[CM] Bye Bye, Betamax tapes

[RS Wood]

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34776424

Sony has announced that it will stop selling Betamax video cassettes in
March 2016. The firm revealed on its website that it will also stop
shipping the Micro MV cassette, used in video cameras. It has not
produced a compatible camera for the Micro MV since 2005. Sony launched
the format in 1975, a year before JVC's rival the VHS cassette - which
eventually became the market leader after a long battle between the two
brands and their fans. Although many felt Betamax was the superior
format, most cite the longer recording length of VHS tapes - three hours
versus one - and the cheaper manufacturing costs for VHS machines as the
main factors as to why VHS eventually won out.

[philo]

Post by RS Wood
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34776424
Sony has announced that it will stop selling Betamax video cassettes in
March 2016. The firm revealed on its website that it will also stop
shipping the Micro MV cassette, used in video cameras. It has not
produced a compatible camera for the Micro MV since 2005. Sony launched
the format in 1975, a year before JVC's rival the VHS cassette - which
eventually became the market leader after a long battle between the two
brands and their fans. Although many felt Betamax was the superior
format, most cite the longer recording length of VHS tapes - three hours
versus one - and the cheaper manufacturing costs for VHS machines as the
main factors as to why VHS eventually won out.

Sheesh,


Are those 5.25" floppies going to be next?

[Ian McCall]

Post by philo
Are those 5.25" floppies going to be next?

I hope not - I still use them for my C64...

Cheers,
Ian

[Michael Black]

Post by Ian McCall

Post by philo
Are those 5.25" floppies going to be next?

I hope not - I still use them for my C64...

When this has come up elsewhere, I think the answer has been that
they can be had, but you have to deal with specific places. So don't
expect to be able to get them at your local drugstore (where they no
longer even mention blank VHS tapes anymore), but out there there is a
stock of new old stock floppies, but 5.25 and 3.5.

They were making so many, and there was a slow decline, that probably
stockpiling meant saving a few days of production, or something like that,
even if they aren't still being made (I have no idea).

Maybe ten years ago, I ended up with a box of 25 and then 50 3.5"
floppies, both really good deals in a flyer. I wouldn't have bought at
25 if I'd known a few weeks later that I could get fifty for not much
more. But that was about the point where I stopped using them for
anything much, so most of that stock is available.

I also consolidated various floppies, and in some cases moved the contents
to some other medium, releasing a bunch of others. So if I really needed
floppies, I'm probably okay. I don't have as many spare 5.25" floppies,
but I stopped using those at the end of 1993, so chances are good that's
not going to rise up again. On the other hand, I have kept 5.25" floppy
drives around, just in case.

Michael

[philo]

Post by Michael Black

Post by Ian McCall

Post by philo
Are those 5.25" floppies going to be next?

I hope not - I still use them for my C64...

When this has come up elsewhere, I think the answer has been that
they can be had, but you have to deal with specific places. So don't
expect to be able to get them at your local drugstore (where they no
longer even mention blank VHS tapes anymore), but out there there is a
stock of new old stock floppies, but 5.25 and 3.5.
They were making so many, and there was a slow decline, that probably
stockpiling meant saving a few days of production, or something like
that, even if they aren't still being made (I have no idea).
Maybe ten years ago, I ended up with a box of 25 and then 50 3.5"
floppies, both really good deals in a flyer. I wouldn't have bought at
25 if I'd known a few weeks later that I could get fifty for not much
more. But that was about the point where I stopped using them for
anything much, so most of that stock is available.
I also consolidated various floppies, and in some cases moved the
contents to some other medium, releasing a bunch of others. So if I
really needed floppies, I'm probably okay. I don't have as many spare
5.25" floppies, but I stopped using those at the end of 1993, so chances
are good that's not going to rise up again. On the other hand, I have
kept 5.25" floppy drives around, just in case.
Michael

I still have a lot of 5.25 and 3.5" floppies.


Last year I actually needed some to reinstall OS/2 on a computer used to
control a CNC machine.

About 90% of them were bad. but I did manage to find enough working ones

[p***@gmail.com]

Post by RS Wood
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34776424
Sony has announced that it will stop selling Betamax video cassettes in
March 2016. The firm revealed on its website that it will also stop
shipping the Micro MV cassette, used in video cameras. It has not
produced a compatible camera for the Micro MV since 2005. Sony launched
the format in 1975, a year before JVC's rival the VHS cassette - which
eventually became the market leader after a long battle between the two
brands and their fans. Although many felt Betamax was the superior
format, most cite the longer recording length of VHS tapes - three hours
versus one - and the cheaper manufacturing costs for VHS machines as the
main factors as to why VHS eventually won out.

I thought they stop selling them years ago!