How we gonna play our discs in the next future?!

[barfle]

This a good place to buy refurbished cassette decks, VCRs and other old electronics:
https://porterelectronics.com/

I could probably spend a week poking around there!

 

[MidiMagic]

Business schools are saying that when the patent or copyright expires, invent a totally different product and stop supporting the old one.

 

[Aging quadie]

I found a Tascam 122MKII cassette deck online but it had major transport issues. (I already had a 122 MKIII but that later model did not support dbx noise reduction, necessary for certain digitization projects.) When I brought it into an Indianapolis repair shop, the technician discovered Technics no longer stocked the necessary parts. He suggested I find another 122MKII damaged by a power surge. I did, and fifteen months later it was back in my rack.

The moral: Never assume repair parts will always be available for vintage gear. Any guesses about what Oppo will have in stock during the next decade?

 

[DuncanS]

I found a Tascam 122MKII cassette deck online but it had major transport issues. (I already had a 122 MKIII but that later model did not support dbx noise reduction, necessary for certain digitization projects.) When I brought it into an Indianapolis repair shop, the technician discovered Technics no longer stocked the necessary parts. He suggested I find another 122MKII damaged by a power surge. I did, and fifteen months later it was back in my rack.

The moral: Never assume repair parts will always be available for vintage gear. Any guesses about what Oppo will have in stock during the next decade?

Even back 40 years ago, I had a Sony Tuner which I took in for repair, they couldn't get the proprietary chip that had failed as Sony stopped production after a couple of years. In the electronic circuits I'm designing now (not for domestic kit), we ask for 15 year guarantees for manufacturing of the IC, but not all semiconductor manufacturers will. There has been a fair amount of semiconductor company take-overs in the last few years and that normally kills of useful devices as the consolidation & integration process happens. So we just have to hope they keep making them. A problem with domestic equipment is that if the processor/ROM fails there is nowhere to get the firmware from.

 

[atrocity]

Even back 40 years ago, I had a Sony Tuner which I took in for repair, they couldn't get the proprietary chip that had failed as Sony stopped production after a couple of years.

And today you're screwed if your MiniDisc deck needs alignment because Sony no longer provides the alignment discs. Though I'd like to know how my local shop lost theirs...

 

[Sal1950]

Though I'd like to know how my local shop lost theirs...

They probably thru it out or say it's lost so they had an excuse not to service them any longer.

 

[Bill B]

They probably thru it out or say it's lost so they had an excuse not to service them any longer.

More likely….after 10 years without any one coming in to have their mini-disc serviced, they lost track of where it was or discarded it.

 

[atrocity]

More likely….after 10 years without any one coming in to have their mini-disc serviced, they lost track of where it was or discarded it.

Yeah, they were perfectly happy to work on my MD recorder, they just had to warn me up-front that if servicing would involve having to remove the loader they would not be able to do because they had no way to re-align it properly after putting it back in.

Fortunately, all it needed was a cleaning.

 

[par4ken]

Actually the obvious answer to this question is to just rip the discs to the hard drive. Discs and players will eventually disappear at about the same time. For those of us old timers I don't think that we have to worry about that eventuality at all. I still stand by my original posts about vintage equipement. There will be a lot of used players available even if new ones have long been discontinued!

There are many tools are out there for ripping SACD, DVD-Audio and Blu-ray. It is sad that we have to jump through hoops to defeat encryption to make our "back-up" copies. CD's are much easier to copy with few using encryption.

I love physical media, but for convenience you can't beat having your music files stored on your computer. Playing the ripped files from the computer or via your Oppo sans the disc saves wear and tear on your player and is much more convenient. Making digital copies of my vinyl collection serves the same purpose, convenience, equipment and record preservation.

I am not advocating copying your collection just so that you can resell the originals. That is what the Industry is worried about, likely why they like the streaming model. To me steaming is just renting a title, comparable to listening to a juke box or radio. Streamed audio can be copied as well so there is no easy solution for the record industry.

 

[kfbkfb]

https://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1196831

Strangely, Pioneer kept making Laserdisc players for about 10 years after disc manufacturing stopped...


Re: Streaming:
My main fear about (stereo) streamed audio is that it won't be discrete L and R stereo but will be a form of joint stereo (IIRC, first used on the MP1 VideoCD soundtrack) which will probably adversely affect the derived surround sound.


Kirk Bayne

 

[barfle]

I found a Tascam 122MKII cassette deck online but it had major transport issues. (I already had a 122 MKIII but that later model did not support dbx noise reduction, necessary for certain digitization projects.) When I brought it into an Indianapolis repair shop, the technician discovered Technics no longer stocked the necessary parts. He suggested I find another 122MKII damaged by a power surge. I did, and fifteen months later it was back in my rack.

The moral: Never assume repair parts will always be available for vintage gear. Any guesses about what Oppo will have in stock during the next decade?

Many, many years ago, I had a Sony CVM2150 TV monitor-receiver. It was a really, really great set for its day, and I got it because I could integrate it into my audio system (a home theater!). Like everything does, it died anout 15 years later, and parts were not available. The sucker cost me $1100 in 1977 money.

