Charles Redell wrote:
>
> I hate to say this.... but I really have to say that I don't think we
> are going to
> see MD become the cassette of the aughts and tens.... Sony has very much
> abandonded
> the concept here and is now marketing it solely to us, those people who
> will pay more
> for quality sound and performance...
I agree, it's a niche market. It has been a niche market for quite some
time, and it seems that some of the execs at Sony are happy to keep it
that way. I have no idea why, there are MANY things they could have
done that would have made it FAR more successful than it is now.
> It's odd, if you think about it because Sony (and Sharp and JVC etc...)
> COULD make so
> much more money if they made portable MD players and recorders: 1)
> sturdy for actual
> use outside of the home 2)easily compatable with computer downloads
> (which from my
> lurking on this list sounds like its a hard thing to do. (I don't
> downlaod now due to
> a slow connection)).
Actually computer downloads would have been pretty easy. There have
already been people with the ability to write their own ATRAC codecs
that work on PC's. An MP3 to ATRAC converter would have been pretty
simple. They could have done it all in software and just had a USB data
interface that transfers the raw ATRAC data to some kind of MD device
which would write it directly to disc. An ATRAC codec on the PC side
would also be easily upgradeable. I think it just comes down to Sony's
indifference to the MP3 market when it comes to MD. They'd rather try
to push their memory stick for Internet music. I have no idea why,
memory stick is still WAY too expensive.
> If they made portables that were truely portable, of semi-decent quality
> and, of
> course, afforadable(not US$200 or more) MD would fly off the shelves.
> They have
> sports walkmen, sports CDmen (which, like all discmen is totally clunky
> and dumb) ,
> and I'm sure I've seen portable, sports TVs.... If they can get a
> picture to work in
> any portable TV or DVD player, they can make a sturdier portable MD.
Well, I don't think MD portables would fly off the shelves that quickly
unless there were prerecorded media available as well. Sony failed to
see the importance of prerecorded media, but consider some of the most
successful media - CD, CD-ROM, DVD, DVD-ROM... those all started out as
READ ONLY media which had a WIDE offering of prerecorded selections
available. For everyone that like self-recording, there are probably 10
people that would rather just buy a prerecorded disc.
> Obviously music is going to be downloaded... whatever format can
> downlaod is going to
> win. Their insistence on not making MDs easily compatible with MP3s is
> the begining
> of the death knoll for the MD. Money is being poured into MP3 and its
> players here in
> the states so that is what people know and will buy. No one knows MD
> exisits except
> those who actually research these kinds of things, and we are in the
> minority. What
> is available is king. What is convienent and at hand wins and my
> friends, the makers
> of MD are not making it convient or available.
I definitely agree. I think it would even be easy to design an MP3
compatible MD recorder with existing technology for a very low price.
Sony is just complacent when it comes to MD. They're placing all their
bets on memory stick. I think Sony has found a way to shove a memory
stick slot in every single digital device they come out with these
days. Now if they had discretely placed an MD slot in every one of
their CD players, car stereos, digital cameras, etc, it would have been
far more successful. I don't know why Sony also didn't take JVC's idea
and make a combination MD/CD transport. They could have designed a few
variations of combo MD/CD transports and slickly integrated MD into all
their CD/DVD offerings.
Shawn
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