I must have missed the memo. Back in February, Sony announced that they were shipping the last of their MiniDisc-based home stereo systems. The media proceeded to claim, yet again, that this was the death knell for the format.
Let’s see, when have we heard this before?
- 2011, when Sony stopped producing portable units
- 2007, when they dumped the SonicStage software
- 2004, when Sharp and Aiwa stopped producing units
- 1998, when Sony cut prices by 2/3 to entice the American market
Nobody’s accusing MiniDisc of commercial viability anymore, but that doesn’t mean it’s dead. It’s still active in the Japanese market, and among radio producers stateside. A healthy supply of blank media and replacement batteries remains available. Despite the lack of software support from Sony, there’s an open-source initiative that’s already working.
It’s no more mainstream than Amiga or BeOS, but it’s not going away any time soon.
One thought on “MiniDisc: Still Dying”
Funny, I’ve noticed the same thing. It would seem that most of the press has a hard time understanding how anyone could’ve ever purchased a digital media product that wasn’t made by Apple. Unsuccessful/bad formats don’t last +18 years.
I’m a big jealous of your MZ-EH930, by the way.