Sony to kill off Minidisc Walkman

[hugh]

We don't know what struck us more from this Japan Real Time report: the fact that Sony has decided to kill the Sony MiniDisc Walkman or the fact that the Sony MiniDisc Walkman was still alive?

"The MD Walkman, a 1990s successor to the cassette version, is about to disappear from store shelves, in yet another reminder of the digital-music revolution that has made the MP3 - and the iPod - king," says Juro Osawa of Wall Street Journal's Japan Real Time.

[hugh]

In Case you're thinking, didn't this happen last year, see Sony Ends Walkman Cassette Player Line After 200 Million Sold

[David Susilo]

miniDisc is a cool thing, actually. I still have my Denon miniDisc recorder and Sony miniDisc walkman/recorder. The best thing about miniDisc is the ATRAC codec system. You don't need a "new and improved" minidisc player in order to listen to the sonic benefits of minidisc encoded by newer and much more improved versions (there are 4 generation, IIRC) of ATRAC codec.

[ScaryBob]

I remember seeing one of these in the 1990s when they were first released by Sony. Haven't seen one since. Sounded like a good idea at first but I thought the sound quality was not that good for music. It was probably as good as many MP3s though. I would guess that falling prices of high capacity memory is more responsible than anything for the demise of the Minidisc. Who needs a Minidisc when a USB stick or MP3 player can store 100 times as much in less space? I also wonder why mini-DVDs and mini-BDs were never developed. Was it because MD was such a flop?

[David Susilo]

Actuallu they do have miniDVD and miniBD. The main usage is for camcorders. Especially in Japan.

[hugh]

Sony and their proprietary formats have not faired well.

[David Susilo]

It's actually accepted by literally all Japanese CE manufacturers. I used to own a Kenwood MD recorder, TEAC/TASCAM used to have pro-level recorders. Denon had broadcast MD players. My brother still have his Sharp portable MD players and Hitachi mini compo with MD/CD/cassette player.

MD catched on quite dramatically in UK and Australasia region

[PaulB]

I bought a Sony MD player many years ago. At the time, the $/MB for MP3 players was still pretty high, and MD seemed like a good way to get into digital music at a reasonable price. The downside was that you couldn't just drag and drop MP3 files to the device and Sony's software was terrible.

I can remember being in an electronics shop in Heathrow airport and seeing new music releases on MD. I doubt they were ever available in North America.

[ScaryBob]

Sony and their proprietary formats have not faired well.

With the single exception of Blu-ray. The BD licensing cash cow will pay for all of Sony's other mistakes and then some.

[David Susilo]

I used to own only 3 pre-recorded MD.

Basia, 1812 Overture and Billy Joel (what is it with Sony's obession in releasing Billy Joel's album on LP, CC, CD, MD, SACD is beyond me).

All of them were bought in Australia.

I agree with the bad ripping software. I had to use the Japanese version to make it work (although I don't understand Japanese at all).

[Macman]

I once bought a portable MD player but i had buyers remorse after spending what seemed like a lot of money and also feeling like i had to be soooo careful with it, i returned it after a short time. And yeah, other than NetMD you had to record in real time.