Sony MiniDisc Walkman MZ-E3 1996, 8 epic pages

Discussion in 'Brochures, advertising, data & specs...' started by Mister X, Mar 16, 2020.

  1. Mister X

    Mister X Moderator Staff Member

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    Sony MiniDisc MZ-E3 A 1996 1a1a.png
    Sony MiniDisc MZ-E3 A 1996 1a1.jpg
    Sony MiniDisc MZ-E3 A 1996 1a.jpg
    Sony MiniDisc MZ-E3 A 1996 1.png
    Sony MiniDisc MZ-E3 A 1996.png
    Sony MiniDisc MZ-E3 1.png
    Sony MiniDisc MZ-E3 A 1996 2.png Sony MiniDisc MZ-E3 A 1996 3.png
     
    Mister X, Mar 16, 2020
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  2. Mystic Traveller

    Mystic Traveller Well-Known Member

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    :thumbsup::hi
     
    Mystic Traveller, Mar 16, 2020
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  3. sickly_b

    sickly_b Active Member

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    Love it! Such fondness for MD - remarkable little machines.

    My portables:
    MD.jpg
     
    sickly_b, Mar 16, 2020
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  4. Mister X

    Mister X Moderator Staff Member

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    Beautiful sickly_b, I'll try and post my soon. Personally I thought this was the perfect successor to the cassette tape but they were just too much money back then and CDs were everywhere. I think they could have won the format wars, there was even development of a mega-high capacity disc around 2000 that would have been a huge game changer.
     
    Mister X, Mar 16, 2020
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  5. sickly_b

    sickly_b Active Member

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    Agree - wonder whether Sony should have stuck to blanks as I always felt the pre-recorded MDs confused the market, appearing perhaps as a CD replacement, although usually costing more.
    Secondly, the fact that, even with the arrival of the excelllent NetMD system, you couldn't export from MD back to your PC. I used a portable many times to capture superb audio from band rehearsals, but couldn't quickly transfer / share the tracks, a facility that mp3 immediately provided. It terms of the machinery though, they still blow my mind! They manage to look futuristic 20 years later eh
     
    sickly_b, Mar 16, 2020
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  6. Longman

    Longman Well-Known Member S2G Supporter

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    Considering Sony invented the hugely popular 3.5" Computer Floppy Disk, it is surprising they didn't push MD for computer use, instead letting Iomega with their Zip disc and Imation with their LS120 dominate the market for high capacity removable media. MD would also have worked well for a while in digital cameras. Much better than 1.44MByte Floppies which Sony did use in them



    When MD was on the market I decided to avoid them, thinking that already having three main music formats at home Cassette, Vinyl, and CD, I didn't want a fourth.

    Around the same time I did buy;

    • An Imation LS120 superfloppy drive and 120MByte Discs
    • The first CD writer I saw for under £100, an HP 2x write 24 x read unit
    • A 1GByte Compact Flash card for the bargain price of £100.
    For a while MD would have been a viable alternative in a computer / camera to any of these.
     
    Longman, Mar 17, 2020
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  7. Mister X

    Mister X Moderator Staff Member

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    I've read a lot on minidisc lately, it had so much potential but they really didn't let it loose. In the early 90's a CD recorder was several thousand dollars, an MD Recorder was a few hundred dollars and a fast-developing format with a lot of success with musicians, radio & TV. They had a data version, even a high-capacity data version that would have been a game-changer but I'm thinking that since they co-developed the CD they didn't want to rock the boat and lose juicy royalties. Maybe one of the tech guys on YouTube will do an in-depth investigative report on what really happened.

    I love Imation! I live pretty close to the old headquarters, they sold and packed up a couple years ago. In case you don't know, it's a 3M Brand. I bought my first CD burner around 2005, it was close to $200 USD, by that time MD was long dead here except musicians were still using it for recording and it was on some of the keyboards.
     
    Mister X, Mar 17, 2020
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  8. Longman

    Longman Well-Known Member S2G Supporter

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    I think I have worked out why Sony didn't push MD as a computer format. Despite Iomega then Imation both putting superfloppies onto the market with significant success Sony thought they could beat them both with their own format HiFD (which sounds a familiar story for Sony)

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_HiFD

    It turns out is was a disaster being late to market, then first drives having to be recalled. After gaining a reputation for unreliability it was discontinued after just three years.

    I don't think I recall ever seeing them. In contrast both ZIP and LS120 drives were widely available and quite popular in the UK.

    My main memory of the LS120 was that it made really Hi-Tech noises a bit like a laser printer when the computer booted. It was also much faster than a normal drive when using standard Floppy disks.
     
    Last edited: Mar 22, 2020
    Longman, Mar 18, 2020
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  9. sickly_b

    sickly_b Active Member

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    I found this minidisc handbook really fascinating (attached)
     

    Attached Files:

    sickly_b, Mar 21, 2020
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