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Repairing or extracting music from Minidisks that won't play

ex brickie

ex brickie

pfm Member
I have a disc on which I recorded some important music years ago. For some reason it refuses to play - and even worse it jams in the machine every time so I have to take the player apart to get it out!

It isn't the lens - other discs work fine. It isn't the player - I have two of the same and I've jammed it in both!

Anyone experienced this and any solutions for how to retrieve the music from it?
 
ex brickie said:
I have a disc on which I recorded some important music years ago. For some reason it refuses to play - and even worse it jams in the machine every time so I have to take the player apart to get it out!

It isn't the lens - other discs work fine. It isn't the player - I have two of the same and I've jammed it in both!

Anyone experienced this and any solutions for how to retrieve the music from it?
Click to expand...
I used to have one but can't remember... Are the discs themselves able to be disassembled? It seems like the disc container/sleeve might be damaged and you could try moving it to a good one. Probably not feasible if they are glued shut.
 
ex brickie said:
I have a disc on which I recorded some important music years ago. For some reason it refuses to play - and even worse it jams in the machine every time so I have to take the player apart to get it out!

It isn't the lens - other discs work fine. It isn't the player - I have two of the same and I've jammed it in both!

Anyone experienced this and any solutions for how to retrieve the music from it?
Click to expand...
I think I still have a portable player I can send you to try...
 
Kind offer @DimitryZ . I may have an old one in the loft. Let me try that first. Only problem is I still want to hear the disk on a proper player...... but one step at a time

@booja30 they are pretty well sealed .....
 
I tried it in a portable player and it worked. Sound quality of the portable is poor so not much use to copy it from. Very strange.....
 
Does the portable have a digital out?

Seem to remember many of them did, and it might pave the way to transferring the recording on to something that does sound decent.
 
can you manually open the shutter? what happens? ( if all else fails remove it completely and get the contents off if it will then play?) I cant see there is much to go wrong other than shutter issues re jamming the player. I would have thought if the jam problems can be solved and it still wont play then the disc is a gonner, it has been corrupted.

many portables had digital in but not out - you would need a deck for that.

maybe join and post on http://forums.sonyinsider.com/forum/15-minidisc/?
for help. Possibly the only remaining minidisc forum still active
 
The shutter doesn't move but nor does another disc I have. I'll try some more.

The portable only has digital in and headphone jack out
 
ex brickie said:
The shutter doesn't move but nor does another disc I have. I'll try some more.

The portable only has digital in and headphone jack out
Click to expand...

The shutter wont open unless the latch is released first - see the picture

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipNuQAJ4-U0p_GSNPrPzJCHLynpSxWntDrEh7213

The little white thing above the "4" in 74. You need eg a pin to insert in the groove on the side then the shutter can be slid down. just release the pin and move the shutter up to lock it again ( its a 2 handed thing one to hold the latch open the other to slide the shutter open). If latch wont release it then the shutter wont open at all, may explain why it jams in the player though never seen that before
 
OK got it - thanks @mercalia . I used a sharp prong and released the shutter. I'll see if I can spot any marks on the disc itself - then will try the machine again...........fingers crossed!
 
Take the stainless guard off, the springs get sticky. Find another player with digital out an transfer to file etc
 
Would it play if the metal guard was off? I don't want to snap it off and find I'm stuffed!

Ideally I want to transfer it to another MD disk as that's where I prefer to play it through a hifi setup
 
Since they sell really cheap on eBay I'd be tempted to get a second home player or a portable with digital out. Then you've got some redundancy and the potential ability to copy this disc.
 
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