Death to a dinosaur, floppy disks are officially extinct.

[IOWA]

Believe it or not, Sony managed to shift 12 million 3.5-inch floppy disks in Japan last year -- presumably to die-hard old schoolers. Alas, time waits for no one, and the venerable data transporter that started its life way back in 1981 is going to all but cease production by March of next year. Sony was the last of the major manufacturers to keep churning these bits of plastic out, but soon that too shall be no more. Having already shut down operations in most of the world, it's now noted the end of life for its domestic market, and thereby effectively consigned the floppy to the past. Good riddance, you might say, but we still remember fondly the wonder we experienced upon tearing apart our first 5.25-inch floppy disk. Ah well, the diskette goes the way of the cassette, guess that was predictable.

Sony shutting down Japanese floppy disk sales by March 2011, kills a tech dinosaur -- Engadget

 

[corney91]

This makes me very sad

 

[Caloy]

I still remember using floppy discs and tape drives for bank back-up, servers and main-frame computers.

 

[Kelmar]

My youngest brother has no idea what a 5.25 floppy is.

 

[Thefoodman52]

Yea, as do most people under the age of 15 today. If you say laser disk they look at you like 'Did he mean a CD...?'

 

[Kelmar]

... or VHS for that matter!

 

[TheSultan]

<sigh> i remember my first digital camera was like $500, a Sony Mavica, and saved pictures to a floppy. they were like 2mp and you could only get like 6-7 on a disc. I used to go to weekend concerts and bring like 50 damn floppies----amazing.

 

[eyebeam]

<sigh> i remember my first digital camera was like $500, a Sony Mavica, and saved pictures to a floppy. they were like 2mp and you could only get like 6-7 on a disc. I used to go to weekend concerts and bring like 50 damn floppies----amazing.

Ha! Yeah, I ran across my Mavica this X-mas looking for something else. My niece saw it, asked what the hell it was and laughed her ass off. Btw - If I recall correctly the 2mp one was the 2nd generation. Pretty sure mine was less and I could get 12-14 pics on a disc.

 

[corney91]

... or VHS for that matter!

I bought the original three Star Wars on VHS at Christmas from for

 

[chrlswltrs]

I didn't even realize they were still being produced at all, I haven't seen a disk in a store to buy for years... can't say I was really paying attention though.