http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21297024

Oh, Sony, you and your curious formats!

I didn't even realise they still made it. I thought it had died out years ago.

I have not used it for years. While it was very good, after I got my first iPod I managed to put all my music at the time on the iPod rather than ripping one disc to minidisc, and having to carry a pile of discs.

I still use mine for live audio recording. It lasts way longer on its battery than the DAT recorder does.

The big downside is there's no way to get the recording off the disc as a file. It has to be played back in real time into the pooter.

I have one of the first models of a MD Walkman. I had to drive to Harrow to buy it. It was great - no skipping, the sound quality was good and the best thing was it had the same kind of behaviour as a cassette - namely if you stopped playing and started after, it would carry on.

It was a permanent fixture in my car until I got an iPod.

I still use it from time to time to record stuff.

I couldn't believe they were still making it either. I bought one about 7-8 years ago. At the time, CD players were too bulky and limited you to one CD. IIRC they still couldn't read mp3s.

What I hated about the minidisc was the stupid sony software. You have to "check in/out" music and there was a predefined number of times you could "check out" a track. Obviously you could just reimport the music, which defeated the purpose of the checking in/out system.

However, the quality was great and the discs were small. I don't think these things took off in a huge way. Soon enough, the iPod and its competitors arrived, meaning the minidisc never really got much of a look in.

I think the vast majority were bought by pros and enthusiasts. I understand even the BBC used them for location work?

I always thought they were really cute; I still squee when I get a mini-CD or DVD. Unfortunately my laptop is a slot-loader and I don't know if it put one in, if it would ever come out again!

I think is the reason that they were made for so long. They probably bought loads of discs.

I would avoid that. They were made for those optical drives where you can "click" the disc on to the tray.

I have a few bits of Chinese tat where the drivers came on the little disks, plus I used to do my backups onto them. Luckily everything is on-line now, but it does seem daft not to be able to use them. They are part of the CD standard, after all.