Читать книгу The Dodo Collection - Steve Stack - Страница 14

Minidiscs

Such is the fast moving nature of technology that some inventions seem to die out within a short time of being born. This was the case with the minidisc.

Sony launched it in 1992 as the future of home recording, and it was intended as a high-quality alternative to analogue cassettes. With music lovers converting their album collections to compact disc, it made sense that they would want similar quality for the stuff they recorded at home, didn’t it?

The minidisc hit problems early on because it found itself up against the digital compact cassette (DCC) from Philips, and consumers weren’t sure which format to go for. Sony put their weight behind their invention by releasing albums by lots of Sony artists on the format, and also by licensing the technology to other hardware manufacturers, thereby increasing the number of players on the market.

Ultimately, though, people just weren’t all that fussed about digital home recording. They were perfectly happy paying a few quid for a five-pack of TDK blank tapes, as they were mainly using them for mixtapes, voice recordings, and other stuff that didn’t rely on incredible sound quality. The format was popular with professionals, and some studios still use them to this day, but the high price just put most punters off.

Anyway, less than a decade after the minidisc, a small white oblong called an iPod was launched, pretty much changing the face of portable music forever.

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