In 1999, Sony released a product that makes vaporwave look as 90s as a vinyl flowered couch: The DCM-M1, a camcorder that takes minidiscs.

Not only is it a fever dream of 1990s consumer electronics, it was also really, really well designed, and nearly led us to a future where video cameras do far more than just shoot video - but of course, neither of us would be here, creating or watching this, if they had succeeded. Watch to find out what they did right, and where they went wrong.

Before you comment: I realize that I asserted that the Minidisc was as common as the ipod in 2003. That's probably not accurate, but there are SO MANY of these things on the ground in the US that I cannot accept that they weren't standard-issue for the upper middle class in their day; so it was probably more like iPod ownership in 2001.

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