Linked by Thom Holwerda on Mon 4th Feb 2013 12:10 UTC
"Sony has announced it is to deliver its last MiniDisc stereo next month. It marks an end to the firm's support for the system which it launched in 1992. The format only ever had limited success outside of Japan and was ultimately doomed by the rise of recordable CDs and MP3 players." My format of choice for personal audio up until a few years ago, when the rest of the world had already long moved on to MP3. Nothing beats the satisfying sound of closing a portable MiniDisc player/recorder with a disc in it.
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Member since:2010-01-21
yes, it's not as spectacular a failure as the other formats, but successful is something different
just to break down the numbers:
-BR is 7 years old, and for 5 years it's the only HD disc-format
-it has better image- and sound-quality than the dvd
-it's more expensive to produce (both content and manufacturing-wise)
-and even though they are sold at the same price-level as DVDs, they only account for 20-25% of all sales
that's a failure all around
just to break down the numbers:
-BR is 7 years old, and for 5 years it's the only HD disc-format
-it has better image- and sound-quality than the dvd
-it's more expensive to produce (both content and manufacturing-wise)
-and even though they are sold at the same price-level as DVDs, they only account for 20-25% of all sales
that's a failure all around
Depends. Do you just mean as a movie format? ...because, among other reasons, I don't trust them to rip to WebM on the first try using only open-source software. With DVDs, that's not a problem.
Also, my brothers are the only people in the house with computer new enough to come with BluRay drives (which they don't use for BluRay either). You can even find DVD-ROM drives in the dumpster these days.
However, for non-movie use, I'll probably pick up a BluRay burner as soon as my current DVD+R drive wears out. BluRay media does seem to have stablized at around 50% of the per-gigabyte cost of DVD+Rs.
(I just need to spend some time googling on what the most reliable brands are)
Member since:2005-10-28
Member since:2005-07-06
Member since:2008-07-15
Bluray might not be as successful as DVD, but it's possibly your last chance to actually own a movie, and streaming doesn't count.
Ah, if only that were true. Have you checked into Blu-Ray's drm capabilities lately? They can lock you out of your own physical media, unless you rip the disk to an alternate format first. And of course, in certain countries, doing this is illegal even though the studios locking you out of your own purchases is not.
So let us enjoy the format, happy in the fact we don't have to pay a monthly streaming contract so we can watch our preferred movies.
Are you kidding? Do you know how many people pay extortion prices for cable TV (we're talking $70-$90 USD per month in the US)? Do you think those people are going to even raise an eyebrow over a streaming cost? People don't think and, if streaming is cheaper than Blu-Ray (which, in the US at least, it most definitely is with Netflix and other services like it) then they'll go for that. Why buy one Blu-Ray movie for $20-$30 USD when you can pay $8/month and watch as many movies as you want? I don't agree with it personally, but if you look at the market, that's where we're going and, much as I don't like the idea that everything's streamed, I like the idea that I can be locked out of my own physical disks even less.
Member since:2011-08-08
Member since:2005-07-06
Member since:2012-03-14
Hmm, they sell blu ray players and discs in my local super market. And this is not a city store by any means.
I think there is a lot more range than just binary fail and success.
MD was successful in some markets, not all. Beta lived on as a production format. Blu Ray is allegedly the format the new consoles from Microsoft and Sony will use.
So yeah DVD and CD were far bigger success. Complete barn stormers. But we are not talking about HD-DVD, digital tape, Video 2000 style failures either.
What I would agree with is that Sony's strangle hold on a format directly affects the success for the format. However a good format is still a good format for all that.
However niche success is quite different from complete flop.
Features
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 21:38 UTC
At an event earlier today, Microsoft unveiled the next Xbox - the third model, but confusingly named Xbox One. The big focus was TV, integrated Kinect, and all the other stuff we all expected to be forced down our throats. I think it took them 25 minutes to actually come to what should be the core of the story: gaming. Nothing groundbreaking in the gaming department, except for how Microsoft intends to handle the used games market and borrowing games from friends: pay up, buddy!
