Random thought here. I was never really a fan of Sony. It's kinda like the United States of the electronic world. Claims it is the best at everything (and perhaps it is) and puts it's nose everywhere it can.
I like companies that have their own little field and they are great at it. Companies that have a reputation for their one type of product. Examples for subfields in audio:
-Want a sound card? Creative. They have been putting out the best and the most wildly used ones for decades.
-Want nice speakers? Bose. Well known and excellent quality.
-Want an MP3 player? Apple. Self explanatory really. Sure there are other brands, but c'mon, Apple wins.
Then there's Sony. They want to make everything and anything. They want to make speakers, radios, plasma TVs, watches, etc. I was reading a magazine and saw an add for Sony cameras that read "No other Camera Company can match our quality" The nerve of them! Canon and Nikon rightfully dominate that field, not some electronics company that specializes in... um... What does Sony actually specialize in anyway? In what field can you say "Yup, Sony will be remembered for that. Some may say the Playstation but in a 100 years I'm pretty sure Nintendo will be the one referred back to and the one going down in the history books.
Then there's Sony's desire to be a monopoly on media formats. Beta-max, mini-CDs, Sony Memory stick, Blu-Ray... Give it up already! I mean, honestly, time and time again the consumers choose the other brand and Sony just trys it again. It appears they may have finally won with Blu-Ray but in my mind they only managed by abusing their PlayStation brand name. They knew millions of PS3s would sell so they used it to push their other product on the shelves.
Speaking of Playstation, that's another thing that gets on my nerves. back with the SNES it was "Hey Nintendo! Use CDs!! Please Please!!" Nintendo declined and like a spoiled kid Sony said "but... but... our CDs... Well fine then, we'll just make our own system! Ha!" And, so it went. Credit to Sony they made a system that sold tens of millions and beat the incombant Nintendo fair and square. Nintendo was disappointed but at least it still had the handheld market, a market it has defended and won over for decades. Then, typical Sony attitude "well we have 60% market share of consoles... but we don't own handhelds yet..." and so on they went and announced the PSP. At around this time I guessed what would happen, and thankfully was proved right. You don't back a wounded animal into a corner (going after Nintendo's last market, perhaps the thing that has kept it in buisness thoughout the years) Nintendo was forced to innovate massively and created the DS which dominated the PSP after sevreal years. Nintendo followed this idea and made the the Wii, getting a massive success as well, and thus, has pushed the Sony Giant away from their territory for the moment.
Nintendo, Bose, and Apple are the exception though. While these companies have successfully (temporarily) defeated the Sony empire, Sony keeps showing up in other people's territories and with it's name keeps pushing smaller companies aside. Televisions, DVD players, speakers, headphones, watches, music players, Music record labels, Movies, phones, laptops, calculators, gaming devices, translators, cables...Gah!!
/rant
