New Push Behind MiniDisc Digital Recording

Sony's big push of little digital discs. I'm Fred Fishkin with Bootcamp, a report on computers and technology. It is called the MiniDisc or MD for short. A small 2 and a half inch disc encased in plastic can hold up to 74 minutes of digital soundÂ….allowing consumers to make nearly flawless copies of CDs for use in MD players that can fit in a shirt pocket. And the discs can be recorded on over and over like cassettes. Sony and other electronics companies are hoping the new format will finally catch on. Sony's Mark Viken says the technology has become a lot more affordableÂ…

"We have a bundle package which includes a home deck, portable playback unit, two blank discs and an offer for a free car kit so you can use the portable unit in the car. So you really have everything you need to use the MiniDisc in the home, portable environment and the car in one package for under five hundred dollars."

The recordersÂ…including pocket sized portable units allow you to edit and move tracks easily. So you can create your own digital music collectionsÂ…

"Well MiniDisc is really striking a chord with people because they have a lot of CDs in their house. Many of us have two hundred, three hundred, some of us a thousand CDs in our collection and MiniDisc is a way to take your favorite music from that collection and record what you want to hear in a digital, disc based format and take music along with you."

Are consumers ready to accept a new format for recorded music? Sony is using its recording label to help in the push, but that doesn't guarantee success, even if the MiniDisc is better than anything else out there.