Saving Sony

Horoscope Fish

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
Color me totally NOT shocked. If you look back you have to admit Sony has a long track record of being on the cusp of neat-o tech and then totally screwing the pooch; starting with Beta Max back in the '70's. Sony just doesn't seem to want to play well with others and the proprietary (sometimes draconian) nature of their products it seems to me, has been at the root of their downfall. And speaking of Sony and roots (HA!) I don't think that little Sony/BMG CD rootkit fiasco helped them, either. That sort of thing, I think, is looooong remembered and not easily forgotten. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot...

Let's see... Pretty sure things started with Beta Max video but other colossal failures would include (in no particular order): Mini Disk, DAT (digital audio tape), ATRACK (an audio compression technology), Memory stick and something called Universal Media or something like that. It was some kind of optical disc technology like DVD, but I forget the details. I'm not surprised to hear they're on their way out; I haven't owned a Sony product since my Walkman gave up the ghost. Too many other companies doing it BFMP (Bigger, Faster, More Powerful). Or, in this case, perhaps it's Smaller, Faster, More Powerful...

Sayonara , Sony! In reality, I hardly knew ye.

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AC016

AC016

Senior Member
Horoscope Fish said:
Color me totally NOT shocked. If you look back you have to admit Sony has a long track record of being on the cusp of neat-o tech and then totally screwing the pooch; starting with Beta Max back in the '70's. Sony just doesn't seem to want to play well with others and the proprietary (sometimes draconian) nature of their products it seems to me, has been at the root of their downfall. And speaking of Sony and roots (HA!) I don't think that little Sony/BMG CD rootkit fiasco helped them, either. That sort of thing, I think, is looooong remembered and not easily forgotten. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot...

Let's see... Pretty sure things started with Beta Max video but other colossal failures would include (in no particular order): Mini Disk, DAT (digital audio tape), ATRACK (an audio compression technology), Memory stick and something called Universal Media or something like that. It was some kind of optical disc technology like DVD, but I forget the details. I'm not surprised to hear they're on their way out; I haven't owned a Sony product since my Walkman gave up the ghost. Too many other companies doing it BFMP (Bigger, Faster, More Powerful). Or, in this case, perhaps it's Smaller, Faster, More Powerful...

Sayonara , Sony! In reality, I hardly knew ye.

....
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I mentioned life insurance because they actually do sell it and it is their largest revenue maker. I have read multiple time that Sony should just sell their electronic division or just stop it all together. I am not saying that their products are bad, but i have never really been impressed by any Sony products i had <--- notice i said "had". At the moment, i find that you have to pay far to much for a quality Sony product these days. As you say, in regards to proprietary tech, they are far worse then Apple.
 
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traceyjj

Senior Member
My first digital camera was a Sony (mavica) that used to run on floppy discs... my computer is a Sony Vaio, wonderful thing it is... my mobile phone is an older Sony Erricson, and has never let me down, still got (in my attic) a Sony "ghetto blaster" too (and probably a walkman or two... Well built products in my opinion. Will be sorry to hear of them disappearing if this is true :(
 
P

PapaST

Senior Member
AC016 said:
As you say, in regards to proprietary tech, they are far worse then Apple.
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If that's true then that's pretty bad. I do think Apple has changed their feathers a LITTLE bit when it comes to that. But they're still making decisions that I feel shoot themselves in the foot. Thunderbolt??? what is that. ;)

I remember Sony back in the day I was pretty enamored by them productwise. Right around when Circuit City went under did I start to think their stuff just wasn't that great. I didn't realize they've done a ton of restructuring to try and stay afloat.
 
