Tascam MD CD1 MK2 / TOC Reading on my cd drive

It is much easier to use an analog mixer and microphone thru the mixer. I would plug the microphone into the mike input on the mixer and then the Karaoke machine to stereo LINE inputs on the the Mixer, then Mixer Output or Tape Output on the mixer to analog LINE IN on the MiniDisc recorder.
Let me know if you need more info.

Gently recycle it.

Mine is doing the same thing. By pluging and unplugging the power back and forth sometimes I get it to read the disc and it stays on. If you get yours going then I suggest always leaving it on. It doesn't draw much. A temporary solution until you figure out how to fix it.

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.

Very likely the over-write head does no longer function properly. Try again with a MD that already has recordings on it, try to record another track to it. If the entire disc seem blank after TOC was written, the OW head is bad. At this point the unit effectively becomes a player only....

Without a decent Table Of Contents, your MiniDisc will NOT work, as you've found out. Does it matter what brand of MD you use? I would record it at "1X" and NOT 4x speed too. Try erasing a blank minidisc first and then shut off the unit and then turn it back on and see if the TOC works. Try adding a title, then turn it off and back on. Then try the CD to MD.

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?

According to rep. at Tascam, laser is weak or dead. If you are electronically/mecahically inclined, you can replace the drive mechanism (sort of like aCD-RW drive in a computer, but this has flex-circuit cables going to it for power, signal, and control which are relatively delicate compared to the cables in a computer). Parts Dept @ 323-726-0303 ex.840 can supply you
with your needs.

Unit displays TOC error when I inserted two new cds I purchased.