[stinos]

I would like to see MiniDisc get the same attention. Guess that'll never happen again as it was always a bit niche while tape was as mainstream as it can get. Ok it's digital and somewhat more expensive but apart from that it imo is very similar (easy to record, share, portable) yet has much advantages over tape (noise, portables last way longer, medium does not lose signal under normal circumstances, less mechanical parts, higher density in same form factor)

[TD-Linux]

>easy to record, share

This was actually one thing leading to minidisc's demise. The DRM doesn't allow you to extract your recordings digitally. They fixed this eventually, but it was too late and flash memory had already taken over.

[digi_owl]

Crazy thing is that if you could get your hands on a pro market minidisc deck, you could extract all you liked.

I think another thing sunk it, write speed.

To write to Magnet-Optical media, you first use a laser to heat the surface until it becomes magnetic. Then you zero the bit using a readwrite head much like on a HDD or floppy. Then you set it to the zero or one you want to actually be.

All this back and forth means that MO can't really keep up with HDD or flash.

[agumonkey]

I often wonder how things would have been if Sony had released MD as simple storage medium. It got out in 1992! Imagine having rewritable hundreds of megabytes at the time.

[pjc50]

They did, a little later (95?): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MD_Data

It was very expensive, and apparently not fast enough to use effectively "online", and required SCSI; so relegated to the backup market and competition with commodity tape.

[agumonkey]

Ha, I stand corrected, I never cared to investigate, and only remember the late 90s attempts.

This article says a little about the errors of splitting MD between audio and generic data http://www.minidisc.org/econ113-paper.htm

Amazingly sad. Typical Sony ?

[pjc50]

Typical Sony. With a little help from the RIAA. They did it again with "memory stick". And UMD.

[agumonkey]

Yeah, even though the article gives plenty of additional data to explain how markets are weird beasts, Sony had so many failed attempts at bringing a new format ...