Our favourite 'forgotten tech' - from BeOS to Zip Drives
Linked by Thom Holwerda on Thu 23rd Aug 2012 12:48 UTC
In the News "We all know about the gadgets that get showered with constant praise - the icons, the segment leaders, and the game changers. Tech history will never forget the Altair 8800, the Walkman, the BlackBerry, and the iPhone. But people do forget - and quickly - about the devices that failed to change the world: the great ideas doomed by mediocre execution, the gadgets that arrived before the market was really ready, or the technologies that found their stride just as the world was pivoting to something else." I was a heavy user of BeOS, Zip drives, and MiniDisc (I was an MD user up until about 2 years ago). I'm starting to see a pattern here.
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RE[3]: Comment by drcouzelis
by Johann Chua on Fri 24th Aug 2012 11:24 UTC in reply to "RE[2]: Comment by drcouzelis"
Johann Chua
Member since:
2005-07-22

"> Oh well, that was before I realized just how proprietary the format was. :/
Proprietary stuff will die, sooner or later. That killed many formats with potential. Anyone remember CDi? I still have lots of CDi gear here, because I'm a living museum. :-)

But the Red Book CD is also a proprietary standard, as are DVDs... (or MP3 and AAC; even Compact Cassettes, I think - at least in conjunction with Dolby noise reduction, which kinda made using them for music practical) MD doesn't seem that much out of the ordinary. "

Maybe "non-widespread standard" would be a better term?

I know there were non-Sony Beta VCRs, but I've only ever seen Betamaxes in person. Checking Wikipedia, I see that other manufacturers made MDs, but did anyone else make the players and recorders? Basically, MD seemed to be a case of Sony vs. the rest of the world.

Edited 2012-08-24 11:25 UTC

Reply Parent Score: 2

RE[4]: Comment by drcouzelis
by zima on Fri 24th Aug 2012 16:14 in reply to "RE[3]: Comment by drcouzelis"
zima Member since:
2005-07-06

did anyone else make the players and recorders?

Yes, I remember at least some Sharp portable units. Keep in mind that, in practice, MD was mostly confined to Japan; was quite widespread there - and the place is, in some regards ...unique ;p & who knows what goes around over there.

And "non-widespread standards will die, sooner or later. That killed many formats with potential" veers way into the area of truisms, is not a very revealing thing to say ;) (also with "MD doesn't seem that much out of the ordinary" - I think it's safe to say that most introduced standards never really manage to gain the required momentum)

PS. Also checking Wiki ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MiniDisc ): "JVC, Sharp, Pioneer, Panasonic and others all producing their own MD systems" (and some of those Sharp units in: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:MD_players ); and it seems that MD Data was released after all.

Edited 2012-08-24 16:23 UTC

Reply Parent Score: 2