Sony’s self-destructing MD Recorder from 2070
If you watched the last Patreon update, the subject of this video will already be familiar to you. After I’d mentioned I had one of these machines, I thought that now would be a good time to take a look at it.
I was wrong - it might have been better if I’d made this video a few years ago when I first bought this. Then again it’s likely back then the Minidisc Wiki wouldn’t have been around and after making a video I’d have packed this away, none the wiser that it was in the process of silently self destructing from the inside.
Hope your December is off to a good start. I’ve fallen a little bit behind where I’d like to be, so if there is a gap between new video uploads it’s nothing to worry about.
Take care and (if it’s appropriate), stay warm.
UPDATE 1 : Seamlessly removed any utterances of the word ‘Acid’.
Comments (36)
Eek, old NiCd batteries (and more laterly, Duracell AA's) are the bain of my life. Sinclair Microviion TVs used them as did Tektronix's 214 oscilloscope and they always leak. I've repaired many units with much worse leakage damage than you're facing. You'll need to remove the copper screening shield with a soldering iron then get rid of every trace of blue - start with IPA then use a glass fibre brush. Next, download the service manual from minidisc.org - that has board diagrams which shows where the tracks should go. You'll need to go around the affected area point-to-point with a multimeter in continuity (beeper) mode to determine which traces are open, then bridge them with short lengths of cable - solder won't stick to traces which are corroded so don't try, follow back to a place where the track is clean. If necessary, scrape off the solder reists (the green varnish) with a watchmaker's screwdriver to expoase the copper. Single core tinned copper wire is good for repairs like this - insulated stuff is easier to find, you can easily strip off the insulation. Search eBay for "1/0.6mm wire" - if you can find an old (even part-used) roll of RS/Farnell/Rapid wire, go for that - a lot of the cheapo stuff from eBay/Amazon isn't copper. If you can't find wire, let me know I have loads of it and will send you a few feet..
Fascinating. What a brilliant unit. Exactly the sort of thing I'd have bought if I'd known about it. :-) Shame about the analogue side of things, I'd have it open and clean all that stuff off with IPA and have a look around.
When I think of movies and mini discs, I think of the 1996 film, Escape From L.A. In that film there was a tiny CD that was used to control satellites and could send out an emp burst to disable any tech or whatever. It would be interesting to see if there has ever been such a tiny CD with any use. I know the smallest consumer was the 8cm.
The tiniest optical silver disc? - That’ll be the Dataplay https://youtu.be/uEISYaWgCRg
Decent looking piece of kit that, Matt.
What a shame about those batteries. Great video though. Thank you Matt.
Great Video. Great unit and glad you reviewed it. Sorry to see it was self-destructed. However glad that is still usable at some level.
These batteries seem rather large just for powering an RTC circuit. Judging from the way they are integrated, one could get the impression that they were meant to be user replaceable at some point in the design process. I would have expected something shrink-wrapped with solder tabs, but not individual cells encased in a dedicated compartment. It almost looks like a trapdoor in the case is all that is needed to make this user serviceable and that the engineers scrapped that idea at the last minute. Planned obsolescence? Well, consumer tech isn't exactly built to last (at least not for decades), but design choices like this give the impression that the damage a leaking battery would cause was pretty much anticipated.
I agree. I also thought it was weird. That being said, maybe Sony was just SUPER into being eco friendly and wanted people to dispose of the batteries properly, OR it was intended to be an easy service when it was brought in for repair. I have cracked open a lot of electronics that are definitely not supposed to be user serviceable, lacking screws and things, and sometimes stuff is just commodity parts in slots. But that isn't usually what Sony does. Sony usually massively over engineers something and uses their own weird shit.
The record two seconds before you press the record function is a killer app. It would have to be a digital buffer, but I wonder if there are any other base stations for any other devices that could do that. Late model compact cassette would be very interesting, but probably a DCC one exists. Of course, the right way to handle the disc jockey is to go ahead and record him, then go back to the song, pause when he's about to come on, and record empty sound for about 15 seconds. Then go back to the end point of the song and queue it up waiting for The Way by Fastball to come up again. The true reason for its existence is definitely actually the inverse: I had a slow trigger finger so I always missed the first couple seconds of a song.
