111 replies to this topic

[george-london]

Hi

The reason I am starting this posting is to get people to put some pressure on Sony as a group to continue support and add more devices (especialy Hi-Fi Hi-MD Deck Components) into their firepower!

Will update the post soon with my thinking behind this.

Come on people, start voting!

Thank you.

George

[sfbp]

How can you revive it, if it's not already dead?

George, we all feel about MD the way you do. That's why we're here. But Sony is a company that wants to make money.

[KJ_Palmer]

Well, I voted Yes, just in case...!

[NickyJay]

sfbp, on 03 June 2010 - 11:44 AM, said:

How can you revive it, if it's not already dead?

George, we all feel about MD the way you do. That's why we're here. But Sony is a company that wants to make money.

They can make money from MD. A lot of it. MD is worth more than Gold right now.

See here if you don't believe

http://cgi.ebay.co.u...=item27b1de4e7a


Hardware is also in the thousands of dollars. Look here

http://cgi.ebay.co.u...=item2306f57e25

Maybe Sony's inability to make money last year will force them to produce more minidisc related items. All they need to do is to market it properly and they will make a damn fortune.

[NickyJay]

Here's another idea which would make Sony millions -

Have consumers trade in 'old stock' but still functional MD units to be eligible for a discount on the latest MD technology. This would create a buzz and generate a wave of interest in the new units in these difficult times.

This marketing strategy could even threaten sales of the iPod (which break a few days after you buy them anyway). Damn I should be employed by Sony, I could turn it around for them within a year!

[Swordsage]

I agree that for all intents and purposes, MD is dead, but I still voted for it to be revived. Not just because of my love for the format, but there are some reasons that I think are viable.

One, despite the fact that great strides have been made in solid state/flash memory players and recorders, we STILL have CDs, vinyl and even CASSETTES (though blanks) being sold. The latter two don't have a large following of people using them, but there are enough to justify them being put out on the market. I feel the same can be said for MD, particularly if one takes a look at the sales going on in sites like Ebay.

Two, it's still a dependable format. From what I've seen, soild state versions of playing/recordable units are still prone to failure, either by units breaking down, and/or memory problems. Granted, this is improving, but considering that even to this day I can take a minidsc out of my player, throw it on the ground, pop it back in and it will still play, and they can last for a pretty long time in storage, and today's tech can't really match that, that says a lot. You have to be careful storing audio files in memory sticks, hard drives and such; one misstep and everything is gone. DVD and CD archiving are better, but they're still prone to scratching. This is the main reason why my albums and songs, as well as old lectures, interviews, and speeches I've recorded, are all backed up on minidisc.

Three, the demand is still there. I'm not naive enough to think it's a huge demand, but there is enough of us out there to support a niche market. And considering how cheap it must be to churn out blanks, there is no reason to think Sony or another company stands to lose a whole lot of money... provided they market this correctly. That is, of course, the rub; they haven't done this well in the past. But if they are selling to a group of people who are already bought on the idea, and they do it right, it can make them some money. And word of mouth will attract a few more customers. I'm confidant in that last part, since I still turn heads whenever I pull one of my recorders out, and new people show up here from time to time. So the spark of interest is there, just waiting for someone competent to fan into flames.

I'm not saying this could be easy to do... or that we have a chance in hell of ever seeing it happen. But it could be done.

[freddyjollo]

seems like some chancer is also trying to sell the JA333ES at £500

http://cgi.ebay.co.u...=item23076dd263


some people lol

[bluecrab]

george-london, on 03 June 2010 - 10:02 AM, said:

Hi

The reason I am starting this posting is to get people to put some pressure on Sony as a group to continue support and add more devices (especialy Hi-Fi Hi-MD Deck Components) into their firepower!

Will update the post soon with my thinking behind this.

Come on people, start voting!

Thank you.

George

I voted yes, of course. But I see George is in London, and my experience has been that if you say "minidisc" to someone from the UK, they at least know what you mean. Not so here in the good old US of A, mainly. For my part, were Sony ever to "revive" MD, I'd be lining up (that is "queuing up" for those in the UK ;-) ) to buy the latest and greatest. I'd be truly surprised if we see new MD.

[Stuge]

I voted "MD is dead" its a format which is DEAD AS A DODO " .Sony couldn't convince people, when they had time ,money ,now after its downfall how they Gonna convince people to use a format that 99% don't like .

These days people like to carry less and more music in their pockets .they don't care much about audio quality .keep in mind not everyone wants a audiophile gadget on the move .when you're travelling one tends to carry lite as possible .

[george-london]

Swordsage, on 03 June 2010 - 05:50 PM, said:

I agree that for all intents and purposes, MD is dead, but I still voted for it to be revived. Not just because of my love for the format, but there are some reasons that I think are viable.

One, despite the fact that great strides have been made in solid state/flash memory players and recorders, we STILL have CDs, vinyl and even CASSETTES (though blanks) being sold. The latter two don't have a large following of people using them, but there are enough to justify them being put out on the market. I feel the same can be said for MD, particularly if one takes a look at the sales going on in sites like Ebay.

