MiniDisc
Magneto-optical storage medium, mainly for audio (1992–2013) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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MiniDisc (MD) is an erasable magneto-optical disc-based data storage format offering a capacity of 60, 74, and later, 80 minutes of digitized audio.
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Media type | Magneto-optical disc |
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Encoding | ATRAC |
Capacity | 60, 74, and 80 minutes |
Read mechanism | 780 nm semiconductor laser diode |
Write mechanism | Magnetic field modulation |
Developed by | Sony |
Usage | Audio storage |
Extended from | Compact Cassette, Compact disc |
Extended to | MD Data, Hi-MD |
Released | November 1992; 31 years ago (1992-11)[1] |
Discontinued | March 2013; 11 years ago (2013-03) |
Sony announced the MiniDisc in September 1992 and released it in November[2] of that year for sale in Japan and in December in Europe, North America, and other countries.[3] The music format was based on ATRAC audio data compression, Sony's own proprietary compression code. Its successor, Hi-MD, would later introduce the option of linear PCM digital recording to meet audio quality comparable to that of a compact disc. MiniDiscs were very popular in Japan and found moderate success in Europe.[4] Although it was designed to succeed the cassette tape, it did not manage to supplant it globally.[5]
By March 2011 Sony had sold 22 million MD players, but halted further development.[6] Sony ceased manufacturing and sold the last of the players by March 2013.[7]