Japan’s Minidisc Packaging
A quick in-between video.
Until very recently I had no idea that Sony Japan had employed different packaging for their domestic Minidisc album releases. I’ve bought some examples and after quite the delay they’ve finally arrived.
Comments (32)
Daniel, me too. So I bought a couple of MD recorders :) A Sony portable (really nice one, barely used) and 2 Tascams. I'm really impressed with how they sound, and they're easy to use and great fun! I only have one original prerecorded MD. Indeed, feels crappy and BIG! Really strange! MD is great to record music from streaming services like Tidal, Qobuz or Spotify (not that I would do of course). Still, would I buy the MD prerecorded version or the CD, even if they are virtually the same price? I'd have to say I still would have bought the CD though. No compression and nicer booklets...
I hadn't heard the term "Obi Strip" before but now I know! https://wiki.musicbrainz.org/Obi_Strip Great video, I found it entertaining even though I never got to have a minidisc player. I always wanted one, though. Just like most Sony products in the 90s. I wished so much for a VAIO computer, Clie PDA, a minidisc, a Sony stereo, Trinitron TVs and monitors... and probably a dozen more amazing things I saw in a store or an ad somewhere. Sony was so great then.
I'm fairly sure that the precise release date printed on the disc is due to JASRAC regulations (The Japanese equivalent of the RIAA; unsure what the UK equivalent is). Every Japanese record I've seen from the last 30 years has the recording date somewhere on the back.
Another great video!
The packaging is the only thing I find attractive about LPs. Technically, the first album I ever bought was "Sergeant Pepper" on vinyl when I was 8 years old or something, and (I think) I was in a store with my Mom and she said she'd buy me any album I wanted. I specifically remember seeing a sticker on the shrinkwrap promising cardboard cutouts inside and thinking "Two toys for one!" Of course, even CD packaging is too small to deliver a great cover or great additional printed content. But I'm still a sucker for a boxed set that gives me a hardbound thing to read while I listen.
Now that I mentioned it, probably the first record I ever bought as a matter of my developing taste in music was Joe Jackson's "Look Sharp!" and I bought the 10" import instead of the US release because it came with a "Look Sharp!" jacket pin (which I still have). So hats off to the marketing people at music labels, I guess.
I thought those boxes looked familiar! I've got a TDK MD Lens cleaner in one! https://ibb.co/BKq7vQM
Nice video thank you. I own some switch games and size of case is annoying as are the ds. Interesting recently one of the retailers saying if you buy digital you don't own the product (film or cd) just have a licence to use it for a while. Thanks for your hard work
What a nice little quicky. Thanks for that!
Interestingly(?), the DCC case and the CD case were designed by the same person: Peter Doodson, a really nice English chap who retired from Philips a few years ago and now lives in Rotterdam. I met him at the DCC Convention in 2019. By the way I don't think I ever saw any prerecorded MD's in the Netherlands in the 1990s.
Oh yes I saw the interview online. You had to look long and hard to find any prerecorded MDs in the UK. I saw some once - at the Virgin Megastore in London.
I have to say I was unaware as well until a few years ago, but it makes sense why Discogs and so many other places will show the japan release as a separate entity, of course it's because the track listings could be different, but the art, packaging, and even the image on the disc itself are different, so I'm always keeping an eye out for a different run of an album I like, because 99% of the time, the one released in Japan was superior
I never once even considered buying a pre-recorded MiniDisc, couldn't see the benefit vs. a CD and blank MD. It's not like I ever needed that many MDs at any one time., I think I had a case that held about 6 or 8 that I used for commuting or holiday trips.
Our Japanese friends are experts at packing quality into small spaces. Their urban homes exhibit the same compact attention to detail as do their electronics and media products. This might be the result of living on a piece of island real estate that is pretty darn small!
Will enjoy this later tonight! I did notice, while adding the video to 'Watch later', that there's no cheese sandwich over the intro. What are your criteria for the cheese sandwiches? 🤔 BTW, this brief "add to playlist" viewing could be another explanation for the early drop-offs you've mentioned previously. But I'm probably not the first to point that out. 😃
The Cheese Sandwich videos are the minimal effort ones. They tend to mostly be shot in real time with a live voiceover and often as a result have a few technical issues with audio, focus and lighting. Believe it or not - this took me four days to make and there must be welll over fifty different elements in the video.
Thanks Matt I only became interested in minidisc after you put up a video about them last year. I did find the sound quality disappointing compared to CD. I often ask myself why Sony never produced a portable SACD player because SACD is still a format that I use today. When I bought a potable minidisc of £6. I decided to buy a cheap prerecorded minidisc and picked up a copy of Cher with that autotune on it and it was awful. At least the CD sounded better and one day I will try copying it to a mini disc just to see if it sounds better.
I never considered the idea of a portable SACD player - but now you’ve mentioned it, it does seem to be an omission.
Nice one Matt. Just goes to show what a difference decent packaging can make. The Japanese Nintendo GameCube boxes were much smaller than the US /UK versions as well.
I just mentioned the same on the YT video - the JP Gamecube cases were much more fun.
I think that's the first of your videos I've seen where you don't appear on camera at all. Or am I wrong? I liked the cutaway to the record store - colourful and took us out of the close-ups for a while.
I’m not onscreen in most of the videos, but you mustn’t have missed me ;-) The to-camera sections take a bit of setting up, and I only tend to use them when it’s easier to explain something ‘in person’ and I don’t have anything else I could show while I’m talking. Plus there are days when I’m not feeling up to being upbeat.
Actually, the date on the obi strip is for resale price management. According to the Japanese law, resellers should keep the written price two years after the initial release. It's one of the few good things that the Japanese bureaucracy gave us.
So - that means discounts aren’t a thing until something is two years old?
I think PS Vita had the smallest cases I've ever seen. I don't know that they could have gone any smaller without having to make an outer box for all of the required legalese.
You’re right about the Vita cases - they must have been the smallest in the west.
These are absolutely bananas
Thanks, mate. I always enjoy your videos. Keep it up and be safe.
Can I assume you played that Zelda game?
For a while - but I lost interest quite early on. But that’s just me with games, I always find something else to do instead.
Just the distraction I need while following the US elections... 🤯
This is the important stuff - minor packaging variations.