It's the end of an era -- Sony will stop making MiniDisc stereos next month, two years after it stopped selling its portable equivalents, the BBC reports.
MiniDisc stereos first went on sale back in 1992, so it marks an end to the 21-year-old format's life. Sony hoped MiniDisc would become the format of choice, as a better quality alternative to cassettes. But the rise of CDs put paid to that.
The MiniDisc stereo format struggled outside of Japan due to high prices, not to mention the fragility of the discs themselves. While Sony claimed recordings would stay intact for 30 years, a simple magnet placed nearby would wipe your whole Now 11 compilation.
The discs initially offered 74 minutes of audio, but this was increased to 80.
I have hazy memories of seeing some albums for sale on MiniDisc in HMV, but they never took off. I was strictly a CD man, myself.
Sony tried to relaunch the format as Hi-MD in 2004, but a certain Apple MP3 player was already available by then. Suffice to say Sony's efforts were thoroughly torpedoed, due to the iPod's far greater storage and convenience.
Sony introduced portable MiniDisc players a year before their stereo counterparts, in 1991, but put the kibosh on them a couple of years ago. The portable version was far more popular, selling more than 22 million units in its life. For one thing, it didn't skip, unlike the Discman I had. That was a waste of time.
What are your memories of the MiniDisc, either portable or the stereo version? Were you one of the few to own a MiniDisc stereo? Did you actually buy an album on MiniDisc? Or did I imagine them in my local HMV? Let me know in the comments, or on our Facebook page.
Image credit: sophist1cated on Flickr
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Comments 9
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leoevs44 2 February, 2013 12:38
didn't even know the minidisc was still going thought they stopped years ago, shows how much i know....
Andy Jackson 2 February, 2013 13:58
I still have my Sony MZ-N10 portable NetMD player, still going. I use it for recording audio while out and about.
anonymous 2 February, 2013 14:56
Have three players, tons of discs, included a number of actual retail albums. As a dj back then, I loved the idea of digital and instant start. I even have a bunch of mini discs that have old disco single vinyle records reorded. But then came the cd and cdr...this is kinda sad, but inevitable.
anonymous 2 February, 2013 16:58
Still use it. have many players and recorders. My main recorder is from 1996, and is still in perfect working order. It is very handy for me as a DJ to record digitally any mix or set i play. Still to this day have discs everywhere and I run the facebook group page also.
Sound quality is still outstanding and still sounds better than mp3.
Doug Thompson 2 February, 2013 18:03
I have a MD recorder and it is great for a mic or optical. Its very potrable and fab quality and features. My car hifi also takes MDs, and has a CD jukebox. But when you consider that the MD can be replaced by a USB stick you know its day has come. Sony never really supported it. Their first application written in Flash, would allow you to upload one CD before it crashed (memory leaks) all show and no substance. If you were a Journalist you could buy a third party version for £2000 that allowed you to upload/download content at 64 time real time, of anything, eg not just the CDs that you uploaded, but live recordings-something that Sony software never could. The main issue with Sony was its DRM preoccupation, versa freedom to use MD however you wanted, that is limiting the customer, so it did not value its customers, which in the end ment they did not want customers. Few of us can choose who we sell to, it usually the customer that is king.
anonymous 2 February, 2013 21:14
Like the first poster, I didn't realise they were still making them and thought they culled MD a few years ago.
They haven't sold the HiFi component MD recorders in the UK for a good few years now.
lloydmorris11 3 February, 2013 17:02
well that's a shame I have had an MD player for over ten years now and it's still going strong despite MP3 players being around as u don't need a computer to record onto an MD...that has got to be a plus...and in march MD players will probely be worth a lot of dosh so I will just hang on to mine for now.......
anonymous 17 February, 2013 16:15
The last MD player/recorder I had I purchased on the island of Kos in 2002 had all the software, even a disc but I left them in my room as I didn't own a pc then. The MD packed up on me last year and I'm left with a load of discs with music I want to convert to cd.
anonymous 25 March, 2013 17:41
I've posted a photo of a pre-recorded MiniDisc on your facebook page.