Another obituary, this one from the Associated Press…
Sony closed the final chapter of its legendary battle with Victor Co. of Japan to dominate the home video machine market, when it announced Tuesday that it would discontinue its Betamax VCRs. Sony will stop manufacturing Betamax machines by year's end as the company refocuses its efforts on DVD and other technologies now dominating the market, Sony spokeswoman Shoko Yanagizawa said.
No great surprise there, of course. We long ago rid ourselves of all emotional attachment to the format, as discussed in this column. Still, it's sad to say farewell to an old friend…though it isn't a total farewell. I still have one working Betamax in my main video setup and two more in a closet. Once the making of home DVDs becomes practical (there's another Format War in progress on that front), we'll copy all our irreplaceable Beta tapes to them and be done with it.