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/20/13 11:29 UTC
The day has finally come! Jolla has finally announced the launch device for its Sailfish operating system - and by god this is a looker. It's decidedly different from other phones out there, but it has good specifications and carries a relatively reasonably price tag - EUR 399, and it's up for pre-order today, shipping in the fourth quarter of this year.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/18/13 21:33 UTC
Why does Google get so much credit in the technology industry? Why, despite the company's many obvious failings, do many geeks and enthusiasts still hold a somewhat positive view on the all-knowing technology giant? A specific talk at Google I/O this week provides the answer.
Linked by David Adams on 05/16/13 4:23 UTC
OSNews is a sponsor of this year's O'Reilly OSCON in Portland, Oregon, USA. A lucky OSNews reader will win a free three-day pass, including two tutorials days. To win the pass, post a comment on this story saying something about Open Source Software or OSCON. We'll pick a winner at random next week. If you don't have an OSNews account, you may email us your entry. Part of the conference is the 9th annual Open Source Awards, and today the 16th is the deadline for nominations. If you'd like to nominate an outstanding open source contributor, do it here. Read on for more information about OSCON. Update: The 20% discount code for OSNews readers is "OSN."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/11/13 21:41 UTC
"Windows is indeed slower than other operating systems in many scenarios, and the gap is worsening." That's one way to start an insider explanation of why Windows' performance isn't up to snuff. Written by someone who actually contributes code to the Windows NT kernel, the comment on Hacker News, later deleted but reposted with permission on Marc Bevand's blog, paints a very dreary picture of the state of Windows development. The root issue? Think of how Linux is developed, and you'll know the answer.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/08/13 14:22 UTC
This is one of those news items that's fun to write, fun to read, fun to comment on, and where no one will be able to say anything unkind. It's all just one big ball of awesome fluffiness. TuneTracker, the BeOS radio automation software, has just released something very special: TuneTracker System 5, the first version designed entirely and specifically for Haiku. In fact, it actually includes Haiku in the software package. Better yet, TuneTracker also unveiled several system-in-a-box products - which have Haiku and TuneTracker pre-installed.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/02/13 15:28 UTC
Exactly twenty years ago, a document was published that played a huge role in establishing the web as we know it today. Twenty years later, and this simple and straightforward document is proof of an irrefutable fact: while closed technologies can change markets, open technologies can change the world.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/29/13 21:06 UTC
Oh multitasking. That staple of computing that got thrown out the window with many modern smartphones. We got some rudimentary thing in its place - but even as multitasking on phone and tablets improves, its user-visible side remains cumbersome. Windows 8 has a neat implementation, and now it's time Android follows in it footsteps.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/24/13 22:24 UTC
They're here! Whether that excites you or not remains to be seen, but the Galaxy S4, which will most likely become the best selling Android smartphone of the year by a huge margin, has been reviewed by all the major sites, and there's lots of interesting conclusions in there - although I think most of you will get the gist.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/18/13 11:21 UTC
Nokia has posted its quarterly results for the first quarter of 2013, and just like the quarters that came before, there's not a whole lot of good news in there. The rise in Lumia sales still can't even dream of making up for the sales drop in Symbian phones, and when broken down in versions, the sales figures for Windows Phone 8 Lumias in particular are very disappointing. In North America, Nokia is getting slaughtered.More Features »
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Member since:
2005-07-06
yes, it's not as spectacular a failure as the other formats, but successful is something different
just to break down the numbers:
-BR is 7 years old, and for 5 years it's the only HD disc-format
-it has better image- and sound-quality than the dvd
-it's more expensive to produce (both content and manufacturing-wise)
-and even though they are sold at the same price-level as DVDs, they only account for 20-25% of all sales
that's a failure all around