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Floppy Disk Era Ends as Sony Halts Sale of 3.5-Inchers in Japan
On April 23rd, Sony announced that it would begin phasing out the sale of its floppy disks in Japan, confirming that all sales within the country will come to a complete halt in March 2011. The decision comes a month after Sony discontinued the vast majority of its global floppies, although the company says it will continue to market the disks in a handful of niche countries, like India. According to the Examiner, Sony accounted for a full 40-percent of worldwide floppy disk sales in 2008, including 70-percent of the Japanese market. Recent years, however, have seen a steep decline in demand, as devices like USB sticks, CDs and DVDs have gradually encroached upon the floppy disk's once existent market hegemony. In 2000, for example, Sony sold 47 million disks in Japan alone. In 2009, though, it only managed to move 8.5 million -- which, if you think about it, is still a pretty impressive feat, considering that hardly any recently built computers actually support 3.5-inch disks.
We all knew, of course, that the floppy's death knell would eventually sound, and that we'd have to say our goodbyes at one point or another. Considering how rapidly the technological life expectancy has decreased in recent years, it's remarkable that the little guy managed to hang on for so long. Sony's announcement may simply affirm the inevitable, but it still leaves us feeling a bit wistful about an era that's now officially bygone. [From: Examiner; via: Geeoksystem]
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Comments
26
Subscribe to commentsPOERGLIDE7Apr 27th 2010 7:24AM
Not only do I still use them, I add floppy drives to all of my computers which come without them. It is far easier to keep customer accounts separate if I have a different disk for each customer then keeping them all on one massive drive. I better stock up!
SUSIE H.Apr 27th 2010 11:50AM
Flop discs a waste of money and time. Try using jump stick to save customer information. You can color code for each customer, and save up to 19GB per stick,; though most sticks are available in the 4GB mode. That amount of storage is far greater than the floppy disc. That also eliminates the constant insertion of discs during a large file download. Moreover, when you've done down loading you can slip the "JumpSticks" in your pocket, or purse or hook them on a key ring.
commodore-guruApr 27th 2010 1:03PM
That's a load of crap. I still use the same 5-1/4" floppy disk with my Commodore 64. I've never found a place on it to insert a 3.5" disk. When did they start selling them? Are they expensive?
JulieApr 27th 2010 2:37PM
LOL Commodore Guru!!! Those were the days!
db325Apr 27th 2010 7:49AM
but i need these for my sewing machine.... stop! no one asked me about this
Thomas HoustonApr 27th 2010 8:30AM
@larry, seems like the spam bots are getting 'smarter'...
ScottApr 27th 2010 8:53AM
I HAVE to use them--at least until I get rid of one piece of equipment that uses them as an interface. Guess I'll have to buy them on e-bay.
swampbunnyflApr 27th 2010 9:10AM
Gone are the days of jokes about floppy disks and hard drives. :-(
Hey, I just found this great site where a single Mom of 8 can earn a living form home! Just kidding, I've always wanted to say that!
KaylinApr 27th 2010 10:13AM
lol
teamgrant123Apr 27th 2010 9:47AM
Hell I am still useing 51/4 floppy on a apple 2 plus same floppy sine 1986. I wrote 10 piano programs and can't rewrite them for the newr Pc's. they are use every day by piano students. Can anyone help me update
Thank, grampy
KentApr 27th 2010 9:49AM
When I got my current computer, it had no floppy drive. Rather than install a floppy drive, I just had all of my floppies transferred onto a CD.
What I'm waiting for is the day that I can't buy Kodak 35mm film. Already, I can't find it at places like Wal-Mart, so I have to order it from a big camera store in New York. Although with shipping, film from New York is cheaper than going to Wal-Mart, and I can get 36 exposure rolls.
JoaquinApr 28th 2010 3:12PM
I think Kodak just announced last week that they were discontinuing production of Kodachrome.
durdenmsApr 27th 2010 9:55AM
Ba Dum-Crash... He'll be here all week folks. Try the veal.
borntalentApr 27th 2010 10:00AM
not good for people who have music sampling equipment.
Sekinu2Apr 27th 2010 11:32AM
Wont be so bad all things like akai MPC4000 and ASR units either have sound bank cd setups or can have an external unit that plugs in and replaces the diskette formats anyways..Time to do a basic upgrade if using just the 3.5 disks anyways
dogonnit_gApr 27th 2010 10:50AM
any birthdays out there?
lilagrossingerApr 27th 2010 11:21AM
I bought an external 3.5 inch drive that plugs into a usb port, so I could still access some of my older files.
geosamsliApr 27th 2010 1:26PM
My "HP Media Center" computer is 5 years old. It doesn't have a 3.5 slot even them. I have a lot of other ports including 2 USB 2 ports in the front of the box.
MichelleApr 27th 2010 12:54PM
Good one (:
JoaquinApr 27th 2010 1:25PM
The 3 1/2 inch disk is not a floppy disk. The predecessor was the floppy because you could actually hold it by one end and wave it and it would flop. But the 3 1/2 inch disk is rigid and does not flop. During the 1980' s that's how you would distinguish between the two disks, one was called the floppy disk and the other was called the 3 1/2 inch disk.