Whats going on?

[doomlordis]

Hi-MD , i love it but i am getting worried. Unbeatable, avland , sonystyle and many others have stopped stocking any Minidisc players at all. Is it Sony that have stopped manufacture, are the sales so bad they are not worth it?

When i asked the guy at my local sony centre he said he had seen a few presentations on new MP3 players etc but no new MD units...

I hope Sony have a new generation on the go as i will personally be gutted to see the end of MD in the UK.

Japan has a great market for the units (60%ish of all portable audio users use minidisc there i believe!) so i guess i could import!

[sebastianbf]

I've heard some rumours about a 3rd generation HIMD. So for now, don't worry. I think minidisc is going to survive.

[imzu]

Looks like I was lucky cause I got my MZRH10 from Unbeatable with the free postage deal last week (I paid 149UKP). When I search for 'minidisc' on the site, it produces some results but they seems to be 'special order' only.

Hi-MD is still popular in Asia so it's not going away for a while yet, it is probably on the wane in Europe as far as I can tell cause of the iPod invasion. A few weeks back, I visited the John Lewis here in West Quay, Southampton hoping to evaluate the MZRH10 but there were none. The closest ATRAC device they had was the Sony NW5 HDD Walkman (which looks much better in the flesh than in photos BTW). When I asked the guy about minidisc he cited the DRM limitations and SonicStage's percieved clunkiness as major sticking points. The same sort of thing in Dixons, where they was a single Hi-MD unit on it's lonesome next to a row of shiny MP3 players. The sales chap revealed he was a MD user himself but that his company are simply following trends. Sadly I think it will go the way of the 35mm film camera's for Dixons (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4130620.stm).

Isn't it a vicous cycle? Sony don't push Minidisc properly, therefore people don't buy them or are ignorant of the advantages, therefore sales dwindle, thereofre Sony don't push...

[hobgoblin]

it smells like the hi-md is being dumped in europe.

atleast one of the biggest scandinavian home entertainment chains have started to sell a bunch of the 600 insanely cheap. its as if they are cleaning out stock.

[IdiotSavant]

I think a lot of it is due to supply problems (given that it was only about a month ago that second gen Hi-MD units were available to the UK at all.) Plus I remember AVland's prices were rather high - who's going to buy from there when well known retailers like Amazon and EmpireDirect are undercutting them by at least £50?

[Viv]

You and I must have got the last two RH10s from Unbeatable Imzu - I got mine last week too and am delighted with it. When I try to search for Minidisc on their site I now get nothing other than car minidiscs and decks - no portables at all. How could people fail to be impressed with MD if only Sony had marketed it properly? I try to convert everyone I meet - it's a wonderful medium. I hope my little stash of portables and couple of decks will last me a good few years yet.

[Sparky191]

I'm in Ireland, and they are selling it them here for €200-450 which is insane. Often thats for the 1st gen models. Considering the NW5 HDD is €299, and the Flash 507 €250 or so.

Amazon seems to be the only place with resonable Prices, though its probably better to get a non euro model from somewhere on the web, than buy them from a retail store. I think they will retreat from the high street to a smaller (specialist) market on the web only.