Betamax is dead: Sony finally kills off cassette format, decades after it fell out of use
Sony’s cassettes were said to be higher quality than rival VHS — but that didn’t save it
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Sony is finally killing off Betamax tapes, long after people stopped using them.
Decades after they stopped being used, and more than 10 years after it stopped making a way to play them, the Betamax tapes will stop being made.
Sony said that it will stop producing the tapes in March 2016, marking the death of its last connection with the once hotly-tipped format.
The most famous part of Betamax’s history was its war with VHS in the late 70s, which it would eventually lose.
A year after Sony created its tapes, JVC launches a competitor in VHS. Betamax was widely considered to produce better quality recordings — but VHS recorders were cheaper and the tapes could store more and so caught on, quickly gaining momentum.
By the early 1980s, VHS accounted for a huge proportion of the market. That helped them gain momentum and later Betamax’s market share died off.
Sony would concede defeat a number of times: producing a VHS player in 1988, and then ceasing production of Betamax recorders in 2002. The latest move to stop producing the tapes is the last admission of defeat.
Similar format wars would play out later on. That included the battle between Blu Ray and HD DVD, which the former would go on to win, before being wiped out itself by a huge mass of competing streaming platforms.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments