Sony Canada

[maxthrusters]

Sometimes I wonder who decides what products are sold at the Sony Stores/Maison Sony in Canada. I also wonder what their reasoning is regarding their choices.

Sony sells portable NetMD/Hi-MD players here, yet no Decks or Shelf Systems or Boomboxes that support MD in any flavour. Instead these offerings feature...cassette tapes!

What is up with that? Two years ago I wanted to buy an MD deck. Since none were to be had at Sony Stores, I bought a clunker on e-Bay (1998 model, no MDLP). Last year I wanted an MDLP-capable model, so I had to import one from the states. This year I wanted a shelf model, preferably a Hi-MD model. I visited to the Sony Store and nothing had changed: no shelf units or boomboxes with MD. Just Cassette tape?!?! I bought a Sharp model on e-Bay.

I'm guessing that this is all a by-product of the Sony "silos" system that CEO Howard Stringer claims to be reforming. I sort of imagine the MD guys at Sony huddled in a basement ofice somewhere, entirely focused on the Japan market when it comes to anything other than portables. Upstairs in a more elegant setting I imagine the Shelf System and Boombox guys enjoying corner office space with a nice view. Maybe the view is so nice that they are distracted and think Canadians are too stupid to realize that MD is so much better than cassette tapes. Maybe the MD guys are too worried about their jobs, being that the spotlight is on their colleagues in the flash/hard disk player silo (penthouse level perhaps?).

Perhaps the answer is even simpler. Perhaps the feedback from the stores has influenced decision making higher up regarding MD availability. The grunts in the stores, unfortunately, are focused on commission sales. I have yet to find a Sony Store sales rep that has bothered to learn anything about MD or Hi-MD. "It's a great Mp3 player!" I was told when I went to buy my NH-1 (which of course does NOT play Mp3). When I ask (every time I go) about MD decks/shelf/boom units I am told "Oh, nobody wants MD in those...we had some a long time ago but nobody bought any".

I'm thinking that if it is indeed true that "nobody bought any" it may well have been because the sales guys simply didn't understand the tech (and possibilities) of MD. That Sony doesn't do any marketing for MD probably didn't help either. It's hard to be enthusiastic about a product you don't understand, and when selling on commission.

"It's such an old tech, from 1992. Why bother". Cassette tapes are a better alternative then? Hardly!

Minidisc is a core Sony tech. It should be prevalent and high-profile in every Sony Store. Every component stereo should have a MD/Hi-MD deck. Every boombox or shelf system should have MD/Hi-MD. Every Car system should have MD/Hi-MD. Every VAIO computer should have a MD/Hi-MD slot.

Finally, Sony needs to invest in training their sales guys about ATRAC, MD, and Hi-MD.

Well that's my 2 cents.

[Syrius]

They also need to reposition Hi-MD as the must-have digital recorder for the semi professional and the discriminating audiophile. Launching a deck right now could be a bit of a risky move. If they don't tell the world about what can be done now with Hi-MD, it will be the same "No one bought any ever" thing again. In other words, let the world taste the honey of what Hi-MD is capable of doing, then flood them with HI-MD drives for their fridges and vacuum cleaners. Patience, young grasshopper. The time will come.

Edited April 19, 2006 by Syrius

[MDX-400]

MD Decks have been discontinued in Canada for some time. I think the MDS-JE440 was probably the last MD deck marketed officially in Canada.

I agree that cassettes on boomboxes and shelf systems are retarded though, but that happens in both Canada and the US. MD bookshelf systems that were offered in either country were few and far between and you certainly can't find any these days, that's for sure.

What's worse is cassette functionality in these types of equipment is severely limited/flawed and pretty much just thrown in there for compatibility, or something to add to the CD so it isn't there all on it's own, lol. Pretty much an afterthought. Usually the cassette sections are only capable of Type-I cassette equalisation, have no Dolby NR, 1-motor drive, and horrible rated frequency response, nevermind the actual FR which is even worse, LOL. Now not that anyone wants to use cassettes--those things are just dust collectors; but if there's the rare chance someone might want to, they'll be sick from the terrible quality (and likely blame it on just being a cassette eventhough it's probably just the deck in that unit being garbage).

The same also extends to double DIN car stereos. All the North American ones are CD and tape; in Japan and in other parts of the world they are all CD and MD.

The question is, then, Why not MD? It doesn't sell no, but I would bet that if a lot more mini/shelf/boombox/portable stereos had MD in the past, a lot more people would have actually been using it.

In Canada, MD barely ever was--worse than in the US. For most of the format's life it was always pricey here. That coupled with poor marketing/sales pretty much doomed it. Now it's just too little too late. Hi-MD other than the few portables we have is likely never going to be a reality in Canada--there aren't even many other (non-portable) Hi-MD units out there period, even for other countries.

[jaylen]

in Japan and in other parts of the world they are all CD and MD.

Wow, that's awesome. Makes me wish I had gotten the "real" Japanese version of my car. My friend who gave up on the MD format wanted to give me her car MD unit, but to use it, I'd have to get a double DIN part thingy from Japan and pay mucho labor to get it installed.