Sony to stop selling floppy disks

Another nail in the coffin of the venerable floppy disk as Sony announces that it will stop manufacturing 3.5" floppy disks by the end of March 2011.

Since Apple released their iMac without support for the floppy disk back in 1998, and coupled with new technology (such as the USB stick), the floppy has been in slowl decline ever since. As the numbers sold have dropped, the larger manufacturers have been turning off their machines one by one.

However, despite the decline in mainstream popularity there are still thousands of legacy machines (some costing in excess of £300,000) in every day use which depend upon the humble floppy, including biological lab equipment, engineering testing stations and even avionics. So while there is still a need, don't expect manufacturers to stop entirely. Ultimately the floppy disk will endure like the vinyl record, manufactured and sold in small numbers, by small manufacturers to a niche audience.

Back in 2007 when PC World announced they were to stop selling diskettes, we wrote that we'd keep duplicating floppies until the world supply dries up, and that's still the case. So if you're in market for bulk floppy copying, don't worry as we still have a good supply and are still offering the service.