The ã‚ series are TDK’s flagship minidisc blanks for 2006. The word “sublime” comes to mind…
(Bottom two rows. From top left, L-R: 2003 HO series yellow, 2004 XS-iV 80, 2002 Bit Club, XS-iV “Ministry of Sound” Series, ã‚ in various colors.)
They’re only available in Japan, and at the moment, it appears that none of the usual importers plan on carrying them. I got my set from a friend at T-Board who lives there. Let me know if you need a set, and I can get ahold of him.
There seems to be a sad trend forming in this. TDK and Maxell appear to be the only companies making any sort of custom discs. Sony’s still churning out the generic Color series as well as the plain-blue Hi-MD blanks, which are the only ones in production. No local retailers carry blanks of any stripe anymore, and the number of online sources is dwindling. Continued...