The Register: Infinite loop: the Sinclair ZX Microdrive story
The rise and fall of a 'revolutionary' storage technology: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/03/13/feature_the_sinclair_zx_microdrive_story/
Post edited by Daren on
Comments
Interesting article Darren. I had one of the Microdrive Expansion packs for my 48K Spectrum - bought it in John Menzies if I remember correctly. :smile:
Personally, I never had any problems with my Microdrive - it was fast (well compared to cassette) and reliable. I can remember sitting in front of the computer marvelling at how quickly a SCREEN$ would load.
Ah happy days.
Paddy
I'm at work now, but I'm going to read it completely at home.
being a c64 owner and having a 1541, back in the day .. sinclair should have gone with 5.25" drives / disks. like everyone else
Yes, but disc drives were so expensive in 1982. At around ?400 for a full system including controller they wouldn't have seen widespread use on machines like the Spectrum, and there was certainly a gap in the market for a lower cost alternative.
Three or four years down the line it would have been very handy to have had an official standard rather than a mass of competing and, largely unsupported, third party disc drives though.