OFFICIAL: Minidisc Dead In Australia

[Zathura]

Guys,

Its with sadness that I confirm that that Sony Australia will not be carrying any more MD units for this financial year. From this we can pretty much assume there will not be any more units.

As most readers will know, I have been following MD from my position with Sony, and reporting on the possible death of mini-disc. I cannot give you guys any more information than that - the decision has been made and this is the outcome, thats all there is to it.

The sad part is, I know there is a market for MD in Australia, but unfortunately Sony have decided to more agressively pursue hard disc MP3 players.

Well guys, please send your RIPs to minidisc.

I've talked to a few sources and this is for real - kurisu (admin)

[Yizgarnnoff]

Sounds like the beginning of the end...

I still think MD is a good product. Really sad....

[t0fler]

man thats sad, shame about that, hope it doesnt mean sony kills the format

[MZ-NH1]

WHAT!!!! This has to be a joke!!!! or incorrect info!!!

No way!

DAMN!

[atrain]

it's a pity but no surprise after dumping the 1st gens on the market rather thsan bringing out the newer stuff.

once again thank you zathura for binging us an insider's view of sony australia. looks like ebay & other importers will get a big pick up from australian minidisc loyalists & those others requiring a portable recording solution

[MDGB2]

Can you confirm if this is old skool minidisc, or MD AND Hi-MD?

Discontinuing old-MD units to market Hi-MD would be a logical step....allegedly.

[tartan]

no wonder 1gb discs could be found at some discount electonics stores for under $5 each, got a 5 pack of the new blue discs for $20 at JB Hifi, if minidisc is being canceled for the Aussies, why go to the trouble of getting the new blue discs ????? it has to be more than dumping "unwanted" stock as the ugly old blackish discs were under $5 for a long time before the blue discs appeared so it looks like boxes of himd discs are imported then sold for under $5 instead of dumping excess or unpopular stock

it said md, but didn't say himd, so the official announcement most likely meant the original format while himd will stay, that was mentioned elsewhere on the minidisc bulletin boards previously and another post said Sony Australia was getting second generation himd players for the Australian market

Sony had really been pushing the NWHD5 hard disc player lately with glossy brochures, possibly to snag would be iPod customers, the neighbor was wanting an iPod, but told her mom that the NWHD5 is better as the batteries can be easily replaced

Edited September 21, 2005 by tartan

[Andicillo]

No wonder why Hi-MD units are just hard to find everywhere and photo Hi-MD could never be found in some parts of the world (It never made it to Latin America). It is a really sad piece of news. It may unveil the end. I really hope Hi-MD survives for some 5 more years.

I am depressed

Edited September 21, 2005 by Andicillo

[Zathura]

Let me stress that this includes both MD and HI-MD. They are both dead.

There will definitely be no second generation HI-MD.

[lamewing]

Let me stress that this includes both MD and HI-MD. They are both dead.

There will definitely be no second generation HI-MD.

This doesn't suprise me as Sony has been screwing up with the HiMD for some time now. Maybe I am a throwback, but the lack of solid metal enclosures really turns me off of HiMD (except NH1)...glossy, fingerprint ridden plastic doesn't cut it. Also, where are the color screens? On the camera unit. Camera??? How worthless? Why do I say this? Because they didn't include mic recording (or built-in mic) capabilities. I SO wanted the DHP-10(?) for travel. Imagine being able to take pics and make voice comments regarding your travels...grrrrr

It seems Sony was trying to hit too many bases at one time. The best thing I have seen from them recently was that gorgeous Pocket Vaio, but it is a dead, orphan product now. /cry

I WANT, HOPE Sony will succed. I could care less if they beat Apple, but instead just make great products that WE want versus what THEY think we want/need. I wonder if the last bastion of MD will be Japan? Seems like the only possible end. Heck, Sharp already pulled out of the U.S., so all we have here is Sony. I wonder how long til Stringer changes that?

[t0fler]

does that mean they are going to stop supplying the 1 gig blanks aswell?

[Sefu]

Sony Au should make a reality tv show about this. it has been a ongoing yoyo.

First we get a call saying there is literally thousands of 1G Hi-MD units in stock at around Aug, so we assumed that Sony we not going to stock the 2G rather than restock the 1G units. So we order a bunch and quickly almost sold out.

At around the end of Aug we place another order but were soon told that Sony are out of stock and didnt know what happened to their earlier stock. There is no way Sony could of sold that many units in a space of 2 or 3 weeks, not even the iPod moves out that fast.

We have been told for the last few months yes it will stay and then no it wont stay. I'm pretty much over it now and do think its a bad move by Sony but understand as they have a minimum purchase qty they have to meet and they seem to believe they cannot meet it.

