Maxell to no longer manufacture discs, blow customers away

Though the Maxell brand name will live on, the company announced it is ending production of CD, DVD, Blu-ray and HD DVD discs at the end of the month. It plans to outsource to other manufacturers (like Mitsubishi perhaps?) and though the name on the packaging will be the same, we just don't see how anyone else can provide the rather unique experience of Maxell tape discs.

[Via Impress]

[Xzavier @ Mar 4th 2008 8:08AM]

Well That SUCKS!

[Bobs @ Mar 4th 2008 10:34AM]

No, It blows.

[monkfishbandana @ Mar 4th 2008 11:59AM]

Maxell XL-II80's are possibly the best discs for use in home stand-alone CD recorders. Me and my dad have a few cases at home and use them constantly with a 100% success rate.

I know what we'll be grabbing from eBay, Amazon and Comet this month.

[Flashpoint @ Mar 4th 2008 8:10AM]

NO ONE
and I repeat - no one - is going to miss Maxell disks.

First of all, physical media is coming to an end within 5 years - a new era to be ushered in by flash MP3 players and SSD drives. The only hold out will be Video game consoles, and that is until fiber optic speed networking becomes more prevalent. Blu Ray's defeat of HDDVD will be soon trumped by high end multi - Terrabyte DVR's with internet connections.

The music industry is selling fewer and fewer CD's every single year while Apple Itunes and the other MP3 download sites (including P2P) sell BILLIONS of tracks.

For the few of us still recording to CDR's...Sony discs are prevalent on Best Buy, Circuit City and Walmart shelves as well as generic brands from China. So long as people can get a pack of disks, for cheap, the name is irrelevant.

And Maxell's name will still be on the packaging...who but Engadget readers will notice a switch in manufacturers?

[John B @ Mar 4th 2008 8:29AM]

Wow. What are you smoking and why aren't you passing it around?

You people who preach that physical media are going away are in MASSIVE need of a reality check. Physical media might decline, but it's not going anywhere for DECADES!

First off, the infrastructure for all-networked connections IS NOWHERE as close as you delusional "no media" people think it is. There are BILLIONS of people who do not have broadband access, let alone any Internet access at all. So, on-demand downloading is a dream vision for the majority of people on this earth.

Secondly, people do this thing called "traveling", meaning that they actually get away from their computer and their high-speed Internet. You might want to try it someday. When people do this thing called "traveling" they normally do it in a car or van where they have no broadband connection and the media player of choice is more often than not a DISC PLAYER in the dashboard. You can't play discs if media suddenly disappears.

There are also a hell of a lot of people out there who prefer to have a PHYSICAL COPY of their media for recovery purposes. A plastic disc in a paper sleeve on a shelf in some corner takes up very, very little space, and it means that the media is readily available.

Really ... you people who think that "every fu*king thing will be downloaded via a 100 Gb connection that everyone in the world will have connected to their house, car, boat, hut, or cave" need to just shut up. It's not going to happen for a long, long time, regardless of the technological advances in networking or removable media. I don't know what you "everything will be downloaded" people are smoking, but it must be some really, REALLY good stuff.

[Fred @ Mar 4th 2008 10:19AM]

Flash MP3 players and SSD drives -are- physical media...

[CosterMonger @ Mar 4th 2008 10:31AM]

then why do they sell them in packs of 100 {which are really cost effect}

[Nick @ Mar 4th 2008 11:42AM]

Physical Media will always be around and be consistantly used. Remember how Print died what 15 years ago?

In the industry that I work in you don't know what video codec support every clients computers have, how much data their computers can handle at one time, how big of files you can get through their email firewall, or if they understand the concept of an FTP server (which is quite difficult for some). But, you can always count on the client being able to pop a DVD into a DVD player.

[me @ Mar 4th 2008 12:17PM]

My office is going paperless, too.

[Nick @ Mar 4th 2008 1:08PM]

"The music industry is selling fewer and fewer CD's every single year while Apple Itunes and the other MP3 download sites (including P2P) sell BILLIONS of tracks."

Comparing full length albums to single tracks is apples and oranges. Id like to see a comparison on the amount of CDs sold versus Complete Albums sold via digital sites. Buying a full CD and buying 1 or 2 tracks is completely different. It's possible for CD sales to go down because now consumers dont have to go out and purchase the whole album when all they really wanted was those 1 or 2 tracks that they like.

[Adrian @ Mar 4th 2008 1:10PM]

I agree with John. Yes SSD and HDD might be growing in leaps and bounds in their capacities but it wont go mainstream for a long time. Most INTELLIGENT people (oops I didn't mean to type that) like to have something physical to play anywhere. I know that I like to be able to take my DISKS not HDDs with me when I think I might want to watch a movie or two on the go.

@me: yes your company might have moved away from using paper copies of memos and such but most memos take up very little HDD/SSD space, my friend. Memos compared to high def movies take up very very little space.

