Decades ago, I purchased a minidisc recorder and a portable minidisc player from Sony. This bundle comprised the Sony MDS-JE500 (recorder) and the Sony MZ-E440 (player). My purchase went through a buying service called NDI in December of 1996. In January 1997, the package arrived. This system made its way into my home stereo setup. Minidiscs allow digital recording using a TOSLINK optical transmitter. Thankfully, my laserdisc player had a digital optical output. A fibre optical cable was needed to connect the laserdisc player to the minidisc recorder. Once connected, you could make mixed recordings of your favourite songs or copy an entire compact disc. My first copy was from an analogue tape. Subsequent recordings were from my larger compact discs, which I wanted to copy and listen to on the portable player. Yes, you could record someone else’s music. These times were before the Digital Millennium Act.
At some time in the Spring of 1997, I looked at my multiple compact disc player and wondered if it could be made to transmit digital audio. The compact disc player could hold five compact discs. Looking back, my idea was duplicative. It solved a problem I did not have, but I was determined to open the compact disc player and add a digital optical output. Research lead me to the Sharp Corporation in search of a TOSLINK digital optical output part (GP1F32T). After a short phone call, I was a bit put off. A single TOSLINK was $25. I was not prepared to invest in a few of them to solve a problem that I did not have. After much more research, I found a company offering them for $1 each! The only problem was the $50 minimum order. During lunch, I sat down and worked out a return on investment to see how many devices I needed to sell to make back the $50. After some analysis, I determined that $10 for each unit would beat competitors and allow a break-even in no time.
I bought 50 TOSLINK digital optical transmitters and announced to a listserve mail list that I was selling a few of them. In the email, I explained that the TOSLINK digital optical transmitters could be connected to the digital output on a CD ROM Drive. This was a discussion that had been going on for months.
My product solved a problem a problem that many others had. In no time, I was inundated with emails requesting more information or asking to buy a TOSLINK digital optical transmitter. I had to create a website for others to read and order these transmitters. At the time, I found that my old college student website was still accessible. I modified it a bit to explain the product. Sales took off. Soon, I learned that a new site was needed, and this was the site that endured for many years. The introduction of Paypal made it easier to sell these transmitters. At the time, I received $5 for every person who signed up for the service, and the new users received $5 towards their purchase. The times were good. Because I was trying to solve a problem that I did not have, I gave up on my home project of adding a digital output to my compact disc player. Others did have a need, and this site gave them what they wanted and more. I had one problem, I could not stop selling them for years.
This is the remake of that site: Toslink.Sweers.ch. Email addresses and the order functionality have been removed. The site has been running for several years until the rise of MP3 players and the Apple iPod made Sony Minidiscs irrelevant. When the sun is shining, make hay.