Sony Needs A Reality Check

Sony is planning to introduce a $600, 200 CD/DVD changer for use in a Media Center PC setup. I see this monolith as an prime example of Sony just not getting it.

It's not easy working at Sony these days. They practically invented the personal audio market with their insanely popular Walkman cassette player. I'm sure that any of us over age 12 owned at least one of them growing up. Now, Apple controls the personal audio market after Sony tried to shove us into minidiscs, and proprietary (ATRAC) formats. Nice try Sony, but no sale.

So now Sony, once THE innovator, plans on releasing an overpriced disc changer. Hello! Disc sales have been down for the last several years as consumers prefer to download their music. This may have been a niche product a few years ago, when desktops were saddled with limited hard drive space. Now, hard drives of half a terabyte are out, and hundreds of gigs are quite affordable for any user.

The $600 price tag is equally ridiculous. Why pay so much for a peripheral? The most popular price range for a desktop is the $500 to $1000 range. Any peripheral that costs more than the computer is doomed to some clearance shelf space at Big Lots.

With video downloads on the latest iPod selling well, this is the direction that the technology is moving in. Not gargantuan disc changers; these are the monuments to their diminishing market share. While Apple continues to sell iPods, it is products like this one that chase consumers away from Sony.