We have a number of disappointed customers, a lot of them purchased MDs as a recording format for their live recordings, radio broadcast and mainly the professional market. They have nothing to go to now since Hi-MD has gone. MP3 players has no where near the capabilities of the Hi-MD unit in regards of recording.

The 1GB disc are still available, the disc dropping to a low price was not a indication of Sony dropping the units. Sony should still support your purchases with the disc being available. We are expecting a shipment next week.

Again thanks for the update Z

[bogon07]

"The sad part is, I know there is a market for MD in Australia, but unfortunately Sony have decided to more agressively pursue hard disc MP3 players." - Zathura

Unfortunately Sony Aust has a "head in the sand" policy as you can only register MDs that have been released here. So Sony would have no idea how many 2nd G Hi-MDs have been imported into Australia.

There is a 2G HiMD MZRH910S available at Sony NZ which makes for a very strange marketing strategy in this area of the world.

[leonyuhanov]

Does this mean, all the local(AU) retailers are going to be selling MD nuit out the door for any price!!! Im goign to go down to a few JBHIFI stores and some more to see this for myself!

I gota say that, this was comming for a long time, ever since the iPod came out i have feared that i will no longer be able to get any mor md STUFF. so to all i offer some advice which i took myself along time ago:

If you still like and are plannign on using the MD format then do as follows:

-Buy as many Blank mds as you can, worst case scenario they will be easialy sold on ebay if you dont need them(i have a stock of 100 or so 80min discs)

-If you have a MD unit which takes weird battereis like the sony gum sticks, buy as many of them BUT NEW AND PACKAGED as you can, i have found the NIMH stick slast about 2 years before serious degredation occurs

-Buy a PLAYER unit or maybe 2 and dont use it to record, use the recording unit PURELY to record.

I might sound like im planning for the armageddon of MD, its a bit drastic, but if MD is goign to be dead, well then what can i do!?

Leon

[Syrius]

Damn you! Damn you all! YOU WENT AHEAD AND DID IT! DAMN IT ALL TO HELL, SONY!

[DrZhivago]

Ah ..ck them. Beta,MiniDisc,SACD. I will never buy anything from Sony again.

Today, they announced cutting 10 000 jobs worldwide.

[t0fler]

Zathura i was wondering could you explain the exact thinking behind the sonys decision?

cheers

[ozpeter]

Sony will be looking several years ahead. MD's optical disk technology simply won't cut the mustard in five years time, when it's likely that substantial amounts of solid state memory will be available in compact formats at low prices. The whole concept of using media which "only" holds 1gig of data and which "only" downloads at Hi-MD transfer speeds will seem hopelessly outmoded then. And don't get me wrong, I've been a huge MD fan from day one.

Before long, mp3 players will have acceptable quality mic inputs (acceptable for stealth recording) and the pros will be using devices such as this -

"The HHB FlashMic is the world’s first professional digital recording microphone. Combining a high-quality,

Sennheiser omni-directional condenser capsule with an inbuilt, broadcast-quality Flash recorder, FlashMic is a

convenient, easy to operate and durable recorder that’s perfect for press and broadcast journalism, or any

other voice recording application.

With no messy cables, just one button press is all it takes to start recording in either linear or MPEG 2

formats. Simple ‘drag and drop’ file transfer at up to 90x real time to a Mac or PC for editing or onward

transmission is enabled by a ‘plug and play’ USB connection. Two AA batteries provide more than 6 hours

continuous power and, with a 0 - 10 seconds pre-record buffer and 1GB of flash memory, you can be sure

that you’ll never miss a word of that important interview with a FlashMic."

Sure, that mono capture device is of little use to most of us here, but it (along with others of the general type) shows the way things are inexorably moving.

When I bought my Hi-MD machine about 6 months ago, there was nothing better on the market for my purposes. Today that is probably still true, though other devices are snapping at its heels. In one year, two years, I rather doubt whether my buying decision would be the same. But hopefully my NH900 and the 25 discs I have for it will still be going strong!

[Zathura]

Zathura i was wondering could you explain the exact thinking behind the sonys decision?

cheers

I dont have that information. All I know is that HD walkmans is where they are going.

[MZ-NH1]

I dont have that information. All I know is that HD walkmans is where they are going.

If this is the case... what do you guys suggest as an alternative recording device?

I mean we all have our current MD's and if we want, then of course we can order from overseas... Sony is cutting MD's WORLDWIDE... just Australia unfortunatley...

But what would you recommend for a recording device in the Aussie market? Anything? an iRiver...? I hear they are ok...

