Farewell Sony MiniDisc

[admin]

Sony quietly announced the release of the last stereo system that will ever feature its MiniDisc format, effectively killing the format. Frankly, we were surprised to hear the 20-plus year old disc format was still alive at all. MiniDisc never caught on with the mainstream and outside of a few professions that regularly use digitally recorded audio, it was living as quietly as it has thus passed. Hearing of the end of MiniDisc, Audioholics presents a eulogy for a format that most of you may have ignored but one that long ago etched a magneto-optical pitted groove into the hearts of many music fans through the 1990s.


Discuss "Farewell Sony MiniDisc" here. Read the article.

[afterlife2]

I still use mine to record radio shows.

[j_garcia]

My dad still uses his for now too, but far less now that he has his ipod and Kindle Fire.

[bac522]

Frankly, we were surprised to hear the 20-plus year old disc format was still alive at all.

And hence the reason Sony, in general, is a company in dire straights today. The company has no ability to see the future and less ability to end products that never provided to the bottom line to begin with!

[serhauss]

It is a pity that Sony MD has passed away...I still have a Sony MDS-920 (standalone) and more two portables MD players from Sharp and Sony. In my bedroom there is a Sharp MD/CD system that still works fine and frequently I use it to copy from CD to MD just pushing a single bottom. My collection of over 100 recorded MDs it is in pristine condition and play fine. The MD sound quality is better than most MP3 tracks due to higher audio compression of MP3. However, I understand and I agree that the current generation that consume media prefer practicity instead of quality, and as a consequence the mini iPod Nano and similars players are a huge world wide success, including here in Brazil where I live. This young generation has grown up listening to low quality audio and are convinced that the highly compressed sound of a MP3 is good enough. Not for me. Sergio Haussmann (Brazil)

[j_garcia]

It is a pity that Sony MD has passed away...I still have a Sony MDS-920 (standalone) and more two portables MD players from Sharp and Sony. In my bedroom there is a Sharp MD/CD system that still works fine and frequently I use it to copy from CD to MD just pushing a single bottom. My collection of over 100 recorded MDs it is in pristine condition and play fine. The MD sound quality is better than most MP3 tracks due to higher audio compression of MP3. However, I understand and I agree that the current generation that consume media prefer practicity instead of quality, and as a consequence the mini iPod Nano and similars players are a huge world wide success, including here in Brazil where I live. This young generation has grown up listening to low quality audio and are convinced that the highly compressed sound of a MP3 is good enough. Not for me. Sergio Haussmann (Brazil)

Not all MP3 is highly compressed. I understand what you are saying, but MP3 isn't the problem, people accepting poor quality is

[Ovation]

I have a stand-alone player/recorder from Sony, works great, and Sharp portable (built like a tank, bought it in 1998 and still works flawlessly). I use the stand-alone primarily to record radio shows these days, but I still playback some of the mixed-tunes discs I made back in the day. Even have a few audio feeds from some concerts broadcast on cable TV years back. I agree they were a victim of bad timing, but always reliable. Oh well. I still have and watch HD DVDs, too. Guess I'm a sucker for marginal formats.

[96cobra10101]

Yep. I rock a couple Sony MD players. Hell, I have Pioneer LD player too!