Favorite failed audio format?
 

Minidisc.

I remember the first player I bought cost over 700 dollars back in the early 1990s.

Very easy to record ,move tracks and edit.

It was going up against DAT(which I also bought) and another cassette format.

They did have a limited number of record company produced discs.

I bought:
Chicago (GH)
Bruce Springsteen (GH)
Mariah Carey Unplugged
Gloria Estefan(GH)
Mariah Carey Emotions
10,000 Maniacs Unplugged
Boston
Boston Don't Look Back
Singles Motion Picture Soundtrack
Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam Ten
Carole King Tapestry
Best of Kansas
Tina Turner Simply the Best
Romantics What I Like About You(and other Romantic Hits)
Best of Sade
David Bowie The Rise and Fall of Iggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
Frank Zappa Apostrophe /Overnight Sensation

Re: Favorite failed audio format?
 

DVD-Audio & SACD.

Re: Favorite failed audio format?
 

I have a bunch of SACDs but could never get my PS3 to make them sound awesome.

Re: Favorite failed audio format?
 

I have a bunch of SACDs and a dedicated SACD player in my man-cave. They sound amazing (though I rarely listen to them any more). I grabbed several that were part of a music club offering -- including a bunch of Elton John and Bob Dylan remasters.

Re: Favorite failed audio format?
 

My least-favorite failed audio format? Dual-Discs. Those things SUCKED! And they could get stuck in your car's CD drive.

https://lauralieff.com/wp-content/up...Dual-Disc1.jpg

Re: Favorite failed audio format?
 

This right here. :up:

Re: Favorite failed audio format?
 

SACD. I had a dedicated player and a few dozen discs for a number of years, but sold off several of the discs (always for a profit, sometimes a big profit) when I no longer had the time to actively listen to them. I didn't even bother reconnecting the SACD player after we redid the family room and bought a new receiver without 6-channel inputs. I'll eventually unload the rest of the non-hybrid discs.

Re: Favorite failed audio format?
 

same os OP .... Sony Minidisc
not for any pre-recorded media but for making my own recordings

Re: Favorite failed audio format?
 

Yep, same here! In fact I still have a Yamaha MD-4 (4-track Minidisc recorder) that I used to record demos circa 2000. I even used it to help a Jazz buddy of mine record an album that ended up on CD not sounding too bad!

Re: Favorite failed audio format?
 

It looks like Mini Disc blanks are still available at Amazon but they are pretty expensive.

I still have (3) Sony MD player recorders MDS-JE520 that work.

Just bought a Brennan B2(CD jukebox) and for AUX recordings the Minidisc would work the best because of its editing features especially for transferring audio cassette tapes.

Re: Favorite failed audio format?
 

Yep yep

Re: Favorite failed audio format?
 

Yeah, mini disc was sweet. It was the most advanced editing I’d ever encountered. It was laborious, but you could cut down to a fraction of a second.

And I had a mini disc Walkman and it didn’t skip!!!

And in the Napster era it could be used to store hundreds of songs.

Re: Favorite failed audio format?
 

I hesitate to call SACD a failed format because it’s still being provided by audiophile labels here in The IS and has a more robust following in Japan. That being said, it’s probably my favorite digital format. DSD is an interesting alternative to PCM and when done right the sound on SACDs can be so good.

Re: Favorite failed audio format?
 

Without a doubt, DAT. Since I record concerts, it was THE way to capture concerts/audio from the late 90's until solidstate recorders became common in the late 2000's when I switched. I recorded about 60 shows from 2001-2007 with mine.

Re: Favorite failed audio format?
 

Wow, was I a fan of Sony MiniDisc. Had the Salman set from Sam's Club in 2002 and made tons of discs. I'd been influenced be a theater I worked tech at that used minidsic for sound recording, mixing, and effects, so when it came time to buy something beyond a CD player, minidisc wad it for me. Used it to do sound for my own shows, my tech crew loved it. I think I used it until I got a "candy bar" style phone with decent storage, plus wasn't doing shows in need of sound mixing anymore, and that was the end of my minidisc affair. Never have been an Apple guy, so iPod wasn't on my radar that whole time.

Re: Favorite failed audio format?
 

Right when Minidisc came out, I knew it would be the 8-track of the future. Sound was compressed, and when recordable CDs came out Minidisc lost its one advantage. My friend still loves them though, he gave me an old machine but I've never had time to mess with it. Only disc I have for it is that one that came with Rolling Stone magazine one issue.

8-tracks are the definition of failed formats, and will always be my first love.

Re: Favorite failed audio format?
 

I friggering loved DUAL DISC! And I for one never got one stuck anywhere. *knock on wood*. And it also led the way to some discs getting released in 5.1 that would have probably never been released in that fashion. I probably still have at least a half dozen of these in my collection. I did read all the reports of compatibility (but never had that issue) as well as not being able to rip them properly (I always could even the extra dvd tracks)...but maybe I was just lucky (or persistent).

Re: Favorite failed audio format?
 

DualDiscs were a neat idea, but poorly implemented. The whole reason to have the DVD side in the first place was video content and multi-channel sound (preferably with DVD-Audio format included) but a lot of them only had the album in plain 2-channel stereo with still pictures or a song list on the screen with maybe a 5-minute "making-of" segment. Kind of weird that the "specs" seemed to require that the DVD side include everything that was also on the CD side in the first place; a better use for this was what the DVD of Blair Witch 2 did by putting the audio soundtrack album on the other side.

Re: Favorite failed audio format?
 

Re: Favorite failed audio format?
 

That's a fake picture- the back of the tapes are facing up, and someone cut and pasted part of the Iron Butterfly label onto it.

I have the Hair Original Cast album on both stereo and QUADRAPHONIC 8-track!

Re: Favorite failed audio format?
 

I've still got my MiniDisc player/recorder. I haven't used it in forever, but I've still got it. Great format for recording.

Re: Favorite failed audio format?
 

Me too, I have 2 in fact I just remembered. A 4 track Minidisc recorder and a Minidisc Walkman, plus a ton of discs (both the 2 track and 4 track data variety). Probably will never sell any of it as I imagine it wouldn't fetch much.

Re: Favorite failed audio format?
 

I remember the first time I saw minidiscs and minidisc players in Last Action Hero.

Re: Favorite failed audio format?
 

Also used in Timecop.

Re: Favorite failed audio format?
 

How much capacity does/did a minidisc have?