The MiniDisc: the failure of a forgotten format (2020)
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The MiniDisc: the failure of a forgotten format (2020)
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Re: The MiniDisc: the failure of a forgotten format (2020)
#2I remember this. It looked neat but was $$. The various extensions didn't help much.
DAT was more practical for recording but also $$.
The completely different ADAT can utilize consumer S-VHS tapes.
Re: The MiniDisc: the failure of a forgotten format (2020)
#3What really killed this format is the draconian copy protection that crippled the software for getting the tracks on device (for NET MD players). Other method(s) of getting sound on MD was essentially dubbing, like you would with MC. Other players removed the artificial barriers of getting your music on device, and it turned out that antipiracy measures are not a feature... which is a shame, because the feel and sound of MD players is pretty damn great, and the wired remote with minimal backlit display is god tier UX compared to anything that was/is on the market. I bought my first secondhand MD player in 2015, and it was the best thing. It even had AA battery adapter(!!!)
Re: The MiniDisc: the failure of a forgotten format (2020)
#4They say history is written by the winners, but when it comes to technology, history is written by Americans.
MiniDisc was a huge success for Sony, and was the winner of the tape-replacement format war in virtually every country - except the USA.
It was so successful that Sony is still making blank MiniDiscs today. (Though they are not sold there, Americans can type MDW80T into eBay if they'd like some brand-new MiniDiscs.)
I grew up in the UK and for nearly a decade portable MD players were virtually ubiquitous on the Tube. Only the iPod began to end that era, and it certainly wasn't instant.
Re: The MiniDisc: the failure of a forgotten format (2020)
#5What really killed this format is the draconian copy protection that crippled the software for getting the tracks on device (for NET MD players). Other method(s) of getting sound on MD was essentially dubbing, like you would with MC. Other players removed the artificial barriers of getting your music on device, and it turned out that antipiracy measures are not a feature... which is a shame, because the feel and soun…
Sony did this to themselves multiple times. Because they always had done other division they wanted to not cannibalize, or some Not-Invemted-Here. E.g them too long using memory stick instead of sd cards.
Re: The MiniDisc: the failure of a forgotten format (2020)
#6What really killed this format is the draconian copy protection that crippled the software for getting the tracks on device (for NET MD players). Other method(s) of getting sound on MD was essentially dubbing, like you would with MC. Other players removed the artificial barriers of getting your music on device, and it turned out that antipiracy measures are not a feature... which is a shame, because the feel and soun…
Sony did this to themselves multiple times. Because they always had done other division they wanted to not cannibalize, or some Not-Invemted-Here. E.g them too long using memory stick instead of sd cards.
Quite honestly I don't think SD was even a big thing yet. I remember clearly complaints about Sony not just using CompactFlash, in contrast.
Re: The MiniDisc: the failure of a forgotten format (2020)
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sony did this to themselves multiple times. Because they always had done other division they wanted to not cannibalize, or some Not-Invemted-Here. E.g them too long using memory stick instead of sd cards.
Quite honestly I don't think SD was even a big thing yet. I remember clearly complaints about Sony not just using CompactFlash, in contrast.
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Re: The MiniDisc: the failure of a forgotten format (2020)
#8They say history is written by the winners, but when it comes to technology, history is written by Americans. MiniDisc was a huge success for Sony, and was the winner of the tape-replacement format war in virtually every country - except the USA. It was so successful that Sony is still making blank MiniDiscs today. (Though they are not sold there, Americans can type MDW80T into eBay if they'd like some brand-new Mini…
It was heavily used in radio as well, almost ubiquitous for recording outside interviews etc for later broadcast.
Re: The MiniDisc: the failure of a forgotten format (2020)
#9Ah yes, another American-centric viewpoint (which is correct, no qualms about that part) but in other countries (probably with the exclusion of inner reaches of Africa and, uhm, Canada) MiniDisc (at the late 1990's and early 2000's)... is just there: a reliable way to have portable copies of your music.
P.S. British viewpoint by Techmoan (which pointed out the American-centric "MiniDisc is a failure"): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kU3BceoMuaA
P.P.S. A direct rebuttal (to the point it was titled "The (Not) Forgotten Audio Format That (Never) Failed"): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCK89V4NpJY
Re: The MiniDisc: the failure of a forgotten format (2020)
#10From wikipedia:
Recordable MiniDiscs use a magneto-optical system to write data; a laser heats one side of the disc to its Curie point, making the material in the disc susceptible to a magnetic field; a magnetic head on the other side of the disc alters the polarity of the heated area, recording the digital data onto the disk. Playback is accomplished with the laser alone: taking advantage of the magneto-optic Kerr effect; the player senses the polarization of the reflected light and thus interprets a 1 or a 0. Recordable MDs can be rerecorded repeatedly; Sony claims up to one million times.