Two, it's still a dependable format. From what I've seen, soild state versions of playing/recordable units are still prone to failure, either by units breaking down, and/or memory problems. Granted, this is improving, but considering that even to this day I can take a minidsc out of my player, throw it on the ground, pop it back in and it will still play, and they can last for a pretty long time in storage, and today's tech can't really match that, that says a lot. You have to be careful storing audio files in memory sticks, hard drives and such; one misstep and everything is gone. DVD and CD archiving are better, but they're still prone to scratching. This is the main reason why my albums and songs, as well as old lectures, interviews, and speeches I've recorded, are all backed up on minidisc.

Three, the demand is still there. I'm not naive enough to think it's a huge demand, but there is enough of us out there to support a niche market. And considering how cheap it must be to churn out blanks, there is no reason to think Sony or another company stands to lose a whole lot of money... provided they market this correctly. That is, of course, the rub; they haven't done this well in the past. But if they are selling to a group of people who are already bought on the idea, and they do it right, it can make them some money. And word of mouth will attract a few more customers. I'm confidant in that last part, since I still turn heads whenever I pull one of my recorders out, and new people show up here from time to time. So the spark of interest is there, just waiting for someone competent to fan into flames.

I'm not saying this could be easy to do... or that we have a chance in hell of ever seeing it happen. But it could be done.

That is exactly my point of view!!!!

WHY does SONY still makes TAPE decks and recorders (that they are a PHILIPS format) and they STOPPED making MiniDisc Hi-Fi Deck Componets???? As for the comparisson of the MD to MP3 or any other DATA related format, MD was never intented to replace them! MD was intenetd to replase TAPE

So why is SONY and TEAC and other still make TAPE decs but they do not make MD decks????

Stuge, on 04 June 2010 - 07:48 AM, said:

I voted "MD is dead" its a format which is DEAD AS A DODO " .Sony couldn't convince people, when they had time ,money ,now after its downfall how they Gonna convince people to use a format that 99% don't like .

These days people like to carry less and more music in their pockets .they don't care much about audio quality .keep in mind not everyone wants a audiophile gadget on the move .when you're travelling one tends to carry lite as possible .

So please explain to me why is Sony STILL making TAPE decks???? Are they not dead dead?

See here at the UK Sony 2010 online catalogue: http://www.sony.co.u...player/tc-we475 They make TAPE recorders!!!!!! (A Philips format!!!)

So, what is going on? Philips got shares of SONY and they still promote a 1970's format where they made sony stop the production of much better TAPE REPLACEMENT format?

Also, this is the MISTAKE most people are making about the MD: Mini disk was the FIRST digital compession format on the market in 1992! But people, took the (still) unfinished MP3 format because it was cheap and cheerfull and allowed a massive piracy trent! (By the way I do NOT have a SINGLE piece of music that I have not paid for in my collection).

I bought the very first MZ-1 because I could see what it was offering and what it was replacing!

I DO HAVE an iPod and I have MOST of my music in there and travel with it. But the MD was not to replace the iPOD! Can you record, re-edit (without software) move to another machine (without a PC) or do anything (except palying music that is) that the MiniDisc does? NO!

And as we are talking about iPod, can someone ask Apple to stop producing products 10 years later than others and still promote them as "the first on the market and the most inovative yet"? Please we are not that thick!

Example: I had my fist Windows Mobile in the 1990's with multitascking, cut and paste etc etc and Apple is only now bringing multitasking on the iPhone in version 4, 15-20 yeras later!
I had a Windows XP tablet PC in 2002 and apple now did the iPad 8 years later and still promoting it like it has never happened before! lol

[NickyJay]

george-london, on 04 June 2010 - 10:17 AM, said:

So why is SONY and TEAC and other still make TAPE decs but they do not make MD decks????

Teac still make MD decks. Here is their latest one, available only from Japan

http://cgi.ebay.co.u...=item2ead43b89b

[Stuge]

george-london, on 04 June 2010 - 10:17 AM, said:

So please explain to me why is Sony STILL making TAPE decks???? Are they not dead dead?

Tape's were more popular than md .For the same reason many people still have old tapes (can't be said about md for sure ) .Even three years back, I was able to see recorded tapes being sold in my country ,but never saw md selling like tapes or cd's(though tapes might be still sold I'm not sure. )

[sfbp]

I'm still busy converting tapes to MD (and thence to PCHD) heheh, from a large collection. Some of my best restorations have come from Cassette, believe it or not - there were some excellent tape decks made over the years, though to get in the same class as reel to reel (as used by studios in the 50's and 60's) one had to spend a lot of money on a k7 deck.

I still see MD as an intermediate, rather than terminal, form.

[Bwil]

I voted yes. MD will never be anything but a niche product, but that niche could make money. I download the majority of my new music from Emusic, and MD is the best way for me to have a physical manifestation of that music. And, with all the different styles and colors of minidiscs, combined with labeling, there is a lot of potential personal expression with this format. There MUST be a market for that (however small).

