That wouldn't be due to the appeal of Sony Minidiscs for masses then would it?

I know some UK friends all rave about Sony Minidiscs, even when MP3's are just as good if not better - and you get more of them in tyour car than any mini-disc unit I've ever seen.

The appeal seems to be that every device in the UK seems to have a mini-disc instead of a tape unit, so its become a de-facto standard.

Can't say thats happened in the rest of the world though.