Looks like the times are a changing. Sony has called it quits on the minidisc. Any of you audiophiles own one of these?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21297024
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21297024
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Sony to make last MiniDisc stereo system in March
- Thread starter buffdaddy
- Start date
Yes, I have one, the only problem is that I can only use it at home, as no one else has adopted the format. I really like it, but the lack of other options makes it hard to embrace.
VHS/Beta, CD/Minidisk, HD/Blu-Ray
Sony got smart.
Beta was a superior product (and continued to be used in broadcast), but the rest of the planet embraced VHS.
Minidisk was too little, too late.... MP3 players killed it.
High-Def recorded TV? HD-DVD was supported by Toshiba, Blu-Ray was Sony's technology.
Who owns a few major movie studios?
Sony got smart.
Beta was a superior product (and continued to be used in broadcast), but the rest of the planet embraced VHS.
Minidisk was too little, too late.... MP3 players killed it.
High-Def recorded TV? HD-DVD was supported by Toshiba, Blu-Ray was Sony's technology.
Who owns a few major movie studios?
never even knew what they were.
I have never seen one in a store, the news that Sony was still making the minidisc was more surprising that it was being discontinued. The only time I recall seeing it was a product placement in a movie.....and that was The Last Action Hero with Ahhrrnolldd
Commander Quan
Commander Yellow Pantyhose
I only know one person who had a MD player, and I'm sure he retired it as soon as ipods became the predominant portable music player.
My car, a 2005 Mazda3 had a MD player as a factory option. Thankfully my car car came with the other option, a cassette deck in addition to the 6 disk CD changer which I actually use with an adapter since it doesn't have an auxiliary input.
I had no idea that Sony was still supporting their MD format.
My car, a 2005 Mazda3 had a MD player as a factory option. Thankfully my car car came with the other option, a cassette deck in addition to the 6 disk CD changer which I actually use with an adapter since it doesn't have an auxiliary input.
I had no idea that Sony was still supporting their MD format.
Like everyone else I'm shocked to hear it was still being supported up until now. I guess maybe it was bigger in Japan or other markets.
With the way things are going, the only physical medium that may exist in 10 years would be the Hard Drive. Everything's going digital, and increasingly cloud-based.
With the way things are going, the only physical medium that may exist in 10 years would be the Hard Drive. Everything's going digital, and increasingly cloud-based.
I still use mine. I have a pretty decent quality full-size unit in my main stereo system, one in my car and a small portable player. The portable hardly sees the light of day but the full size stereo unit still sounds excellent and puts any iPod / iPhone / MP3 player to shame when the disc is recorded from my CD player via a Toslink cable. I think it is as much to do with the quality of the D/A converter, power supply etc than it is to do with the type and level of compression. I invested in the format when I was doing a weekly show on an alternative FM radio station and it was ideal for this (still is actually). I still have many spare blank discs so I'm good for some years to come but I'm not fooling myself; it is a dead-end format. Like others, I was surprised that Sony were still supporting it.
One mistake I think Sony made was to keep the price of blank discs too high for far too long (in this market at least). Obviously they were trying to make money by selling media but by the time they dropped the disc price down to around $3 each, MP3 players were already on the market and the writing was on the wall.
One mistake I think Sony made was to keep the price of blank discs too high for far too long (in this market at least). Obviously they were trying to make money by selling media but by the time they dropped the disc price down to around $3 each, MP3 players were already on the market and the writing was on the wall.
I also heard that Sony didn't license this product out to others and was anothef reason it was a dead end format. The world said "fine keep it" and moved on to mp3 cd, and ipods.
I was a big fan of the MininDisc format before switching to the iPod. I had two portable player/recorders, a home dubbing deck, and a player in my car. I loved buying different blank discs from Japan back in the 90's. There were many great designs available. I'd mix my own MDs from my CD collection, just like old cassette mix tape but they sounded much better. I also built up a nice collection of pre-recorded MDs, mostly from Sony and Columbia artists. For me the factory packaging of pre-recorded MDs was never as nice as CDs or Vinyl. My entire collection and all my MD gear was sold about a year after I bought my first iPod.
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