R.I.P Sony MiniDisc player

Following last October's decision to finally retire the Walkman cassette player, Sony has said today it will also be killing off the MiniDisc Player later this year.

Overall, the company has sold 22 million MiniDisc Players but demand has been lackluster, to say the least, over the past 5 years.

The company will stop production on the players in September.

Sony launched the MiniDisc in 1992 as a rival to cassettes, but the cost of the discs and the eventual mass adoption of CDs and later MP3 players made the devices obsolete.

The company says it will continue to produce MiniDiscs into the future, just not the players.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 9 Jul 2011 1:00

Xplorer4

I thought this thing died back in the 90s. I know I didnt use mine long.

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9.7.2011 01:18 #1

KillerBug

LoL...I would have completely forgotten about these if not for the fact that Sony still puts "MD IN" and "MD OUT" ports on all their receivers.

I thought it was dead too...but then I thought the walkman was dead when the finally announced they were killing it.

Sony needs to kill off their record player line too...they are just for show; they can't even play a brand new, perfect condition record without skipping around.

http://www.killerbug.net

9.7.2011 01:53 #2

hikaricor

They were actually very popular in Japan, but I believe they were released earlier there as well.

9.7.2011 01:58 #3

xnonsuchx

Good riddance, MD! Does this mean Sony's cruddy ATRAC compression format is dead too?

9.7.2011 02:21 #4

solamf30

If it wasn't dead already, it was definitely in a coma

9.7.2011 02:52 #5

toked

I still have my Coby walkman form 1992. It still works o_o

9.7.2011 06:18 #6

KillerBug

Originally posted by toked: I still have my Coby walkman form 1992. It still works o_o LoL...probably because it has been sitting in a box since 1993. My Nintendo Virtual Boy still works too (the last time I tried it anyway).

http://www.killerbug.net

9.7.2011 06:48 #7

toked

Originally posted by KillerBug: Originally posted by toked: I still have my Coby walkman form 1992. It still works o_o LoL...probably because it has been sitting in a box since 1993. My Nintendo Virtual Boy still works too (the last time I tried it anyway). nope I used it till 2003

9.7.2011 06:55 #8

LordRuss

Another proprietary POS control over the human condition... rant, rant, rant... I'm surprised this thing even made it to the US. I'm even surprised the DAT player wasn't mentioned in the same breath.

http://onlyinrussellsworld.blogspot.com

9.7.2011 13:29 #9

ps3lvanub

I was using mine around 04-05 due to lack of a computer to use for mp3... I still have it, actually.

IMPORTANT: If you hate Sony for being so corrupt, copy this image into your signature too!

OMG! COD6 TENTH HACK WITHOUT JTAG!

9.7.2011 13:32 #10

dirtyash

Originally posted by ps3lvanub: I still have it, actually. Same here, used mine up to around 04-05 as well. Just went and grabbed it out of the office and I have 27 discs with music and a bunch of blanks, haha. Each disc is dedicated to an artist and one disc will hold like 2-3 albums (I think). When it came out it was pretty bad ass, but then the mp3 player hit the market and it stood no chance.

9.7.2011 18:36 #11

xnonsuchx

Originally posted by LordRuss: Another proprietary POS control over the human condition... rant, rant, rant... I'm surprised this thing even made it to the US. I'm even surprised the DAT player wasn't mentioned in the same breath.
Well, the RIAA killed DAT (for general consumer use) in the US before it even had a chance, but it wasn't horribly compressed audio like MD. It was great for professional recording equipment for several years, though, until HDDs and memory got so darn cheap (though I think some still use it for backing up).

Excuse me while I get out my audio tape splicing block! ;-)

9.7.2011 21:33 #12

KillerBug

Originally posted by dirtyash: Originally posted by ps3lvanub: I still have it, actually. Same here, used mine up to around 04-05 as well. Just went and grabbed it out of the office and I have 27 discs with music and a bunch of blanks, haha. Each disc is dedicated to an artist and one disc will hold like 2-3 albums (I think). When it came out it was pretty bad ass, but then the mp3 player hit the market and it stood no chance.

