MiniDisc In-Store Demo Tape Intro (1993)

When Sony introduced the MiniDisc format in 1993, they tried desperately to generate hype for what they viewed as the logical next step in recording formats: an even smaller optical disc than the ten year-old CD, which didn't have its issues of skipping during playback and sounded superior to the twenty year-old Compact Cassette (and was much smaller to boot!).

In order to educate the public, Sony created a 10 minute long informational video presentation meant to be played in music stores, which went into excruciating detail about things like Sony's ATRAC proprietary compression algorithm.

Sadly for us MD lovers, all the New Jack Swing drum samples, 90s fashion, and authoritative British-accented voiceovers (to appeal to that textbook music fanatic "I'm smarter than you" vibe) couldn't manufacture sufficient enthusiasm for the format to keep it alive once the dreaded MP3 arrived on the scene three years later.

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