[teamgood]

if and when new minidisc units stop being made it will hardly mean the end of the minidisc world...at least for many years. i think of it like this: i've got a '93 Volkswagen and there are lots of people that still love the car and buy them and fix them up, even though they're old cars with a lot of miles and so on. to many people there won't be anything they like more than minidisc and will always use minidisc, even as it becomes further behind in technology. discs and new units will continue to be available for a long time via ebay and other retailers. the only sad part is we may not get new units to finally get the ultimate player/recorder that we dream of. but since when did sony make that such player anyway??

[Christopher]

I can confirm this. Moved to 2005 News.

[Breepee2]

if and when new minidisc units stop being made it will hardly mean the end of the minidisc world

But it will make just about everyone move away to the MP3-crowd.

[hobgoblin]

strange that they released that mac software then.

i have a feel that hi-md isnt dead pr see, but its dead in the consumer sector.

ie, you will not see it in your corner electronics store as people are looking for flash and hdd based players there. thank you ipod *gah*

i have a feel however that it may well have some life left in it in the pro music area.

but this is just me dreaming and guessing. most likely its dead, dead, dead...

to bad realy...

[tommypeters]

Well, don't miss that it says "Minidisc Dead in Australia". I think Sony for now is killing MD in Australia and many other places where it's not doing so well, like Scandinavia (not official dead here, but in practice it's only HD & flash players). They will possibly continue to sell MD/Hi-MD in Japan, USA and a few other countries and then decide if there should be a 3rd generation (probably not) or they just will continue selling 2nd gen units until people don't want to buy them anymore.

[Dinko]

Too bad. What's happening there is probably going elsewhere too. I can't imagine them keeping HiMD just for the Japanese market which is now moving towards flash and HDD players as well.

Sony should now look at how fantastic products like SACD, minidisc and Betamax (all superior to the competition) failed in the marketplace and learn from their marketing mistakes.

Some stores need to figure out how to push their own inventories. The FutureShop.ca website says that a number of FutureShop locations have HiMD blanks in stock. When you go to the store, the employees just tell you "No, we don't carry those anymore". They probably don't even know what I'm asking for. When I push them to go to their computer terminals and find out if they really don't carry them anymore, the blanks suddenly pop up on their screen. "Oh yeah, we do have some! Who knew?".

Sony's bigger problem I fear is that they're not in touch with the HDD side of the market either. Instead of churning out half baked ideas every six months, they should probably devote more resources in producing the ultimate DAP.

The new NW-A3000s look fantastic... but that's all they do... look cute.

They're huge (a step backward given the small NWHD1/3/5 series).

They're relatively expensive (not a problem if Made in Japan, but a problem if Made in [third world country of your choice]).

No removable battery (a step backward from the HD5).

No colour screen.

No extra features (radio, video, text files).

iPod killers they certainly are not and if Sony thinks so, I'm afraid they need another corporate shake up ASAP. No wonder the Nano is attracting attention. It's small. Has a colour screen. Isn't *that* expensive. And it works with the existing software & accessories. Maybe Sony should just let Samsung come up with the ideas, while Sony implements them.

[mjw1948]

In 9/22 CNET NEWS .com, an article entitiled "Tough choices ahead for Sony". In it, Stephen Baker, an analyst at the NPD Group, suggested that Sony cut low visibiltiy catagories including non MP3 portables. The Sony focus will be on flash players. Again, with the Sony restructuring, it doesn't look good for MD.

MJW

[lamewing]

I think that Sony and all should totally KILL MD/HIMD in the US? Why? To allow Sony to make the best player/recroder out there? How? Well, the limitation Sony has in the U.S. is that MD is considered an audio device and therefore has all the restrictions that go with a digital audio recorder, while the HD players are free of restrictions since they are computer equipment. Correct me if I am wrong here.

Now, with that limitation removed AND IF Sony really wanted to (dreaming here) they could give us a solid build device that records with optical in/out, usb connections, and drag and drop..with support for all codecs. Also drop the camera nonesnese OR give a truly grand HIMD/camera (5MP or so)/with full recording capabilities. Add to that long battery life (no more NW10?? batteries), etc.

If HIMD/MD is going to be limited to pro use, why not finally make the unit we want. It is not like we don't import them as it is. Audiocubes, Minidisco/Planet Minidisc, etc would have a field day.

My 2 cents....

[mmilovan]

About a week or so, very good friend of mine, film critic and publicist invited me to his home. He asked me if I can help him with connection of Betamax SONY video recorder he borrowed to transfer bunch of cassettes to VHS video.

He pointed his view (with some sort of strange sadness in his eyes) to robust, perfectly made and designed unit. "It was perfect machine, then... no one seek for crappy, lossy VHS format, but for Beta"- he told me.

