Blanks aren’t where you build a market for a media type, you build it with pre-recorded. VCRs were driven by the movies available, CDs by the music. And MDs had a small selection (which is typical for a new media), and that selection cost a lot more than CDs. While CDs cost more than LPs the big perceived benefit of better sound, MDs never had that over CDs. Without that perceived improvement there’s no driving force for the people to pay more. DAT ran into the same problems, it’s actually a pretty great format, but there’s just no driver for the buyers.
Understood. But my use is utilitarian. However, in my experience with MD's, I am amazed that they didn't rise to a higher level of use, given their flexibility and durability vs. CD's. To me, it is a far superior format.