History (1994): Sony MD Data Available

Sony Electronics (Park Ridge, NJ) has announced that its MD Data drives and media are expected to be available through computer resellers and consumer retailers this month.

The European subsidiaries made the same announcement shortly thereafter, clarifying that the first line of attack for sales would be distributors and not OEMs.

The MDH-10 model is battery-operated with a SCSl-2 interlace. It comes supplied with a pair of headphones and a remote control that allows the device to be used as an audio stereo player (not audio recorder). Battery life is 120 minutes with a charged lithium-ion battery.

The MDM111-A1 is an internal kit designed for IBM’s Thinkpad docking station.

The direct overwriting drives have a $700 retail price. The 140MB 2.5-inch M-O media costs $30.

The possibility of booting directly from this M-O media is expected in the near future.

“MD Data is the first truly portable high-capacity removable storage, and it has the potential to be the floppy disk of the multimedia age,” said Takashi Sugiyama, director, multimedia peripherals marketing, Sony Electronics.

At the announced prices, it is difficult to imagine the product will prove to be extremely successful, considering its weak performances. In comparison to an FDD, it is far too expensive. In comparison to a 3.5-inch M-O drive, there is only one advantage, its compactness.

This article is an abstract of news published on the former paper version of Computer Data Storage Newsletter on issue 83, published on December 1994.