1/25    In the floppy diskette days, 3.5" diskettes drove 5.25" diskettes to
        extinction.  How come MiniDisc never replaced CD in popularity?
        \_ Because it was a Sony proprietary thing.  They took off in Japan.
           \_ Because Sony crippled it. They deserve what they got, go Steve!
        \_ Also note that you're comparing two computer data media types to
           audio media types.  Yes, MiniDiscs and CDs can store data too,
           but Sony didn't make data drives until it was too late.
        \_ There were a combination of factors.  MD had to compete with
           DAT, which confused consumers so both lost on a consumer
           level (internationally and commericially they had success).  Also,
           3.5 offer twice the capacity as 5.25, MD had the same capacity as
           CD.  MD was also VERY expensive when it came out and did not drop
           in price as quickly as 3.5 floppy technology.  Also, people didn't
           lose music by touching the CD data, on 5.25 floppies people did,
           they were much more subject to environmental risks.  And as the
           last poster mentioned, MD was crippled from a copying perspective
           (unlike MP3), this is due to their venture into entertainment
           (movies/ music).  Further, MD was blasted by audiophiles
           because of the compression used (although better than MP3), 3.5
           disks did not compress/ remove data.  The list goes on...
           \_ While MD got better than mp3 my memory is that early versions
              of MD were kinda bad.
           \_ Yeah I'm gonna question that "better than MP3" claim. Prove it.
              \_ Ok, the "MD sounds better than MP3" is very subjective.
                 Through my informal listening tests, I found this to be
                 true.  However, I will tell it I've been comparing apples to
                 oranges.  They both use lossy compression, however, MD by
                 default records at 285kbs, much higher than the general
                 128kbs I'm used to hearing in MP3.  I would guess a
                 320kbs MP3 sounds indistinguishable to a MD recording. -op
        \_ iirc, the death knell of MD and DAT in the US consumer mkt was
           the royalty payment provisions of the copyright act (17 USC 1001
           et. seq.) Sony had to pay some sort of royalty for ever MD sold,
           which made it basically unaffordable.