I've been running a 2013 Mondraker Summum for many years. Sadly I crashed it, the pedal caught a tree stump, I went over the top. Bent crank and dented frame... So I decided to rebuild my old weapon. A 2007 Giant Glory 8.8.
Rides really quite well. Being a short rider (5'5" on a good day) these old school frames seem to fit me quite well. It absorbs the rough stuff so well.
I commissioned Gerry (Mdgadgetry) to paint me a custom Panasonic SJ-MJ99. I absolutely love the MJ99, the look and the way it sounds... Which for what it's worth is so far my favourite sounding MD device.
It took quite a while, but I'm super happy with the finish. It's Lamborghini Yellow.
Second picture with it's siblings.
My favourite looking Sony Minidisc player. Burning music through netMD.
The other unit with the sticker is my original N1 that I bought is 2001/2002. Sadly I lost the stand for it. Despite being used daily for 2+ years it still works fine.
I got a Sony LAM-Z03 recently. I was having issues with writing through netMD yesterday, it would do 3-5 sounds then just stop. Turn it off and back on and it would carry on fine.
Anyway, today I won't even read the TOC correctly most of the time now (Blank Disc). I've given it all a clean and grease and it's still having issues.
It can sometimes read more reliably on it's side. So I think the laser has had it.
I've been looking at getting a replacement (New old Stock) laser unit from Ali Express.
Can anyone tell me what else I'll need to do... I don't have a laser calibration tool so I'm hoping I won't "need" one...
Any advice greatly appreciated!
I've managed to get extremely lucky again with Japanese Auctions. £40 for the Sony LAM Z03... Which is amazing, but postage and tax was another £75. So it was a risk as it was "sold as Junk".
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I had to fix the Minidisc deck, the mechanics that eject the Minidisc had somehow gone out of alignment.
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I also had to replace the Right speakers cable as it had deteriorated completely.
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The most important part for anyone else wanting to get themselves a LAM-Z03. Mine has a self switching PSU, meaning that I only had to snip off the Japanese plug and wire on a UK plug.
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Note If you get one of these units open it up, check that the PSU circuit board has 250v printed on it, check that the fuse is 250v and that the supply side Capacitor is 400v.
I managed to get a battered looking Panasonic SJ-MJ97 from Japan. It cost me £18+ (Junk unit) Import and postage, it came in a batch and cost around £30 total (Unit and battery).
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When it got home I quickly realised it was suffering from a split worm gear, having previously had the same issue on a SJ-MR220.
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Note: For those wondering you can tell by taking the back of the player off and looking at the sled gears, they're often vibrating backwards and forwards, if you give them a small shove they'll usually start moving normally for one rotation of the worm gear then stop again.
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I quickly ordered a replacement from Mdgadgetry on Sunday, it arrived today (Wednesday) in the UK!
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Stripped down the player fitted the new gear and bam. Back working perfectly!
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Absolutely love these players!
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P.S. It's amazing how a little clean made this player look so much fresher. It looks great now.
I am fortunate enough to have all of my favourite Portable devices.
Sony MZ-N1. Stunning looking device. Known for being the first netMD portable released. For mer personally it was my first Minidisc player back when I was a young man.
Sony MZ-N10. I bought this when I got back into playing mindisc after finding my old N1. Famous for being peak Minidisc, at least in the non HiMD arena.
Panasonic SJ-MJ97. I only moved outside of the Sony Minidisc sphere recently. I saw the MJ97 and fell in love. The incredible thinness and weight is hard to believe. The images don't do it justice at all. The lithium battery means no leaking battery terminal issues if the gumstick Mindisc players. The Panasonic sound is very satisfying to my ears.
Panasonic SJ-MJ99. Slightly "fatter" than the MJ97 (0.5mm thicker) this is the MJ97 but with a better amp (more power, less impedance) and slightly better processing of audio called Re-Master (RM). This feature fills in the gaps in the upper frequencies to make it sound fuller. It does sound better than the MJ97, but I doubt you'd miss it if you went for the MJ97. The major drawback of the MJ99 is that the front case finish is very soft and scratches extremely easily.
Both the MJ97 and MJ99 don't come up for sale often and we're only officially released in Japan. I've had to import all of mine.
I bought it with a TOC read error. It arrived today and it clearly had major issues with the sled mechanics. It just wouldn't move and was clicking away.
So I stripped her down. The worm gear had split (yes this isn't a sharp). It was a tiny crack that took some bright light to spot. It was clearly messing up the tolerances and locking up the drive gear.
So had a look to see if I could buy/print/other a worm gear. Not likely... Sharp players are well catered for, Panasonic, I didn't find anyone even mentioning the issue.
So... What now... A dead player because of one piece of plastic!? Not on my watch.
My first course of action was to bore out the internal of the gear to give it some clearance and relieve the pressure of the press fit onto the shaft. I then put some super glue in and shoved the shaft into the gear constantly spinning the shaft to prevent the super glue sticking. This worked, the internal diameter was back to what it should be and the gear now had a little more strength.
It was still a little tight on the drive gear. So I took a tiny little bit of material off of the faces of the offending gear faces. Bam. No tightness, the whole thing turns perfectly and the sled moves without issues. I threw it all back together again and yes. It can now read the toc and play back perfectly.
Long may it last.
My first MD was a MZ-N1. Sadly I lost the stand for it so haven't been able to use it to burn for some time. I've used one of my other devices instead. Luckily I got a great deal on an N1 with all the extras.
Here it is being used with my ancient iMac running Ubuntu and burning away.
Today I was working at a site I am not at often and told a colleague that I like Minidisc and asked if he remembered them. He replied "wait a minute" and taken me to storage where there is a MDS-JE640. I've got it for a bottle of Rum. Looks to just need a new loading belt. It played the MD that was stuck in it.
The only mark on it is the slight scratch on the plastic screen. Otherwise it's immaculate. I threw in a spare battery I had and gave it a lube and it's working flawlessly.
The lucky part, I got it with the EBP-N10 battery attachment for £71. The EBP-N10 alone is normally £45+. So I got a perfectly working N10 for around £25!!! So chuffed!