Marcel

Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
As sorry as I am to see a flagship company go down, it makes me rethink my desire to try the A6000. This is the warning I got from my local camera shop owner: There won't be too many camera brands left within the next year or two. These people deal on a weekly basis with company reps and they have seen the personnel being shown out, specially of their service departments, warehouses etc. As far as DSLRs are concerned, Nikon and Canon are still our safest bet if long time service is in sight. Olympus, Panasonic and others are hurting bad with the IQ of phone cameras that stole away about 80% of the point & shoot market. And the point & shoot market was the bread and butter for these companies.
 
AC016

AC016

Senior Member
I do believe that this was the first Sony product i owned:

images.jpg

Then there was the walkman in the same outlandish yellow. What was your first Sony product?

***This thread may move into a different direction. Feel free to move to the Off Topic thread.
 
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Don Kuykendall_RIP

RIP :(
The best desktop computer i ever had was a Sony VIAO It was my daily workhorse for years before I moved to mostly Laptop. It then was attached to my TV ad used for TV watching. It ran for probably 10 years with never being turned off. I then had a Sony VIAO Laptop that was in service for years when I had a full time online job. I lived with the computer all the time. Even traveling it went with me so I could stop and work for an hour or so to catch up with work during the day. Lover both of them. They lost out when they got more expensive for less computer and I moved on to other brands.
 
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sonicbuffalo_RIP

Senior Member
Article was full of a headline, but short on specifics. It didn't have much detail. I think the picture is brighter in certain areas, like their camera division, than in other areas. If they do go under, well, I guess I'll use mine until it stops ticking.
 
Horoscope Fish

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
sonicbuffalo said:
DAT had a great sound! Ten times better than cassettes.
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And Beta Max was superior to VHS but, instead of licensing the technology like any half-intelligent company would, Sony decided to keep the technology proprietary and that... "Sank their battleship".

Rinse. Lather. Repeat.

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sonicbuffalo_RIP

Senior Member
Horoscope Fish said:
And Beta Max was superior to VHS but, instead of licensing the technology like any half-intelligent company would, Sony decided to keep the technology proprietary and that... "Sank their battleship".

Rinse. Lather. Repeat.

....
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What can I say? You're right about Beta Max! Sank their R & D before it had a chance.....but.....Sony survived!
 
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sonicbuffalo_RIP

Senior Member
Blacktop said:
When I was into home recording (without a computer) I used to mix down my 8 tracks of audio to a 2 track reel to reel, before I bought the DAT player.
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One of my old hi-fi buddies still has Nakamichi Dragon cassette player.....considered by many to be top of the line for cassettes.
 
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Deleted

Senior Member
sonicbuffalo said:
One of my old hi-fi buddies still has Nachamichi Dragon cassette player.....considered by many to be top of the line for cassettes.
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Ahh you know that's going back to my old hi-fi days. My deck & speakers were Linn, amps were Naim. Although the Nakamichi Dragon was a great deck (I had one), I replaced it with the little Sony Walkman pro (aimed at pro musicians) which had better sound quality. :)

8-sony-walkman-pro-460-85.jpg
 
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Blacktop

Senior Member
Speaking of gadgets from long ago. This was a real breakthrough in technology for those of us that liked to rock out till 2 in the morning at high volumes without disturbing the neighbors.
Thank you Tom Scholz.

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Copyhat

New member
sonicbuffalo said:
DAT had a great sound! Ten times better than cassettes.
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DAT was used for recording at a lot of budget studios. Cassettes are decent for what they are, pretty good considering the low tape usage. My Revox B77 open reel deck can eat itself through 1100 meters of quarter inch tape within 45 minutes...
 
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sonicbuffalo_RIP

Senior Member
I remember when I was a DJ for an AM/FM radio station in Virginia in the 70's during my high school years. One year I got drunk and had friends come to the station. While I was out in front of the station with a R to R going, I forgot about the tape and went back in to find the rubber stopper had come off the reel, and the tape was all over the floor. I did some quick editing with some scotch tape and got er back up and running. Those were the good ole days. My girlfriend had distracted me. She was more than model material if you know what I mean. Still in touch with her.
 
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