Problems with...

[onkyoampman2009]

Problems with SONY!
Okay, first of all, I have
2 Sony Minidisc recorders, and
NEITHER of them will turn on!
I took 1 of them to an
AUTHORIZED Sony repair center,
and I was told,
"Sorry parts are NO LONGER Available!"
My beef with this is that I have power amps from 1985,
and THEY STILL WORK!
SO HOW COME a Sony ES Minidisc recorder
from 1995, 10 years later, breaks down on me
at least 2 times in the 5 years that I own it.
When it worked, it sounded GREAT, SUPURB!
However, when I need it serviced, I get that
"buy a new one" line! We have replacement parts for cars
from 1995, why don't we have them for electonics?
This is an ES Model for god sakes!
There should be parts to fix it SOMEWHERE!
"WHY SHOULD I THROW IN ANOTHER PIECE OF GEAR
INTO A LANDFILL?????
Does Anyone know WHERE to get a Sony
Minidisc recorder fixed from 1995?
Model number is JA3ES.

 

[yepimonfire]

not all companies can continue manufacturing parts for products because it wouldn't be economical for some companies. think of all they products sony has made, if they kept parts for all of them 15 years after production they would have a huge amount of money invested in parts people may or may not ever buy. one thing you might try is taking to a third party electronics repairman, chances are if its something simple theres an oem part for it.

 

[TLS Guy]

Problems with SONY!
Okay, first of all, I have
2 Sony Minidisc recorders, and
NEITHER of them will turn on!
I took 1 of them to an
AUTHORIZED Sony repair center,
and I was told,
"Sorry parts are NO LONGER Available!"
My beef with this is that I have power amps from 1985,
and THEY STILL WORK!
SO HOW COME a Sony ES Minidisc recorder
from 1995, 10 years later, breaks down on me
at least 2 times in the 5 years that I own it.
When it worked, it sounded GREAT, SUPURB!
However, when I need it serviced, I get that
"buy a new one" line! We have replacement parts for cars
from 1995, why don't we have them for electonics?
This is an ES Model for god sakes!
There should be parts to fix it SOMEWHERE!
"WHY SHOULD I THROW IN ANOTHER PIECE OF GEAR
INTO A LANDFILL?????
Does Anyone know WHERE to get a Sony
Minidisc recorder fixed from 1995?
Model number is JA3ES.

The problem is that the set up to produce modern custom chips is so expensive, they generally have only one run. When those chips are gone they are gone, and there is just nothing to be done about it.

This can happen on cars. I know of a minivan that was less then 10 years old and not very high mileage. It has an unusual ABS braking system, that ran from a pump and not the manifold vacuum, even though it was not diesel.
The failure was such that the vehicle had no brakes at all.

The system went down and the chips to refurb the boards were no longer available and there was no source. A used board was unavailable anywhere. The car went to the crusher. The new owners had paid over $5000 for the vehicle within a couple of months or so. The van was clean in and out with no other issues. The owners were not happy.

With the complex electronics in cars I expect this problem to get more prevalent.

Basically it is far easier to restore vintage electronics before the IC chip. After the IC chip you often get stuck unless you are lucky, or there is a feasible redesign/work around. It is the way the world is now.

 

[Midwesthonky]

It's tough to keep all parts on hand. If I remember right, MiniDisk didn't sell all that well. So when they killed it, they had only a limited supply of parts on hand - generally what they calculate to last maybe 5 years or up to 10 depending on their policy. Then they either scrap the inventory or sell it to a distributor.

At 10 years old, most people choose to replace rather than repair. So not many businesses are willing to invest money into parts inventory that has a low probability of selling. We have become a consuming nation of disposable products. We don't repair.

There is an electronics parts distributor in Illinois that might have some parts if anyone did. Unfortunately, I can't remember their name at the moment. I'll have to look it up when I get home.

 

[Midwesthonky]

Ok, now I remembered the distributor's name.

Try contacting Union Electronic Distributors (www.ued.net) and see if they have the parts you need. They are a parts distributor, not a repair shop so you would have to do the repair. But they might have it if Sony does not.