Now, knowing all those facts about slow killing MD and HiMD units, the ONLY units in the world with acceptable price that can record true PCM linear, I've looked at my MZ NH700 unit on my desk table.

Strange, it was the same sort of sadness that I've noticed a week ago.

This time melted with sadness and MAD, MAD feelings in my soul.

Don’t know what to say…

It’s a kind of a betrayal to their loyal customers... again... SONY... again...

Edited September 23, 2005 by mmilovan

[MDGB2]

If Sony would get its head out of it's a*s and build some decent units, instead of the stupid exclusivly portable iPlod/mp3 chasing game, the format would thrive.

1. A proper standalone Hi-fi deck.

2. Car head unit / autochanger.

3. Internal (scsi) /external (usb) PC drive.

4. Lower costs of media and get more 3rd party manufacturers producing new units.

5. No copy protection whatsoever!

Edited September 23, 2005 by MDGB2

[ozpeter]

[betamax to VHS?? That's changing deckchairs on the titanic, surely? One major UK retailer has dropped VHS in favour of DVD recorders altogether.]

[mmilovan]

[betamax to VHS?? That's changing deckchairs on the titanic, surely? One major UK retailer has dropped VHS in favour of DVD recorders altogether.]

Well, I know, but my intention was to describe how he was depressed looking at that Betmax unit.

[garcou]

Hi everybody. excuse my bad english.

In the past, there were several petitions to implement recording level adjustment without pausing for example.

why not a new petition in direction of Sony for stand alone md deck and car unit?

This wouldn't necessite any research and developpement: just take mds-jb940 or mds ja20ES box and electronics, change the optic block and encoding-decoding circuitery for Hi-Md one, and you've got two fantastic pure Hifi hi-end decks! Idem for car unit.

An all-in-one version of mz-dh10P, with mic/line input, 3Mega pixels, good flash light 3X internal optical zoom, video with sound (at 500kbps 1GB Himd can write 30 min of mpeg2 SQ ,60 min LQ , 90 min EQ quality video, the same that Sony DVD recorder/camcorder - only HQ quality would be impossible. MPeg4 encoding would allow much more recording time ) woudn't need much more investiment.

PS: anybody knows CMT-AH10 FM bandwith? is there any seller/importer for Himd Onkyo bookshelves in europe/usa ? thanks

[tommypeters]

Well, Sony isn't really able to invest small amounts either, if it's not their core business:

http://www.finfacts.com/irelandbusinessnew..._10003358.shtml

[garcou]

but sony found money to invest in design ang fabrication lines for these unusable new big Hi-md boxes!

[datafreq]

The Sony Style Canada Mag is out and for the first time it does not have minidisc listed...

The end is near me thinks...

[Syrius]

I'm getting a Hi-MD unit in case they go extinct. Until flash recorders reach the level of flexibility and fidelity, I will never let go of it. Stupid Sony... And to think I just got a PS2... (ok, it's used, so none of that money is going to them, heh heh.)

[Christopher]

[Deanage]

The good point is that formats usually take AGES to die for good. I can still go down to the supermarket/electronics store & pick up cassettes. It was only last year that analogue studio recording tape died (Quantagy, I believe it was, was the final manufacturer of tape. Many people still mourn. I grew up with digital but I understand thier grief. The bassy warmth of analogue shall be forever missed).

Apparently Sony is shipping more Hi-MD's to Australia on the 27th of this month. It was meant to be the 9th though. I'm hoping the delay was caused by the PSP release.

Bloody Sony. An IGN journo had a good point though. He wrote that Sony should have used Hi-MD for the PSP instead of UMD. Data transfer rates and copy protection would have been an issue for Sony though.

This is the end result of letting Samsung, the 2nd biggest consumer electronics maufacturer and a HUGE player in the flash market (and iPod nano flash memory suppliers), take over market share. If I asked someone who Samsung was before the turn of the century they would have looked at me dumbfounded.

Also, it doesn't help when they try to charge over AU$700 for an MZ-NH1.

Still though, ever noticed the warm, fuzzy feeling you get when you pull out your MD walkman in front of all the iPod-owning clones?

[leonyuhanov]

Still though, ever noticed the warm, fuzzy feeling you get when you pull out your MD walkman in front of all the iPod-owning clones?

I get that feeling everytime, when im on the train and get my MD out to change a disc! almost everyone turns and lokos at my walkman as the disc slides out, and i slide in a new one! And all you see from the ipod "wearers" is a blank expression....

Also, it doesn't help when they try to charge over AU$700 for an MZ-NH1.

I paid $700AU fo rmy mz-n910 about 2 years ago, didnt even question the price, untill i saw the HI-mds start comming out, and then never been able to find one in a shop, never bought one! but things will change!

Leon