I work with different digital recording systems (in my world everything is digital recording since many years) and many offer that function. It is seen as a user trigger. Something happens you want to record (not only audio) and not only you want to avoid clipped recordings but also to have the seconds before the event
Re. the sponge microphone cover — Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie coined the word ‘spoffle’ to describe these.
Great device, sucks about the batteries.
Adrian black from Adrian’s digital basement might be able to fix this - he just resurrected an amiga 500 that had been sitting outside for years, full of rust and corrosion. Edit : never mind just saw the extent of the trace damage and you’re right, it’s lucky it works at all.
Awesome job as always
Great video! You managed to turn the leaking batteries into a story and honestly the video is even better for it! A giant kick in the pants for you, the buyer, but at least the machine's self-destruction did not go unheralded.
Sony were ahead of the game, think of all the devices now with built in non replaceable batteries which will be dead in 10 years.
I noticed a lot of old tech in it, maybe due to the cyberpunk aesthetic plus the very low budget
I appreciated it - way better than all the green-screen super-pants nonsense.
Oh jeez. Guess I know what I'll be taking apart for a battery check in the near future!
I did think about yours - but then again I assumed it was already dead and you'd moved on. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.
Sony design just again, love the way it docks together.
So it is basically Spotify connect as you can carry on playing Ince you get home. I had so many different MD Recorders and players they were such great devices
It's really a cool form factor, especially for that age. A bit like the later docking stations for the iPods and iPhones, my amplifier has that.
Did you see that short URL for this video? :P
New URL. There goes the joke! :P
That battery problem is a shame. More so, since in 1997 there were plently of cheap ways to just get away with a a long lasting 3V lithium battery. Low power RTC chips were widely available, even from japanese manufacturers. No need for NiCd batteries really.
Fascinating device!
To be pedantic, this type of batteries leak a base, not acid. Adrian from Adrian's Digital Basement on Youtube repaired a few PC motherboards with battery damage in the last years, but it is really a lot of work.
Adrian uses vinegar to clean up the leakage, did you do that as well, Mat?
What an amazing system. Needless to say, I want one. Handy to know about that battery adapter gadget, but the original battery might still be serviceable (as is my MZ-R30's battery). The charging circuitry for those Li-Ion batteries won't charge them if the battery voltage has dropped too low, but if you can get the battery voltage above the minimum level they will charge and discharge normally (albeit with lower capacity). PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK. Take the charged and dead battery. Bridge the contacts of the batteries FOR A FEW SECONDS ONLY, positive to positive, negative to negative. This puts a little charge into the dead battery, enough to raise the voltage above the minimum charging level. Pop it straight in the charger and it might charge. Beware: bridging or shorting this type of battery can lead it to fail or (if charged) go into thermal runaway and dump all its power in a fiery ball of death. Be cautious. Excuse the caps, for once I believe they're warranted.
I think it’s very funny that the portable player just looks exactly like an MZ-R50 with no face buttons. It’s neat, but mostly just funny to me, since that’s my portable recorder.
'No sense crying over spilled acid' is a saying I will be using from now on. This item is really nice and it's ideal for a movie prop because few people would recognize it for what it really is. I can imagine myself as a college freshman with this in 1998 - my dorm mates would be perplexed and envious, I think. Shame about the batteries, though. It's odd to think Sony was shortsighted in this fallibility. That deteriorating foam mic cover is also a mess, nasty stuff but you've easily cleaned it up. Take care 🤍 and I 🤍 you. 😁
The automated voice edit to replace 'acid' with 'alkaline' is amusing; and the purple gradient on the thumbnail looks great.
Great spot! What an excellent unit - this is so very Sony. Oh for a time machine. From the asset label - https://colefordareapartnership.org.uk. Will have to check the film out.
Perfectly designed for a futuristic movie featuring a communications device that self-destructs. "Mission Impossible 2070" should begin filming soon I hope.😉