Topic: MD playback problem

[insideandout]

ill try to provide as much useful information as possible about this problem.


i have a sony 80 md that was recorded on using an awia am-f70 on 11/14 at a live show. the recorder reported no problems durning recording and at no time was it jarred, as moshing was not in my general area. in fact, i had ample personal space to freely hold the md in my hand or carefully pocket it.


the md was crotched & pocketed before the show & placed in th recorder for the main act & was then recorded on for 74 minutes.

upon playback, my awia player refuses to go past the 30 minute mark. the interal workings sound like they are  skipping or continually rereading a particular section of the md.

thinking it was a problem with the awia, using a brand new sony md player, i experienced the same issue, only this player would begin skipping at the 30 minute mark. i could fast forward through the rest of the disk, so i know theres music on it. i cant listen to it in real time, though.


im inquiring if im SOL about ever recovering anything after the 30min mark?

[jesse]

theres no reason why you wouldn't be able to record past 30min. The only thing I can think is that it must be a defective disc. Try another and if its still wont rec past 30 then I would become concerned.

[insideandout]

no, it recorded just fine.

there is 74 minutes of music on this 80 minute disk.

it will not play after 30 mintues & im inquiring if this is something that can be manually fixed on the disk its self, or do i have to suck it up and take the huge loss of this recording?

[Brian Skalinder]

no, it recorded just fine.

there is 74 minutes of music on this 80 minute disk.

it will not play after 30 mintues

Curious:  how do you know 74min actually recorded if you can only play back 30min?

[The Kilted Taper]

thinking it was a problem with the awia, using a brand new sony md player, i experienced the same issue, only this player would begin skipping at the 30 minute mark. i could fast forward through the rest of the disk, so i know theres music on it. i cant listen to it in real time, though.

You say it won't play in real time. Any chance the record mode changed while taping?

[insideandout]

the problem is this:

i have a mini disk with 74 minutes of confirmed music on it.
it will only play for 30 of those minutes.

one player stops completely and refuses to even fast forward beyond.
another player will begin skipping at 30, but i can fast forward through the rest of the disk.
the skipping is in real time.

both players sound like they are reading a faulty disk, they click and sound like they are rereading a section of the md continuously, as if trying to get it right.

i am 99% sure nothing was changed (besides sound level) during the recording.

[Brian Skalinder]

Betcha big bucks it's a bad disc and you're SOL.

Maybe try opening the disc case and use some compressed air to try to clear out any crud that may have gotten inside.  And maybe do the same for the players, too.  Other than that...sounds like bad news to me.

[Stumptown Matt]

I have had discs that got crud or hair inside the cartridge and caused similiar problems.  Slide back the metal cover and check out the disc surface for flaws. note: you'll need to disengage the little plastic lock that prevents the metal cover from coming back

[dklein]

Once you've given up on it, send it to someone else with a different deck to try out.  Just like cd players, some may be more forgiving than others.  Even if there's a bad spot I would think you might be able to fast forward past it and resume playing, and get most of your recording back.

Feel free to pm me if you want me to try it out.

[Patrick]

I had a defective minidisc when recording wilco in september.  I could have cried when I got home and nothing was on my disc. 

...AND, that happened again at a Syndicate show the next day.  I just picked up a bad pack of minidiscs i guess.

It is heartbreaking, but I guess that's the drawback of using minidiscs.

I want a DAT.

 

[Roamer]

@insideandout
I would also suggest trying a different player and recovering as much as possible. Good luck !
@direwolf
One thing I always do is recording a short silence at the start of the MD. I had 2 or 3 bad minidiscs that I have never been able to record anything on them, and it's best to spot those defective medias before you're on the field.