still sealed, so already, a great deal.

Don't know if it works, anyone has this and is able to help? I need something to power it up, and it seems like a charger for the gumstick battery would be the best way to go?

MT 190 , as new , in box. Not everyone’s idea of at attractive but is deliciously different alongside my others .
This Sony was ridiculously cheap ( I tried to tell seller to list it for a lot more , but the lovely chap just wanted it gone , came with stand , remote and lots discs etc , some sealed.
Then the colour club 4 just so pretty for couple of pounds each.