http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21297024

I thought they’d stopped making MiniDisc years ago!

I’ll put it with my Betamax video recorder.

Shame.

MD should have done well. It’s an obvious successor to cassettes, but never really got a firm enough footing with all the other formats kicking about at the same time. CD-R, DCC, DAT etc, and of course the mighty CD. I thought it was fantastic but never bought into it, which pretty much says it all really.

It was lossy by design too, meaning it was useless for data storage, which I always thought was a misstep; it’d have made a great data format in the 90s. (I’ve half a memory that they tried doing a data version, but it used different discs, or something. Have I made that up?)

We still have 3 or 4 at work, they were a big improvement over tape for recording conferences.

wow, i remember drooling over the 1st gen walkman one in a hifi shop in the kings road when i lived that way. ended up buying a 2nd gen one when i left london, knoc down price from totenham court road, and it was still about 2-300quid. great format, really liked it… until mp3 for portability.

I had a couple, I thought it was good. Great quality sound, small size, and a recording one could be had for £100.

I love(d) minidiscs! Had a minidisc head unit in my car until quite recently. Ideal for that purpose before ease of MP3 connectivity became the norm.

I still have a minidisc stereo much like the one pictured in that article, I use it as my PC sound output.

Liked it myself too. Great in the car also as you couldn’t damage the discs unlike CDs. MP3 and IPod secured its demise, IMO, although it was never a massive hit before them either

They were great for field recordings after years of cassettes/dat. I’ve got about 400 discs from recordings in India. Not sad to see them go, mainly because of the stupid Sony controls(sonic stage crap) that’s where it went wrong, not open enough. Edirol/Roland is where it’s at for solid state field recordings for me now.
I think I still have a car stereo head unit in the loft plus 2 Walkmans (inc the 1gb version) and a separates unit.

MD user here. They are/were great. Hifi, head u it and personal player here

Stil got mine remember being able to put about 10 albums on a disc with little loss of sound quality

that said MP3s are miles better

Does anyone actually use tapes these days?

I still have my two Minidiscs and both still work

Cougar – Member

(I’ve half a memory that they tried doing a data version, but it used different discs, or something. Have I made that up?)

2 actually- MD-Data, and Hi-MD. My brother still uses Hi-MD for a lot of pro audio stuff, he likes the substance of MD (I think he’s had too many thumb drives pinched too!)

I loved audio MD 🙁 Something very nice and tactile about the whole thing, it felt like a tape but it acted like a disc, very nice. Still got my players though haven’t used it for years.

I was a big fan, and was surprised it never caught on more than it did at the time. That said, I’m also incredibly surprised Sony didn’t stop making them years ago!

As a convenient, robust alternative to a Cassette Tape they were ace, and were so much more forgiving than CD’s. but as soon as the price of recordable CD’s went through the floor, it sealed the death of Minidiscs in my opinion, and that was long before everyone owned an MP3 player of some sort!

Even recordable CD was still rubbish for portability, mind.

Yes odd one as it does have advantages over CD not least being all my MD still play.
I guess it was just take up really

I had portable player, old man had one of the originals and I had a MD deck for Hi-Fi stacking.

Great sound and less transport damage.

Replaced my cassettes perfectly.

Stupid Sony messed up with copyright and shoddy software.

Still have my Sony MDS JB920 🙂

Does anyone actually use tapes these days?

I don’t, but there has been a massive resurgence of them in the punk/hardcore scene!

Junkyard – Member

Does anyone actually use tapes these days?

Yes, my father …. he is 83.

I had one of the portable recoder/players. I just found putting music on them was a pain other than that I really liked it. I loved the way an AA battery would last all week.

I was a student working in a Sony Centre when they first came out. I remember thinking is was the most amazing thing I’d ever seen. I never actually owned one though.

Another news story to make me feel old.