[me @ Mar 4th 2008 3:28PM]

@ Adrian: I should have flown the sarcasm flag on that one... I've been in a lot of offices, both Governmental and private sector who had the goal of being paperless. In the end (especially in the Govt) is hasn't happened. The original comment "physical media is coming to an end" reminded me of those times when the boss would come in trumpeting the paperless plan.

[Brent @ Mar 4th 2008 8:12AM]

Well... what's left to manufactuter? Do they make anything else?

[Evan @ Mar 4th 2008 8:15AM]

I wonder if they'll stop making MiniDV tapes, because the ones that they make suck and always clog the recording head...

[XGM @ Mar 4th 2008 8:28AM]

I always found that picture they used funny. It should have been one of those PS3 ads, where when it would start floating the wind would pick up like in that pic.

[Sean O @ Mar 4th 2008 12:19PM]

That pic is a famous Maxell ad from the 80's.

[Chris Heer @ Mar 4th 2008 8:34AM]

Was Maxell ever a serious player in disc media? I can't remember caring about their brand since the last time I bought XL-II-S tape (CrO2 FTW!).

[BioWare #1 @ Mar 4th 2008 8:41AM]

LMAO @ 2 dude debating' over physical media. (I use quotes because really... is anyone debating this issue? Not really).

Somehow an article about Maxell OUTSOURCING becomes a passionate debate about the end of physical media, complete with an even MORE passionate rebutal?

My advice: Turn off your monitor, get up... go OUTside (OUT, you dummy... the bathroom or the spare bedroom where you keep your comics and left-over "I'll build my own modded PC" parts does not count)...and INHALE.

[Dave @ Mar 4th 2008 8:59AM]

Butler: (showing tape to man sitting in chair)
The usual, sir?

Man: (in a low voice)
Please.

[giuliop @ Mar 4th 2008 9:13AM]

I think the versions with Peter Murphy were actually a lot better, with Mussorgsky's thundering music and the final "Maxell. Break the sound barrier" and the rarer video tape ad, which went - if I recall correctly - "Maxell videotape. Get the picture".

[Rob @ Mar 4th 2008 9:41AM]

Good, because their DVD-DL suck major balls. I would never use their DLs because they're guaranteed coasters.

[CosterMonger @ Mar 4th 2008 10:33AM]

and they're 3-6 times the cost of single layer

[Mr. B @ Mar 4th 2008 9:57AM]

I wonder if the Maxell CD-R Pro will continue. As far as I know it's the only way to buy Taiyo Yuden media at Wal-Mart and the like.

[m-p{3} @ Mar 4th 2008 9:58AM]

Anyway, I use TDK or FujiFilm CDs.

[Bobs @ Mar 4th 2008 10:37AM]

Plastic disc cases at one time i think. oh, and tapes for camcorders, but i dont know if they still make those.

[smiler @ Mar 4th 2008 12:04PM]

I thought they outsourced anyway, much like TDK does. I don't think I've ever seen Maxell discs, but I wish they'd bring back their CrO₂ tapes - they were the best available and now it's impossible to get decent tapes. Some of us still have cassette players in the car y'know!

One thing I've learnt about optical media is don't trust the brand. They all use different manufacturers, and while one TDK disc may be fantastic, another is coaster-material. Verbatim and Dysan tend to be good though =).

[Mark @ Mar 4th 2008 1:10PM]

This really sucks...Maxell had really good DVD discs..played in everything.

[ryanol @ Mar 4th 2008 1:49PM]

I really really like Taiyo Yuden media...of course thats cause I sell it. I think that many of the large players are getting out of physical media because its expensive to keep up the marketing.

In the optical media business....Taiyo Yuden is the gold standard.

[Montusama @ Mar 4th 2008 3:40PM]

Toshiba with HD-DVD, Pioneer with Plasma, Maxell with Disc Formats.... interesting Q1 of 2008 don't you agree guys?


Taiyo Yuden and MCC make the best media in the world....at this rate it will only be them and a few others...

[evanlcooper @ Mar 4th 2008 3:55PM]

I was on a fruitless search for Taiyo Yuden DVD-R media in local stores, but discovered Verbatim Digital Movie DVD-R...which I've been very impressed with for DVD, DivX/AVI/MP4, and data. Zero coasters out of 75+ discs. Plus the 25 packs are cheaper than the 50 at MircoCenter...under $15. If anyone's been looking for great DVD media from local stores in a pinch, try them out. Manufacturer ID: MCC02RG20 ("First Class" media, according to http://www.digitalfaq.com/media/dvdmedia.htm ... you can dl a media identifier to get the mfr id here http://dvd.identifier.cdfreaks.com/ )

Just in case anyone's been looking for great DVD media without always having to order online and wait, I'm very happy with the Verbatim Digital Movie discs...aside from good manufacturing, they also have a thick label with multiple ink layers to add extra protection against scratches. Not too much room to write on, but their old school film reel style looks pretty cool too.