Yamaha Minidisc Player MDX-9 wont play discs, just spits um out

Well, what it means is

TOC errors often mean the recording head/optical block is cooked. A cleaner might work, but often it's the end of the MDR.

Are you sure the battery is correctly (fully) charged? Try removing the battery and running on (only) the charger.

try cleaning the lens with a minidisc lens cleaner.

open the unit and check the laser position - it should be all the way to the left. that's where it should start to read the disk.

TOC errors often mean the recording head/optical block is cooked. A cleaner might work, but often it's the end of the MDR.

Read these:

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.audio.minidisc/63uCBegyG8A

http://www.minidisc.org/repair_q2.html
http://forums.sonyinsider.com/topic/21439-fun-with-the-sharp-702-utoc-error-fixed/

http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?98358-TOC-Error-on-brand-new-disc!

http://www.borus.de/minidisc/303.htm

hi there is nothing to do by yourself. you need to take your md player to the next authorized service. seems the optical device that reads the discs has worn out, compareable to turntables you need to change the `needle` ;)

You may well be right. Try a different brand of disc.

If the Table of Contents is read by a disc that is good but the data that follows may not be compatible such as if it was a Mp3 encoded disc.
This was meant for the newer units that have decoders in them.
If you are playing a commercial made pressed disc- this is the kind you use for testing, then your pickup lens may be dirty or the disc is having too much wobble on the spindle. There are a lot of things to check and that is usually done by a technician who knows how to work on disc units.

user manual http://www.minidisc.org/part_Aiwa_AM-F65+F70.html
That seems quite odd and makes no sense. Perhaps you should wander through the menu options. Is the cable or headphones OK?

Possible that the disc is not reading and so the the TOC- table of content error must be referred.
It can be due to a poor head tracking or the failure of the data being read or processed.
Clean the head and use a good disc to be checked once again. If so the optical head can be faulty as it might be getting weaker.

Make sure the "TIMER" "Rec"/"off"/"Play" switch is set to "OFF".
Then press power, and you should be in business as soon as it read the TOC on the disc. Without any disc inserted, it should go straight to being ready.

C13 read error means that the player is unable to read the TOC (Table Of Contents) on the minidisc. it has to read this first so that it knows where everything is stored on the minidisc.

TOC errors can be caused by faulty minidiscs, those which have been incorrectly finalised or by a faulty head assembly on the machine.

If possible, try to see if you get the same problem with different brands of minidisc, and also whether minidiscs recorded on other machines work on your player and whether minidiscs recorded on yours work in other players. Report back with what you find as it helps determine whether the player itself is at fault.

In reality though, it's a 9 year old unit and like all optical disc devices, minidisc heads do not last forever. If the head has failed then your only fix is to replace the player as spare parts are no longer in production and existing stocks are almost as rare as fresh dodo doo-doos.

When you get done recording, do you wait until the "TOC" light stops flashing? If you cut off power before the Table Of Contents is written, then it can't find all your music. Even if you eject, it should still flash a little red TOC or UPDATE before it spits the disc out. Check for that. okay?

Well, depending how the content was recorded, there may be a slim chance to recover the audio. To me it looks like TOC was not written successfully, effectively deleting the TOC.
You can try TOC cloning with this 'blank' MD using another MD player, but your track markers will be lost during the cloning. If it works, at best you will end up with ONE long track. Then you can edit and reset your track markers.

It may be also be a good idea, to try the JE440 carefully with junk content to make sure it still works ok when writing TOC. You may have an intermittent problem too. I'd be very careful editing MD in this unit until it has been confirmed the TOC writing works ok. You may want to check the over-write head assembly and the cable that connects it. Sometimes these cables develop hairline cracks causing intermittend write action.

Check out www.minidisc.org forum for TOC cloning.

Good luck recovering your audio.