If this petition were to have started when Hi-MD was first introduced, then the idea that Sony would support the market is more likely... it's been over a year (2?) since Hi-MD was introduced and it didn't take off as well as any manufacturer would like. It definitely is a niche market as stated by so many other members here. As for home decks, I think they are moving away from it due to the whole digital home theater market growth... They would want to invest in making universal HTPCs that would penetrate more markets than a home MD deck... I would definitely love to see something along the lines of a "floppy disc drive" for Hi-MD in these HTPCs. That would be a plus for MD users and definitely generate a handful more sales of portable MD equipment (along the lines of "Listen to your favorite TV shows anywhere!" and other things as such). As for car audio decks, the niche is so small that it's be impossible to generate any profit that will justify the R&D. Those less expensive decks from $80-$200 usually do not pull a profit. Those are the feeder decks that introduce people into the brand so the company is hopeful for return customers looking for higher-end decks. Eclipse (Fujitsu-Ten) still implemented MD into their car audio decks (Japanese versions, anyhow) and even the new Lexus GS (Japan) has a MD (not sure if it's Hi-MD) slot as opposed to our (USA) cassette slot. There are still a few car audio decks being produced, but they are all in Japan... where MDs are truly appreciated. The prosumer recording niche still has a few products from Sony... although I don't agree w/ their new view on it. There is the PCM-D1 (http://bssc.sel.sony.com/BroadcastandBusiness/DisplayModel?m=0&p=10&sp=83&id=82662) which seems to be the new direction Sony is going... on-board storage (4gb) with a high speed memory stick slot. That solution combines on-board and removeable storage that both out-do the Hi-MD. Since it is aimed at the prosumer market, the cost effectiveness isn't as heavily weighed... I guess. $14 retail for 2GB of Hi-MD vs $450 retail for 2GB High Speed Memstick PRO. I don't think garage bands can really afford $2500 of recording equipment... I'm sure the $300 Hi-MD recorder + $30 of Hi-MDs should be enough... and I'm sure Sony sees it the same way. In the end, it's a business for making money, not making everyone happy... especially a small niche like MD-users =\