Bean
February 14, 2006Sony has discontinued their ‘Bean’ iPod rival after only six months of being on sale.
Sony should just have stuck with what is was good at: MiniDisc. MiniDisc is technologically superior to any other portable music medium for various reasons (durability compared to HDD MP3 players, and expandability compared to flash MP players, as one HiMD disc holds 1GB of data), but they contained one major flaw up until summer last year: lack of MP3 support.
Designwise, only the top-end portable MD players can rival the iPod. If Sony had made their portable MDs prettier and MP3 capable before 2001 AND marketed it right (Sony’s weakness, so it seems, they have become too big to market things correctly), they would have had a winner.
Too bad. I’ll always support my medium of choice– MiniDisc is unrivaled for me, and MP3 players fail to impress me in any way.
Music, Apple & Mac | 
The problem with Sony and music is they just don’t get it. That’s the problem when you are an electronics and music business; people just want to listen to their tunes the way they want, they dont want to be forced into some weird format. If Sony had come with a player from the start that supported MP3s they’d be much better off. Instead they pushed ATRAC, when when down in flames, and only later added MP3 support, after the damage is done.
Mini Discs are hard to find here in the States so I have zero experience with them. I do like Sony a lot; I have a Sony TV, a Sony DVD player and a Sony LCD screen. When they get stuff right, it’s the best.
Comment by Chris — February 15, 2006 @ 5:35 pm
Yes, MDs rule - I have an ancient one that still works beautifully after more than a decade, and I bought one from the US last year that is my pride and joy.
At the end of the day, it’s the robustness of the media that sells it to me over and over again. I have 10 year old recordings that have been dropped, left in hot cars, stepped on, scratched against other stuff - and I’ve never had one fail to work perfectly.
Now I’m into Hi-MD and I think the new version of Sonicstage is much better than any previous. Here’s hoping they reward those of us who’ve been faithful with cheap, high-quality units worthy of the legacy. And start selling them here in Australia again.
Hey Sony, the only thing Apple does better is:
ADVERTISING
Take the hint, boys. Market your babies.
Comment by genghisbunny — April 11, 2006 @ 1:18 am