Obsolete SonyDec 19, 2024
Still looks like it's from the future.
Show threadR.L. Dane    đźŤµ Dec 19, 2024

@obsoletesony

Kinda sad we never got a true replacement for/upgrade to the floppy disk.

I mean, there were LOTS of them, but no one true replacement.

In the 2000s, I was hoping that manufacturers would come together and create a standard form factor of usb thumb drive, so we could have actual usb thumb drive drives on our machines to pop thumb drives into and out of, but that never happened.

Of course, SD Cards and SD Micro cards fit the bill very nicely, but they never became general-purpose data storage devices, except for embedded applications like raspberry Pis (and of course, cameras and such).

Show threadDavid Chisnall (*Now with 50% more sarcasm!*)Dec 20, 2024
@rl_dane @obsoletesony MiniDisc absolutely could have been this, but Sony was a record label as well as a tech company and killed MD-Data as a consumer product because it might lead to music piracy. The fact that they’d have made vastly more controlling the de-facto standard removable media format than they would have lost from consumers copying the occasional album demonstrates that capitalists are not always good at capitalism. They did the same thing with at least one flash storage standard.
Show threadDJDarrenDec 20, 2024
@david_chisnall @rl_dane @obsoletesony The original PSP discs were essentially just Hi-MD, weren't they?
Show threadDavid Chisnall (*Now with 50% more sarcasm!*)Dec 20, 2024

@DJDarren @rl_dane @obsoletesony I believe so. Sony was happy to put MD in places that were not general-purpose computers, they just didn’t want to have them in things where people would be able to strip copy protection and pirate music. And putting them in the PSP increased the incentive: you can!t copy PSP games if they don’t sell affordable MD-Data writers.

As I recall, the format topped out at 1 GB. That’s big enough for the vast majority of things I want to move between computers. Not big enough for backups (even BluRay isn’t these days, optical disks never quite kept up with hard disks for capacity).

Show threadFlamekebabDec 20, 2024
@david_chisnall @DJDarren @rl_dane @obsoletesony 1.8 GB
Show threadDavid Chisnall (*Now with 50% more sarcasm!*)
@Flamekebab @DJDarren @rl_dane @obsoletesony Oh, nice. I suspect it would have scaled more if it had been funded by the revenue from selling a load of drives.
Dec 20, 2024 at 11:07amWeb
Show threadIdiot Complete DisasterDec 20, 2024

@david_chisnall @Flamekebab @DJDarren @rl_dane @obsoletesony

This thread makes me so sad. Minidiscs are _so cool_, and I too lament the lack of true floppy replacement.

DVD-RAM also could have helped fill this void (and the void of no good VHS replacement!!!) But alas that future never happened, either :(

Show threadR.L. Dane    đźŤµ Dec 20, 2024

@OpenComputeDesign @david_chisnall @Flamekebab @DJDarren @obsoletesony

Ah, yes, DVD-RAM had it's brief day in the sun with early 2010s optical DVRs. Those were pretty cool. :D

Man, almost all of the scifi I saw growing up had some kind of optical media in the distant future.

I want to touch my data again, and a thumb drive doesn't quite cut it.

Part of the problem is that removable storage has become so voluminous, it's just a bit of the cloud in your pocket (tons of random data), rather than a conscious thought of, "Here are my Paris pictures," or "here is my awesome EDM/Worship mix."

Show threadIdiot Complete DisasterDec 20, 2024

@rl_dane @david_chisnall @Flamekebab @DJDarren @obsoletesony

Micro-SD cards especially are gawd-awful. "Oh yeah, here's a little square with more storage than my hard drive, yet it's so small, if I sneeze, it will be lost to the sands of time forever"

Compact Flash is the smallest any storage media has any legal right to be.

Show threadR.L. Dane    đźŤµ Dec 20, 2024

@OpenComputeDesign @david_chisnall @Flamekebab @DJDarren @obsoletesony

I think regular SD is a nice size.

Show threadIdiot Complete DisasterDec 20, 2024
@rl_dane @david_chisnall @Flamekebab @DJDarren @obsoletesony Still too small. It should be big and heavy enough to hurt if one gets thrown at you, otherwise it's too light to feel if you've dropped it or not
Show threadDavid Chisnall (*Now with 50% more sarcasm!*)Dec 20, 2024
@OpenComputeDesign @rl_dane @Flamekebab @DJDarren @obsoletesony They’re a good size for replaceable storage, where you mostly keep it in the device and occasionally remove it to install a new one. They’re a terrible size for removable storage, where you keep it outside of the device for more than a few minutes and lose it.