Word: minidisc
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When it was unveiled in 1992, Sony's MiniDisc seemed poised to top Betamax as its most ill-starred innovation. To American audiophiles making a costly transition from vinyl to CD, the MiniDisc posed the unwelcome prospect of another shift in music formats. Sales, not surprisingly to everyone but Sony, disappointed...
...price. Writable (as opposed to read-only) CD technology has been available for years from companies like Philips, and the price of recorders, which until recently ranged from $1,000 to $1,200, has dropped as low as $700. Now Sony is aggressively marketing a minidisc recorder-player that sells for about $500. Blank minidiscs cost from $4 to $7 apiece--about half the price of the standard prerecorded...
Sony, which introduced the first home-use CD player in 1982, is counting on its new minidisc to win over people who use standard cassette tapes. "The MiniDisc is designed to replace the analog cassette," says Michael Vitelli of Sony. The key is recordability. By making its MiniDiscs recordable, Sony reasoned, the company could ride the coattails of the CD explosion...
...recording industry has quickly responded by putting software onto the market. Major record labels such as Warner Bros., Atlantic and GRP, a leading jazz house, have produced about 600 DCC titles and 350 minidisc titles featuring such artists as Bon Jovi, Natalie Cole and R.E.M. By comparison, music buyers had only about 20 titles to choose from during the CD player's rookie year on the market...
That has helped spark an enthusiastic response among cutting-edge audiophiles. The Wiz, a New York City-based audio-products chain, reports brisk sales for its stock of both DCC and minidisc players. Sony says it will sell about 70,000 MiniDisc players...