On: Is Sony's 140MB MiniDisc Drive the Next Betamax? (...

[the8472]

Caddies aren't unique to minidiscs though, CD caddies were a thing too for example. Or do you mean the portable players?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caddy_(hardware)#/media/File:C...

[detaro → the8472]

Yeah, but they don't match the aesthetics of a miniDisc. The small size, more "modern" design (fully transparent materials, more colorful, ...) just looks more futuristic.

Ironically it also helps that self-recorded MDs were the more common option, so the discs aren't covered in labels/printing. (I have one modern prerecorded MD release, and while the printing is neat in some ways, it doesn't have that futuristic side as much)

[Bluestein → detaro]

> t also helps that self-recorded MDs were the more common option, so the discs aren't covered in labels/printing.

I hadn't thought of it, but you are right.

(Then again cassettes were also mostly always used "naked" - as in, copied and devoid of labeling ... ... and they never reached MD-level cool :)

... though they might have seem like a very futuristic thing when first introduced.)

[Bluestein → the8472]

I remember using a caddy in one of the first CD-ROMs, in high school, no less, instructed in the care and, particularly, the -feeding- of the CD Drive by the kind librarian :)