Sony is a designer, developer, manufacturer and marketer of audio, video, imaging, game, communications, and information technology products. It sells products to the industrial, consumer, and professional markets. Born in 1992, the MiniDisc was a recordable 2.5inch optical disc intended to replace the loathsome analog audio cassette. Neither good enough nor cheap enough to become ubiquitous, the MD nevertheless achieved ample sales in Japan and a niche cult following elsewhere-notably among broadcasters, and musicians. By the early 1990s, the high-fidelity compact disc was a decade old and stunningly popular, yet plagued still by annoying deficiencies: it was not recordable and skipped in portable players.
