Quote:
Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
They count for something, but not NFH's point. NFH says bet against the Sony alternative on formats. That's fine, but it's based on one data point--Beta.
Minidisc wasn't competing with another format, it was a new format. Memory stick is still in use, and there are 4 or 5 (or more) formats (I have an 8-in-1 reader).
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I disagree on Minidisc: like Beta, it was a new format when it came out. Like Beta, it was used initially by early adopters, and almost got to the cusp of widespread acceptance as prices were coming down. Like Beta, it is technologically superior in many ways (in particular, smaller) to the subsequent format which pounded it into being used only in specialty circumstances. Like Beta, the alternate formats (CD-RW, and more recently, USB flash drives) are cheaper and more universally supported, but completely technologically incompatible.
The only things that use MemorySticks are Sony products. For much the same reason as Beta: it's more expensive and less universal than the alternative. You might as well stick them into an 8 in 1 reader (since Sony seems to be okay with that from a licensing perspective), but SD and CF cards are cheaper and smaller. If you were a random manufacturer about to launch a small electronic device in need of expandable memory, would you put in a MemoryStick or and SD card?
So yes, there are several formats that Sony has come up with that are still being used by some people, somewhere, but Sony has also NEVER been responsible for a ubiquitous standard.
