Sony to Offer a Recordable CD in ’92 but It’s Not Compatible

Sony recently announced that it will market a recordable compact disc next year, but it won’t quite be what consumers have been eagerly anticipating since the CD boom began in the mid-1980s.

The bad news is that Sony’s 2.5-inch disc won’t be usable on CD players now on the market.

To take advantage of this first consumer-geared, recordable CD system--dubbed the Mini Disc, or MD--you’ll have to buy a player that is MD-exclusive.

In development for five years, the MD can store 74 minutes of music--as much as a standard CD, but in half the space. The MD unit, about the size of hand-held tape recorders, will record and play back both blanks and prerecorded software.

According to Ron Sommer, president of Sony Corp. of America, the MD sound won’t be of CD and digital audio tape (DAT) quality, but it will be superior to standard tapes.

Noting that the MD units initially will be marketed as portables, Sommer said that they have other advantages over current portable tape players beside recordability and superior sound. One is the instant, random access to songs, matching one of the best features of CD players. The other is shock-and-vibration-proof technology that guards against the kind of sound-skipping you get when jostling the portable tape and CD players currently on the market.

Sommer said that Sony has not yet set the price of MD units, but industry sources are guessing they will sell for about $400--in the range of more expensive CD players and tape decks. The blank MDs, he said, will be priced in the range of the top blank analog tapes, about $5 to $6, while the recorded software would be marketed at prices comparable to CDs--$12-$16.

Various manufacturers, including Philips and Tandy, have been developing a recordable CD that is compatible with the CD players currently in use. But the music industry is balking about lost royalties that would result from unrestricted copying, and, until copyright problems are settled, don’t expect anyone to market a standard-sized, recordable CD.

The MD will include copy-limiting technology--the Serial Copy Management System currently used in digital audio tape units.

Sommer said that it was premature to discuss commitments from record companies to provide software for MDs but that the format would get software support from his company’s label, Sony Music.

Available software, of course, is important to the acceptance of the new format. Lack of software is one of the problems that has hampered the DAT.

One problem that the MD will face is competition from Philips’ digital compact cassette (DCC), a new format also due next year. The consumer-friendly DCC unit, which record companies reportedly favor, plays both standard tapes and a digital tape that produces near CD-quality sound.