In the West, they launched MD in the early 90s it completely flopped; due mostly to Sony's failure to release any albums and slowness to license the technology to other companies. The first MD player I saw was brought back from Malaysia by a school friend (I went to a rich-boy school) in 1997. By now, more companies were bringing out MD recorders, but as soon as the surge began it almost died out due to it being nearly impossible to find any pre-recorded MDs in the shops.
What did take off in the late 90s/early 00s was the use of MD as a recording device. The repeated this mistake in the late 90s with the launch of SACD - which to this day has yet to take off. Before CD-Rs became cheap, MD offered a way to digitally record and rerecord - all the quality of CD with the reusability of tape. Although the format was pretty dead by 2002, blank discs proceeded to sell by the 1000s. My housemate recently inherited his brothers collection - well over 100 recorded discs and 1 store bought album. Sony tried to fight the MP3 surge with first MDLP, then NetMD and finally HiMD (1Gb discs) but it was too late. Today MDs are apparently still very popular in Japan, but seem to have died the death in the west as evidenced by the ridiculously cheap prices recorders go for on eBay. HiMDs that sport MP3 playback struggle on, but it will be in vain.
Sony haven't faired too well in the MP3 market either - firstly they refused to support MP3 and instead pushed their proprietary ATRAC system, first seen on MDs. By the time they had realised people wanted MP3 playback, Apple's iPod had far too much of a lead. The Sony BMG scandal last year has also hurt Sony Electronics to the point where all music players will no longer be manufactured in Japan. If anything, there's a lesson in remembering your roots and giving people what they actually want - not what you decide they want.
For the record, my first tape player was a Philips and it was a proper piece of shit. In order to rewind you had to manually turn the tape over and fast forward it on that side. I finally got a decent Aiwa player (Aiwa were acquired by Sony a few years ago, relaunched and then discarded) before moving through a Discman (still going), Aiwa MD (stolen), Panasonic MD (battery died) and finally my iPod.
3 comments:
Y'see, I come from a family of Sony purists - my brother being the complete music freak that he is still records his mixes from vinyl onto his netMD, and has an MD player in his car especially. So when I was looking for a mp3 player that wasn't an iPod, it wasn't long until he'd nagged into getting my lovely ickle Sony NW-HD5 with its 20gb storage, 35 hour battery life and replacable battery units. Despite everything they say about SonicStage (which is true - nasty bit of software!) I love it to bits, and don't regret not getting an iPod for a second.
So, long live Sony!
... oh, and this is Rachel, by the way. Nice blog :)
Hi Rach,
I know what you mean. Sony used to be a brand associated with quality. I was always brought up to only ever replace things when they broke - not when the next best thing came along. Back in the late 80s/early 90s, people were unwilling to spend a few £100 for a new TV every few years so the manufacturers made them to last. Nowadays, people seem perfectly happy to spend £300 on a new TV every couple of years so the manufacturers have reduced the quality (Sony included). Our 1989 bought Panasonic TV lasted 15 years. I'd be surprised if out 2004-bought Sony IDTV makes it to 2010.
The problem with MD (and both Blondie and I agree) is that they never last - there's always something that goes wrong with them, whether it be battery or laser related. I'd be happy if Sony was expensive for a reason (ie quality) but these days it's all the same: only about 5 or 6 companies make LCD panels ad all the brands buy them from these companies and rebrand them as their own (sometimes "overclocking" them to get better features) and I'm fairly sure Sony don't make their own panels.
As for Mp3 players, the Sonys have had long documented problems: from no Mp3 playback to buttons that crack on the HD5. As much as I wante dto hate Apple and the iPod I have to admit that it's number one for a reason - it works!
Oh and thanks for looking at the blog!!!!!1!
I wonder if the past few years have been the start of an inexorable slide for Sony. I mean, its clear that people look at many brands now, especially as Samsung and the Koreans and the like are providing similarly specced stuff at far lower prices, and one reason is that the Sony stuff isn't actually any better.
The company do not make as much money as they did. The only area where they have a lead over other manufacturers is the Playstation. But they could be dropping the ball here. Nobody knows what's happening as all is quiet on the PS3 front. I suspect the console will smack the Xbox out of the water, but will it be affordable, have good online setups and be able to win from 2nd/3rd place release? I think this is bigger for them than things have been before. Having said that, its the computing part that loses money arse over fist for them. Hmmm.
Maybe Sony just have their hands in too many pots these days (gaming, films, tv, video etc) and thus spread themselves too thinly. But I don't look on their name as number one anymore; just one of a few who I would buy from (Phillips, on the other hand, I still sit on a perch). As for their LCD panels, I think they come from the same supplier as to Samsung (whether that is Samsung I dunno).
So, I just wonder if Sony will a) ever be great again, and b) whether it will continue to descend. I doubt it would ever disappear - too big.
Lue.
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