OT, but needs atention!!!

[pharding at mail.ndirect.co.uk]

Hi Paul,

you missed out the funniest bit of the Sony story,though it does have 
sad knock-on effects:-

  Sony screwed up with the VIDEO2000 system, when Betamax and VHS
> where around, Beta was technically better, but VHS had better marketting
> and stronger support from manufacturers (Read:cheaper). I think sony
> learned a BIG lesson from this.

  After losing the video format wars Sony along with many other 
global electronics giants started buying up record companies,so the 
old CBS records is now Sony as i'm sure just about everyone knows.EMI 
used to be linked with Toshiba,Phillips to Polygram records and so 
on.The reason for this being that all these companies made hi-fi 
equipment and thus wanted to make the profit from the music played on 
their stereos.I wouldn't mind but since the 70's CBS records always 
had about the worse quality pressings of all the big labels and so 
flimsy i bet that the guy who designed the first floppy disks got his 
inspiration from a CBS record! 

  These companies made zillions from their overpriced CD's but then 
Sony really shot themselves in the foot when DAT arrived,(intended 
as a Domestic not Pro format)when people realized that you could make 
DAT copies of CD's for less than half the list price of a CD.I guess 
it was pressure from Sony's own record company that caused Sony to 
try to scupper the DAT format,(anyone remember the early Sony DAT 
machines that had to be modified for either 44.1/48K sampling? ).It 
was only the number of studios using DATs that kept DAT going to this 
day.......for some reason DAT tapes recorded on Sony machines often 
glitch when played back on other makes of DAT machines,...suprised?

  so Minidisc could never be allowed to sound as good as DAT for 
Sony's own internal political reasons.
   Definition of minidisk......

"sounds ok-ish but then after a while you want to put something else 
on and dont know why"   Paul Solomons.(Probably the most 
in-demand Record Mastering engineer in London today)..

If people enjoy their minidiscs then fair enough,but they are not a 
serious mastering format,please.

  The downside to all these dumb format wars is that the record 
industry is now controlled by about five major corporations which are 
only interested in Profit,so they really play it safe and tend to 
release safe predictable music wherever possible.This is what bothers 
me most about the whole subject not their profits or any of that 
stuff.. No wonder so much music is 'dumbed down' right now.Anything 
new and original tends to get picked up from independent labels (who 
struggle to get their records in the shops against the majors ).This 
is what bothers me most about the whole subject not their profits or 
any of that stuff. Soon there will probably be only one or two global 
record companies left,though hopefully the internet and MP3's can 
change things.i hope so.......

Paul harding 
 (wishing new technology made music sound better not 
worse)