LoL...it is so easy to forget (?or repress?) the days when you couldn't even put a hundred high quality CD rips on something the size of a pinky fingernail.

http://www.killerbug.net

10.7.2011 03:28 #13

ps3lvanub

I had a walkman MD player and a TEAC Reference MD player. Sadly, the TEAC has passed on. My fondest memory of minidisc was probably when I was around 10 (6 yr ago) and I begged my friend to let me borrow his 'The Eminem Show' CD so I could back it up onto MD because I wasn't allowed to have it at the time. I remember having the volume on the next to bottom and anxiously glancing at the door every 10 seconds in case my dad came it. The memories :)

IMPORTANT: If you hate Sony for being so corrupt, copy this image into your signature too!

OMG! COD6 TENTH HACK WITHOUT JTAG!

10.7.2011 06:14 #14

KillerBug

Originally posted by ps3lvanub: I had a walkman MD player and a TEAC Reference MD player. Sadly, the TEAC has passed on. My fondest memory of minidisc was probably when I was around 10 (6 yr ago) and I begged my friend to let me borrow his 'The Eminem Show' CD so I could back it up onto MD because I wasn't allowed to have it at the time. I remember having the volume on the next to bottom and anxiously glancing at the door every 10 seconds in case my dad came it. The memories :) LoL...the grand tradition of Sony piracy.

http://www.killerbug.net

10.7.2011 07:22 #15

Xplorer4

Originally posted by dirtyash: When it came out it was pretty bad ass, but then the mp3 player hit the market and it stood no chance.
Honestly it never caught on around here. I was the only person I ever knew to actually have one of them. I liked the fact the discs were so much more durable then a cd. They didnt simply get starched up and not play anymore unlike CDs.

11.7.2011 03:32 #16

dirtyash

Originally posted by Xplorer4: Originally posted by dirtyash: When it came out it was pretty bad ass, but then the mp3 player hit the market and it stood no chance.
Honestly it never caught on around here. I was the only person I ever knew to actually have one of them. I liked the fact the discs were so much more durable then a cd. They didnt simply get starched up and not play anymore unlike CDs. Yeah it never caught on anywhere I believe. But it was cool: the discs wouldn't scratch, it was near impossible to make it skip and the discs held a lot of music (even if it was a lousy compression format).

This format's history kinda of reminds me of zip discs for some reason. Not that I really know zip disc history (my dad had a zip drive, but I never did), but it seems they had a similar life span and user demographic. This is probably true for hundreds of dead formats.

11.7.2011 12:02 #17

hearme0

The absolute ALL TIME best thing for musicians in terms of recording.

I love mine and love the idea. The only "recordable device" that is worthy of having at this time.

11.7.2011 12:54 #18

Black4x4

Hey Everyone,
I haven't posted much here on Afterdawn so you all don't really know me, but I could possibly be interested in Any MD player/recorders and/or discs that anyone might want to get rid of. I love the MD and still use it as a stealth recorder at concerts. Please feel free to contact me if the are any interested parties. Thanks

14.7.2011 17:51 #19

Newbie5

MiniDisc is used still to make recordings in studios and personal. Its not used to play music. the quality is very high in recording using stereo mics. It seems to be 365kbps. I hope Sony will dominate the market again.

30.7.2012 05:41 #20

Newbie5

Originally posted by hearme0: The absolute ALL TIME best thing for musicians in terms of recording.

I love mine and love the idea. The only "recordable device" that is worthy of having at this time. I cannot agree with you more. I still love the colorful MDs and the High quality sound it preserves.

30.7.2012 05:43 #21

xboxdvl2

i tryed out a minidisc player in about 2002,2003.didnt own one or have much to do with them as the price of 1 was rediculous.MD players didnt really catch on here.

R.I.P. mr 1990 ford falcon.got myself a 1993 toyota corolla seems to run good.computers still going good.

30.7.2012 06:29 #22

leeth32

i also had a MD player/recorder i must say it was one of the best portable audio devices i have used before MP3 players and i do miss my old MD player and what i loved about it was it was small enough to fit in my shirt pocket out of sight sound quality was wonderful and never had any problems with it.

one thing i didnt like about it at the time was the way to record to it using one of them optical cable things plugged in the back of the Hi-Fi and the length of recording time other than that it was a perfect device and miss it

17.11.2012 02:13 #23

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