----- Original Message -----
From: "las" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > I will have an interview with some guy from MPO (Hi Space France) soon and I
> > will ask him the question even if the guy from Hi-Space Canada already told
> > me that Memorex and Hi-Space are two really distinct company...
>
> The man I dealt with told us he was the owner. He said that he was from Canada,
> but he was French (which is not to say that he wasn't born in France and moved
> to Canada).
>
> I don't think that anyone in the company will admit having made Memorex even if
> they did.
>
> The start up costs for manufacturing MDs must have come down, because 3 years
> ago (except for Hi Space) all MDs were made in Japan. MDs were not selling well
> enough outside of Japan to invest big bucks in an MD manufacturing facility.
>
> It didn't pay to make discs outside of Japan if you were going to sell most of
> them to Japan. The shipping charges would make it too costly. I am surprised
> to here that there are so many new manufacturing facilities in Europe now.
Unlike in the states, here in europe MD is catching on big-time. I doubt it
will usurp tapes as the most commonly used recordable format but I am staggered
by how often I see a peep with a portable MD player/recorder. Certainly in
Britain almost anyone in the 15-40 age group I have spoken with are aware of MD
and what it can do, and in most cases those who do not have MD gear are the
youngest ones for whom it is outside their price-range. With so much MD kit
floating around in europe, or at least Britain it's no wonder there are plants
churning out blank MD's by the truck-load.
> Frankly I don't understand it. Sales of MD have not shown growth outside of
> Japan. When a big chain like Best Buy, who was probably the largest carrier of
> MD gear in the past drops the line almost completely, that isn't good.
>
> They really pushed MD. They carried a verity of MD stuff. Probably one of the
> only places that you could walk in and walk out with an MD boom box. But I
> guess it never made it for Best Buy.
>
> Circuit City is also a huge chain. They never went after MD in a big way.
> Their sales people knew nothing about MD. It's hard to sell something when you
> know nothing about it. But that's typical of these chains.
>
> I may be making one of the stupidest statements I have ever said, but I really
> believe that more MD stuff is sold through the internet then in stores (in the
> US). If you read the FTC complaint about MiniDisc Now, look at the company they
> were in. Macys. Macys!!! Toys R US!!! These are multi multi million dollar
> corporations.
>
> It's late and I'm too tired to proof read my dyslexic e mail. Please excuse
> anything that makes no sense.
>
> Larry
What really surprised me, and continues to do so is how Japan, and Europe
could really get into MD, but the states either ignores it, deems it useless,
or something.
I would really have expected new technology take-up to go sorta Japan ->
USA -> Europe -> elsewhere, so what went wrong with MD stateside? I mean MD
has hardly been well promoted here in Britain, actually the only official
adverts for MD I have seen was a stupid Sony one, all of which I remember was
a guy with a pigeon on his head. Hmmm. Maybe a group of roleplaying gamers
are the geeky-inclined type but two out of the eight brought an MD portie
and had it on the table as we played? And that doesn't count me- I live just
5 mins from the hall so left mine at home, but that means 3 out of 8 MD usage
really. Maybe some of the others have MD too?
And whereas when I got my R3, discs cost about ukp12 for two, and 60min discs
were as common as 74min ones, now you can find them everywhere. Theres no
sign of the trend reversing either, if anything, the amount of MD kit- be it
portable or decks, or media, is continuing to grow month in month out up here
in Newcastle, UK.
One not so good sign is the availability of pre-rec MDs which has always been
very low here, and at best has remained steady over the last two or so years
though I sorta think it may actually have reduced. That maybe because I have
seen the massive growth in blanks etc, and their tumbling cost, whilst the
pre-recs have remained a pound or two higher than the same CD. Is it any
wonder pre-recs have not caught on? You walk past row after row of CDs and
if youre lucky, lurking in a dusty corner are the pre-rec MDs. After forcing
your way through the cobwebs and blowing the dust away you find the same
selection the other shop had, perhaps 100 different discs in total.
I'm beginning to ramble so I'll shut up now, thanks for listening!
PrinceGaz.
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