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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. O
by stinos 11y ago
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 11y ago>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 11y agoCrazy 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 11y agoI 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 11y agoThey did, a little later (95?): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MD_Data 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 11y agoHa, 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 http://www.minidisc.org/econ113-paper.htm Amazingly sad. Typical Sony ?