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Topic: The End of MiniDisc? (Read 6016 times) previous topic - next topic
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The End of MiniDisc?

This is an email sent by the MiniDisc Community Forums admin to the users:
Quote
Hi, it's the administrator kurisu. Either I see you every day, or you've been around once and never again.
Your still a friend, and must know what's occuring.

The Minidisc format is seemingly going to stop being actively developed. Sony's recent initative to
restructure and give more definition to their products has initated the decision to cut "15 product lines.."
This is very disturbing news. Right now there's a very slim chance that Hi-MD may even see a third
generation, and if it were, it would probably be the definitive last. I'm not so sure anymore that the
Connect Player will even support MD. There's something else on the horizon now, a unified approach.

Sony had a recent webcast in New York, displaying the path in which they would take for the next few years.
Walkman was incessantly touted, but MD was nowhere to be seen. Judging by the focus of the webcast, it
should've was very clear as to what Sony's immediate future will be, and I can honestly say I do
not see MD in the equation.

This is causing an uproar in the community; please visit the (massive) discussion thread about it and share
opinions with fellow MD enthusiasts --

The thread is here.

I guess it is finally happening.  End of MD is near... I think this is good news -- we can expect Sony to focus on the non-MD players and come up with even better products.
The object of mankind lies in its highest individuals.
One must have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.

The End of MiniDisc?

Reply #1 –
MD was a really neat product in the mid-1990's, in a pre-CD-R, pre-MP3 player world, and I enjoyed using them up until a couple of years ago. But time and technology march on, and considering what it can do, the MD format is quite antiquated by today's standards, and most consumers obviously aren't interested. Thus, I wouldn't be suprised one bit if Sony finally throws in the towel with MiniDisc (its all speculation at this point). I'm surprised that it has taken them this long, actually. Fanboys aside, I doubt the death of MD will even be noticed by most people, who either never knew what an MD was, or thought it dead long ago. I haven't even seen an MD player out in public in at least 3 years, maybe more.

Who knows, maybe it will force Sony to come up with better HDD and flash-based DAP's? Recorders with MD features and more updated media (flash, HDD) might also be within the realm of future possibility. My Sony NW-E407 flash player is certainly a step in the right direction.

The End of MiniDisc?

Reply #2 –
IMHO MD was very nice format and I have MD Player. It was good alternative for C-caset recorder in old days. Burning CD's came so cheep and fast (and easy) in 21st century that it was MD time to "die". Especially CD-MP3 players where the nail in MD players coffin because almost everyone with computer had loads on MP3's and the size of CD-media wasn't too big at home and car's.
But anyway, I wouldn't by MD player today for any reasons.

The End of MiniDisc?

Reply #3 –
hmm.  just as they finally got LPCM recording too.  i'll miss MD just for the size, battery loife, ease of use and recording quality (ATRAC aside, which is an unaccountably poor codec - it has good specs but seems to fail on what counts: speech).

i just hope sony get out of their DRM rut.  they'd be a good company if they got over that (well, their broadcast gear has a few fundamental flaws, too.  error correction on their tape formats and multi-format capable decks would be good).

The End of MiniDisc?

Reply #4 –
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Fanboys aside, I doubt the death of MD will even be noticed by most people, who either never knew what an MD was, or thought it dead long ago. I haven't even seen an MD player out in public in at least 3 years, maybe more.
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=331189"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Keep in mind that Minidisc is highly Japan-centric. Japan accounts for 60% of Minidisc sales, America is only 10%. This means that there are 14 times as many Minidisc players per capita than the US.

I have had many (10? maybe?) Japanese exchange students at my house, and I'd say about 1/3 of them had an MD player. This is certainly a skewed demographic, as they were all in high-school, and all but 1 were girls. However, that little bit of trivia stuck with me.

OTOH, out of all my friends from high school and college, only me and one other had an MD player, and neither of us use it anymore.

I'm not trying to contradict you, as what you said is certanly true for Americans, but keep in mind that Sony's main market is far away from Iowa City  .
"We demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty!" - Vroomfondel, H2G2
 

The End of MiniDisc?

Reply #5 –
Just look at the price of their top units. Nowadays MD became an useful item just for it's recording capabilities. You can buy a cheap flash unit with 1gb for less than most of their MD's. Or you can pay a little more and buy a HDD based unit with 20 gb. If you just want to listen to your mp3's, MD isnt the best choice for you.
Alguém pare o mundo que eu quero descer!!

The End of MiniDisc?

Reply #6 –
Why is this "good news" actually?  It's difficult to find a better successor to cassette for on-the-fly recording unless you get exorbitantly consumer-grade DATs or solid state units. 

The more options, the better I say.  Magneto-optical technology is great and the encapsulating MD cases provide much greater protection than the bare CD-Rs and the like.

The End of MiniDisc?

Reply #7 –
Minidisc is still the simplest solution for stereo recording. But it would be easy to manufacture an even simpler and equally good HD recorder which does the same thing.

The End of MiniDisc?

Reply #8 –
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Minidisc is still the simplest solution for stereo recording. But it would be easy to manufacture an even simpler and equally good HD recorder which does the same thing.
[{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Like this [a href="http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/MicroTrack2496-main.html]M-Audio product[/url]?
"Facts do not cease to exist just because they are ignored."
—Aldous Huxley

The End of MiniDisc?

Reply #9 –
Yea, I have no doubt it would be easier to make such a recorder today but removable media is still a perk as far as I'm concerned.

The End of MiniDisc?

Reply #10 –
>"the non-MD players and come up with even better products"

Like SACD? another competing 'propriety' standard, if DVD-A takes hold (how many DVD players can play it?) then SACD will be another MD. A 1-bit implementation that perhaps is now showing it's age now DACs have moved on...and talk about shooting themselves in the foot, the optical output from an SACD player is scalled down to 16 bit, incase you try to steal those precious bits extra bits, only iLink (firewire) has an encrypted 24 bit stream.

The End of MiniDisc?

Reply #11 –
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Like this M-Audio product?
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=331396"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

That looks like a good one; I hadn't seen it before.