Sony announces the end of what is probably the most iconic failure in proprietary formats as it stops sale of Betamax cassettes, leaving customers until March 2016 to satisfy their Beta needs.

Not that Sony was still making such tapes-- the company ended Betamax production in 2002, but was still shipping EL-500B, 2L-500MHGB and 2L-750MHGB cassettes, as well as the L-25CLP cleaning tape.

Created in 1975, Betamax was the original VCR and met rivals VHS (industry group led by JVC) and V2000 (Philips) in the VCR format wars. The Betamax format initially found success, but the larger economy of scale (from more manufacturers participating in selling VHS) eventually allowed JVC to push VHS at lower costs. The losing Betamax format, acknowledged as technically superior in many ways, did find use in the professional and broadcast video industries, if through the Betamax-derived Betacam format.

Today The Bbattle for Betamax is often used in universities as a business case illustrating how a single manufacturer can't easily stand against an industry co-operation. (Which certainly makes Apple a more spectacular exception.)

Also receiving a death sentence is another Sony tape format-- MicroMV, specifically the MGR60 tape and the MGRCLD cleaning tape.

Will your customers actually miss access to Betamax or MicroMV tapes? If they do, we can only offer them the most sincere of commiserations.

Go Beta Video and Micro MV Cassette End-of-Shipments Announcement