Lots of tubes are already an issue. I think the only factories are in Russia, so that’s out. Maybe a couple of niche makers elsewhere, but it will probably be cheaper to replace, if that’s possible.

When my Oppo dies, I will be heartbroken. It’s about 15 years old now.

 

[par4ken]

Many, many years ago, I had a Sony CVM2150 TV monitor-receiver. It was a really, really great set for its day, and I got it because I could integrate it into my audio system (a home theater!). Like everything does, it died anout 15 years later, and parts were not available. The sucker cost me $1100 in 1977 money.

Lots of tubes are already an issue. I think the only factories are in Russia, so that’s out. Maybe a couple of niche makers elsewhere, but it will probably be cheaper to replace, if that’s possible.

When my Oppo dies, I will be heartbroken. It’s about 15 years old now.

I have no real love lost for old style televisions even fancy Sony Trinitron ones. On the other hand it is cool to have old vintage stuff in working order as say part of a collection. I do worry if my Plasma TV dies, I'll no longer have 3D although I seldom actually use it.

Tubes are made in China, Russia and I believe in some other eastern european countries as well. They focus mainly on audio devices that are still very much in demand.

Myself I have a stock of tubes gleaned from a closed TV repair shop when the owner died. Also some that I purchased as part of a lot at a Hamfest. If you or anyone needs a tube I just might have it. No picture tubes though!

 

[Sal1950]

Back in the 80s - 90s I had a number of collectable tube amps and other gear.
For a bunch of years I'd grab old stuff out of the ally's and dumpsters that had tubes in them.
I'd take the tubes (audio applications) home, test them, and keep the strong ones.
I had quite a stock of tubes at one time that I shared with audio and musician friends.
When I retired and moved to Fl I had to let all that go, no more room for it. Gave the tubes to
another friend with like interests and also most of the gear. I did sell a couple pieces like my cherished
Dynaco ST70 that was still 100% factory stock (except tubes) and working great.. I was always great
fun to me having this stuff around and playing with. I still have my 1925 Atwater-Kent Model 20C and a
1939 Zenith "Racetrack", both are in working condition.. Back in the days when these were the centerpiece
of someones home, can you imagine the history that was listened to on them. The 1939 Zenith was still
fairly new when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and all those years of war. WOW.
"YESTERDAY, December 7, 1941 a date which will live in infamy"
Sorry for the OT ranting of an old man.

 

[barfle]

I have no real love lost for old style televisions even fancy Sony Trinitron ones. On the other hand it is cool to have old vintage stuff in working order as say part of a collection. I do worry if my Plasma TV dies, I'll no longer have 3D although I seldom actually use it.

Tubes are made in China, Russia and I believe in some other eastern european countries as well. They focus mainly on audio devices that are still very much in demand.

Myself I have a stock of tubes gleaned from a closed TV repair shop when the owner died. Also some that I purchased as part of a lot at a Hamfest. If you or anyone needs a tube I just might have it. No picture tubes though!

It's not that I still wish I had my Trinitron, but it was state of the art in those days, and I had to make do with something that wasn't quite in the same league.

When my dad had to go into assisted living, he let his ham radio club go through a bunch of his old electronics that included several tubes. Somehow he forgot about me when that happened, and I thought I had a spare CRT for my Heath Audioscope. Nope.

 

[somethingcleveridunno]

Actually the obvious answer to this question is to just rip the discs to the hard drive. Discs and players will eventually disappear at about the same time. For those of us old timers I don't think that we have to worry about that eventuality at all. I still stand by my original posts about vintage equipement. There will be a lot of used players available even if new ones have long been discontinued!

There are many tools are out there for ripping SACD, DVD-Audio and Blu-ray. It is sad that we have to jump through hoops to defeat encryption to make our "back-up" copies. CD's are much easier to copy with few using encryption.

I love physical media, but for convenience you can't beat having your music files stored on your computer. Playing the ripped files from the computer or via your Oppo sans the disc saves wear and tear on your player and is much more convenient. Making digital copies of my vinyl collection serves the same purpose, convenience, equipment and record preservation.

I am not advocating copying your collection just so that you can resell the originals. That is what the Industry is worried about, likely why they like the streaming model. To me steaming is just renting a title, comparable to listening to a juke box or radio. Streamed audio can be copied as well so there is no easy solution for the record industry.

This is so dead on. I buy a disc, I rip the disc, I put the disc away and never touch it again unless I need a different version of the content. I keep a lossless copy for listening at home, and if it's surround I transcode into Dolby Digital before dropping that copy into Plex for max compatibility. Now I have my music accessible anywhere I can stream or cast from my phone, and a backup that isn't worn out.

When preservation is illegal, only outlaws can truly own their media, and it's stupid and awful and only going to get worse and I hate it. I just want to be able to give the artist and engineer and producer money for their work, and to have full possession of the work for my and my family's use, and that be the end of it.