I bought a load of untested Minidisc players from Japan. I'm still not sure why.
This video too long? Watch this shorter version instead: https://youtu.be/Suss1o5Oac0
UPDATE: Since making the video, I spent the best part of another day messing about with the players that couldn’t read a disc (cleaning lasers etc) and managed to coax a few more into working. So now the total number of functioning players is up to 30, that’s better than half. Although some of these are really pretty nasty looking and more than a bit flakey when it comes to reading discs.
I didn’t think it worth mentioning, but since so many have assumed I wouldn’t have gone through the basics on any non functioning machines - here’s what I tried...
On any machines that wouldn’t read a disc I cleaned the laser lenses with IPA, cleaned the battery contacts with contact cleaner, used a glass fibre brush on the battery contacts, blew the internals out with compressed air, oiled the worm gears, moved the mechs, made sure I always used fully charged batteries, smacked them about a bit - used pre-recorded discs as well as homemade ones, stuck them outside baking in the sun for a day (worth a go), plugged headphones in, plugged remotes in, made sure the hold was off, made sure they were turned on.
This video is 73 minutes but the behind-the-scenes testing is more like ten hours.