Of course, the format is in the shape it's in partly *because* of Sony's "marketing." So I hold no hope of a revival. However, if any Sony people are monitoring this and want some ideas, don't hesitate to ask us!

[gidion27]

Voted yes to revival but lets face it. Who are we kidding. I own, like most of you guys, more than 1 replacement unit because deep down we know that it is over and done with... As said before, MD is dead as a dodo.

Still would love to see new units being legacy or HI.

[mmp64]

Never mind.

[mdmad]

Stuge, on 04 June 2010 - 12:36 PM, said:

Tape's were more popular than md .For the same reason many people still have old tapes (can't be said about md for sure ) .Even three years back, I was able to see recorded tapes being sold in my country ,but never saw md selling like tapes or cd's(though tapes might be still sold I'm not sure. )

I voted yes, but that is with my 'wishful mind' in place. From a business point of view, can we guarantee > X million units-per-year sales to justify the manufacturing start-up costs? One wonders whether only the Chinese &c. can do this - you know, where you can buy a portable tape player for £7 from the corner store - old tech at budget prices. Even then, isn't it cheaper to make and sell flash players? (no mechanical parts).

the wizard, on 03 June 2010 - 03:27 PM, said:

I voted MD is dead, although that doesn't mean I don't care for the MiniDisc format, far from it; but lets face it: we're mid-2010, removable flash memory media has now reached the 128GB capacity, and portable digital players manufacturers will soon really take the sound quality factor into account ...

This makes you think that any 'cheap' device would have to be HiMD - nobody's going to buy 0.15Gb MD disks now, are they?

One wonders what the position is in Japan, where MD was most popular - are even they moving to flash/iPod? If manufacturers cannot see a demand there, what hope is there for other countries.

Marketing won't happen again - this is usually for new tech. only. Wouldn't YOU be surprised to see a TV ad for Minidisc? Not unless it offers something NEW, especially in the eyes of the younger generation. How would you sell MD to NON-AFFICIONADOS?

Sorry guys/girls, it's over, methinks. Only cheap Chinese gadgets, if Sony lets go of copyrights, and even then, well ...

Enjoy them! - they do have a place in music entertainment; but it's only for those seeking their benefits, not for the casual/modern listener; just like LP afficionados (methinks).

Just IMHO.

Regards all!
Enjoy MDs!

mdmad

BTW, sfbp - MD an intermediate format?????

[sfbp]

mdmad, on 07 June 2010 - 03:28 AM, said:

BTW, sfbp - MD an intermediate format?????

Yup. I wanted to make CD's from my LP collection that went right back to high school days.

I only ever got into this because I read about it being the only way to get sound digitized, just about 10 years ago. The other exciting aspect was finding a sound card with digital in and out. Funny, the chip made by the same company in Taiwan (CMI) that made that orange doobry I got last week.

And it all finally came true with commonly available and inexpensive amps that have digital IN, to play all this stuff back.

But meantime made lots of CD's.

Stephen

[mdmad]

the wizard, on 03 June 2010 - 03:27 PM, said:

... for now, one can hardware audiophile mod/get audiophile modded DAP's with far more versatility than a MiniDisc portable player.

Are you thinking of headphone amps here? If not, I'd be interested in knowing what/where these mods are! (any website addresses?).

sfbp, on 07 June 2010 - 08:49 AM, said:

Yup. I wanted to make CD's from my LP collection that went right back to high school days.

I only ever got into this because I read about it being the only way to get sound digitized, just about 10 years ago. The other exciting aspect was finding a sound card with digital in and out. Funny, the chip made by the same company in Taiwan (CMI) that made that orange doobry I got last week.

And it all finally came true with commonly available and inexpensive amps that have digital IN, to play all this stuff back.

But meantime made lots of CD's.

Stephen

Makes sense, especially 10 years ago, for digitizing purposes. But, why did you aim to finish the 'production cycle' in CD (instead of stopping at MDs)? Just wondered.

mdmad.

[sfbp]

mdmad, on 08 June 2010 - 04:35 PM, said:

But, why did you aim to finish the 'production cycle' in CD (instead of stopping at MDs)? Just wondered.

Simply because at the time I had no means of digital playback of anything except CD's. Then, and now, no "proper" (sure I know there are weird exceptions) computer drive for a MD, either. To expand this answer a little bit - I recall making some "WAV" files for recorded sound from old radio programs, and figuring out that I only needed mono, and half the data rate (that's x4 right there). But nothing except the 'puter would play any of it. And nothing except the optical out (from a deck) would get into the computer, so I refused to buy NetMD anything at original retail (later lots of nice second hand stuff). You still cannot get opti out from a portable, which is absurd (to my mind).

Proved to be fairly sensible since most of the restrictions on getting stuff FROM MD to CD were not lifted until 2006 (RH1).

With HiMD+USB+optical and Amplifier with opti-in, maybe. But nothing like that when I started.