MiniDisc updates
----------------
About a year ago, my Sony MZ-R700 MiniDisc player which I bought
in 2020[1] abruptly stopped working. It still powers up just fine,
the motor spins, but inevitably the little LCD display proclaims
"DISC ERROR". It does this with absolutely every MD I own, blank,
recorded, standard play, long play, the works. No idea why.
There's nothing visually obviously wrong when I look inside the
open door. Maybe the laser diode is dead, I dunno. Anyway, bit
of a bummer after approximately two years of ownership by me.
That year my wife bought me another player for my birthday, bless
her. It's the MZ-R70, the slightly less featureful version of the
same player. Aside from not supporting long play and having a tiny
sliding "Hold" switch on the back of the player instead of a handy
rotating control on the front, it is basically the same machine.
It works just fine - it's noticeably noisier when reading than
my MZ-R700 was, I don't know if that is because the fancier model
actually had upgraded mechanics or whether this particular MZ-R70
has been used more or needs something cleaned or tightened or what.
But, hey, it plays, which is what counts, and it still works for
days on a single AA battery, which is pure magic, incontrovertible
proof of our technological regression.
Never mind the player, though. What's really exciting is that
it wasn't merely sold as the player. What arrived in the post
was a shoebox time capsule. Discs, lots of discs, more than I
had previously, enough to more than make up for the lack of long
play support (although it's a shame my yearly Konpeito discs are
no longer playable!). But also an official Sony-branded plastic
MD holder stand, and a huge wad of official Sony-branded adhesive
labels, plus some other brand ones, the tiny spine labels and the
big front ones. Even a shingle sheet of TDK cassette tape labels
somehow made their way in there. But the pièce de résistance
is the hideous orange pouch, made of shiny synthetic fabric, that
attaches to your belt with big velcro loops, emblazoned with "PRO-X"
(the X unquestionably standing for "eXtreme"), dangling proudly
for all the world to see. It has multiple zippered compartments,
so you can keep the player separate from your stash of discs and
spare batteries. It is absolutely glorious.
[1]
gopher://zaibatsu.circumlunar.space:70/0/~solderpunk/phlog/actually-listening-to-music-again-2.txt
