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Petition To Keep MD's Here!

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chadergeist

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Thanks to the mod for moving the post, your help is much appreciated and thanks so much to everyone who has signed and hopefully the many more who will sign. I hope we get enough signatures to get Sony to change their minds, as far as I'm concerned, it would be awful if they give up completely.

I would like to see them go back to the start with Minidiscs, do the whole advertising thing (properly this time), market the units at a more sensible starting price than they did first time. I and I'm sure many others did buy several of the first few types of Minidisc recorder but I know that price is one of the major factors in people not even trying Minidisc technology. Personally, I knew so many people who wanted to find out more but were put off by the initial outlay required to buy a Minidisc recorder.

It's sad that it's come to this. Sony are giants in the A/V world and I have a lot of respect for them but I can't help feeling that they've not bothered very much about the Minidisc sector and as so many people have pointed out before, it could be huge! This tiny little case with a disc in that holds amazing quality music and could probably be expanded to fit so many other functions. They could have become a standard type of data storage for PCs, videos and I'm sure many more. Come on Sony, realise the potential!

Rant over, thanks for listening and sorry for the bleeding eardrums I may have caused but I am so passionate about this that I'm determined not to let it drop. Spread the word about the petition please and thanks again for your support!

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were stuck with ipods as they are far cheaper to produce in china and most of Sony's plants are outside of japan

There is a worldwide market for mini disc that is true but it would mean a new company starting up and going back to the way the aiwa was built. Sony has always made life difficult for it's customers in one way or another blaming the EU and although that may be true in part they could have made things better like putting a optical output on their players so that the customer could transfer his music at all time in perfect condition

the very idea that people would abuse it i never saw that as a problem as we are awash with music from the INTERNET so who the hell would even need a copy of your music "no one"

Sony are way to powerful a company so like apple you'll get what your given and if you don't like they couldn't care less and as i have said the ipod is so cheep to make with good profits and that is all Sony will consider at the end of day and like apple nothing else

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Fourbanks, I totally respect your opinion and of course can see the logic in it. I feel that too many people have the same mindset though. At the end of the day, it is we, the consumer who pays the money for these products and if we settle for whatever they throw at us then yes, the companies can dictate what we get to own. On the other hand, if enough of us tell the company that we are not happy with what they're dishing out and that we're not going to be paying for the next line that they throw at us then ultimately they have to listen. If we don't pay for their stuff then they lose business to companies such as Apple.

In my opinion, this is why so many people are so unhappy with the products they're getting is because they never stand up for what they believe in. If more people told these big companies how unhappy they were and stuck to their guns then the company would have to do something. Sink or swim. Yes, Sony is huge but without people buying their products, how long will that last? A company cannot survive on reputation alone.

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Fourbanks, I totally respect your opinion and of course can see the logic in it. I feel that too many people have the same mindset though. At the end of the day, it is we, the consumer who pays the money for these products and if we settle for whatever they throw at us then yes, the companies can dictate what we get to own. On the other hand, if enough of us tell the company that we are not happy with what they're dishing out and that we're not going to be paying for the next line that they throw at us then ultimately they have to listen. If we don't pay for their stuff then they lose business to companies such as Apple.

In my opinion, this is why so many people are so unhappy with the products they're getting is because they never stand up for what they believe in. If more people told these big companies how unhappy they were and stuck to their guns then the company would have to do something. Sink or swim. Yes, Sony is huge but without people buying their products, how long will that last? A company cannot survive on reputation alone.

The problem here and with other such posts is: you are assuming that everyone wants a mindisc player. The base of customers interested in it is a small fraction of just the iPod base! Just recently I saw a report that nearly 300 milllion ipods have been sold since 2001!!! Somewhere there is statement here that Sony has sold some 22 million over 19 years...that is an average of 96,491 md units per year for Sony. Compare that to 2,500,000 per month for iPod.

I am not a businessman, but even I can see what the majority of audiophiles want...

There just simply is not enough customer base to warrant continuing the manfactuer MDs.

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I am not a businessman, but even I can see what the majority of audiophiles want...

There just simply is not enough customer base to warrant continuing the manfactuer MDs.

I think most actual audiophiles turn their noses up to any portable device using compressed audio.

That being said...you're straight on about the lack of customer base. I would go further to say that probably 1 out of 10 people today actually know what minidisc is.

I'd love to see it come back, but all electronic formats are limited in life. Something else will always come up to replace them...

