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Ben Woods
Europe EditorBen is a technology journalist with a specialism in mobile devices and a geeky love of mobile spectrum issues. Ben used to be a professional Ben is a technology journalist with a specialism in mobile devices and a geeky love of mobile spectrum issues. Ben used to be a professional online poker player. You can contact him via Twitter or on Google+.
Yes, you might only know of Betamax from the VHS vs Betamax battle of video format wars of the 70s and 80s.
You might also have heard that Sony’s puritanical stance on not allowing pornography on its tapes led to the overall downfall of the format, at least in part.
However, you might not have known that the format is alive and well in Japan, or it will be until March next year, at which point it will finally be killed off.
In various forms, Betamax tapes have been around since 1975, and while the tapes have continued to be sold, the players haven’t been sold since 2002.
➤ Beta video cassette and micro MV cassette tape shipment end of announcement [Sony Japan via Engadget]
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