MiniDisc
MiniDisc by TDK, with AA battery for scale | |
| Media type | Magneto-optical disc |
|---|---|
| Encoding | ATRAC |
| Capacity | 60, 74, and 80 minutes |
| Read mechanism | 780 nm semiconductor laser diode |
| Write mechanism | Magnetic field modulation |
| Developed by | Sony |
| Usage | Audio storage |
| Extended from | Compact Cassette, Compact disc |
| Extended to | MD Data, Hi-MD |
| Released | November 1992 |
| Discontinued | March 2013 |
| Optical discs |
|---|
MiniDisc (MD) is an erasable magneto-optical disc-based data storage format offering a capacity of 60, 74, or 80 minutes of digitized audio.
Sony announced the MiniDisc in September 1992 and released it in November of that year for sale in Japan and in December in Europe, North America, and other countries. The music format was based on ATRAC audio data compression, Sony's own proprietary compression code. Its successor, Hi-MD, would later introduce the option of linear PCM digital recording to meet audio quality comparable to that of a compact disc. MiniDiscs were very popular in Japan and found moderate success in Europe. Although it was designed to succeed the cassette tape, it did not manage to supplant it globally.
By March 2011, Sony had sold 22 million MD players, but discontinued further development. Sony ceased manufacturing and sold the last of the players by March 2013. On January 23, 2025, Sony announced they would end the production of recordable MD media in February 2025.