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I think most actual audiophiles turn their noses up to any portable device using compressed audio.

That's their ignorance, IMO. Mind you I notice your qualifier, "portable". Do they also say the same about MD decks?

24-bit floating point ATRAC will beat "pure" 16-bit CD any day of the week, especially if you have to edit it or process in any way at all.

And most everything since Type-R and possibly before, is FP Atrac.

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That's their ignorance, IMO. Mind you I notice your qualifier, "portable". Do they also say the same about MD decks?

24-bit floating point ATRAC will beat "pure" 16-bit CD any day of the week, especially if you have to edit it or process in any way at all.

And most everything since Type-R and possibly before, is FP Atrac.

What is FP Atrac ?

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I wonder if there was a petition to "save" VHS video?

Look funny but in fact VHS video tapes are not dead yet. In Vietnam there is thousands of video shops which rent video tapes (vietnamese and chinese movies for the most) and which sell copied DVDs (foreign movies are not the majority, here again chinese and corean movies are the most copied). I see that now vietnamese 's great web site of streaming music are becoming more legal as they decided to pay international fees to companies, I think to be able to have all recent albums. Many vietnamese can now afford to pay to listen to the best quality music they can... on their iPhone (sic) ! This paying system will explode the market I think because singers will get the real opportunity to earn more money. The only thing I hope is that they will at least make good music, not common crap I hear every day.

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I use VHS daily - record and playing films. I have not seen a petition, but then again modern videotape stock is poor quality and to get back to VHS quality of 1990 to 1995 (peak years for quality) would be impossible now. Those decks were based on cast alloy chassis and audiophile grade components. VHS (or Beta) Hi-Fi still sounds great today. It would readilly beat most MP3 files and DAB radio.

I got MD originally as a standalone recorder of high quality. Input microphone or line for versatile field use. That has not changed and I am using MD as I always have. What other people (whom I don't know and I know they have no interest in me) choose to buy or do has no bearing on me. I have recorders, I have discs and I have interest in recording. Pop in an MD, fire up my microphone and get out there to record all the sounds that interest me.

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Hi PhillipeC,

I agree that VHS is still in use, though well on the way out you would have to say. I had 2 Beta recorders and was a fan on that format til it became hard to get commercial releases of movies in the format. I have a VHS/DVD recorder here, and have been transferring video recordings to DVD, started a few years ago, tend to get sidetracked. I think I'll always have a range of formats/media here though. It sounds interesting to hear about what is going on with technology change in Vietnam. I think VCD was a big format in Asia? Is there a lot of that about also?

CV

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It sounds interesting to hear about what is going on with technology change in Vietnam. I think VCD was a big format in Asia? Is there a lot of that about also?

VHS is for people who don't have a flat Tv and a DVD player yet (basic DVD = 20$, basic flat Tv 24" = 180$) or for people who want to watch special TV programs such as for kids, old vietnamese / chinese / corean movies, all things that would be boring for you (because 80% is with an vietnamese monocord off-voice). You can rent a VHS, not a DVD. DVD cost at least 0.5$ (till 12$ for so-called "Bluray" disc), rent cost 0.1 to 0.2$. technology go fast in Asia because people are countless, young, hungry of foreign technology and because possessed an Iphone or a Ipad is the must (for me it is just expensive crap). There are thousands shops for phones and computers in Saigon. Everywhere you can find somebody to sell you a SIM card. They are able to borrow money to have / to offer their lover the last computer / phone / motorbike. To glitter is very important for them. Countless guys loose also their phone / motorbike playing card during vietnamese new year T

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  • 2 weeks later...

That's their ignorance, IMO. Mind you I notice your qualifier, "portable". Do they also say the same about MD decks?

24-bit floating point ATRAC will beat "pure" 16-bit CD any day of the week, especially if you have to edit it or process in any way at all.

And most everything since Type-R and possibly before, is FP Atrac.

I would agree, but it depends upon the source doesn't it? I mean, I would think most users are using either CD, records or tapes to transfer or record from. I don't think you could ever improve the original. Maybe live recordings? Although my guess is you'd have to actually do this on a device that had 24-bit floating ATRAC. I'm not sure if the RH1 is able to record in this quality. I checked the manual and as usual Sony is woefully incompetent with detalis.

As far as audiophiles, I'm talking about the people who buy the expensive amps like Krell, Conrad Johnson, McIntosh, etc. and spend equally insane amounts on source equipment and loudspeakers.

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