> MD failed because Sony (and other manufacturers) didn't update MD to
> take advantage of new trends in digital audio. More
> specifically, MP3.
> I think most of us saw MD as a good, inexpensive storage medium for
> storing MP3's's as early as 1996. Did Sony? Did any other big
> company? Not at all. So what happened? NOTHING. MD stayed
> the same.
I hate to admit it, because I personally love MD, but I think Shawn is 100%
right.
I generally think of MD as a "new" format, because I (and most of my friends
who use it) only discovered it in 1998. But relative to modern trends, it's
an old format. What MD is now (price, quality and features) would have been
market-shattering in 1992-1995, but things don't work that way. It still
has great features, but I fear MD is doomed to be a niche market, and in a
few years we'll see that market, and I suspect the available product range,
start to decrease. MDLP will save the market in some places, but not the
US.
Well, I guess it's enjoy the MD "golden age" while it lasts, and stock up on
reliable hardware and plenty of software now, friends!
I feel Shawn's also right on the money about compression. I used to be
worried about MD compression - until I heard MP3s - even the best are
distinctly worse quality than the CD originals, perhaps slightly above the
quality of a cassette - the worst, well unlistenable (to me they have a
"metallic" edge to the sound).
But they're convenient and (?)free, and convenience and price are the
dominant considerations in most people's minds. Just goes to show that
there are no rights or wrongs, bests or worsts in the consumer audio
markets, just different priorities of different consumers.
For that reason I suspect that the audiophile will also become a niche
market, and ultimately, a dying breed.
Just my NZ$0.02...
Richard Lang
Senior Solicitor
Duncan Cotterill
Christchurch, New Zealand
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
tel: (++64)-3-379-2430 fax: (++64)-3-379-7097
http://www.duncancotterill.com
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