Sony recently announced it would discontinue production of the MiniDisc Walkman in September. It was just over a year ago that the company dropped the cassette Walkman, so within the space of 18 months two media will have bitten the dust. Though audiophiles may lament the end of another era, to most people it simply means something else to throw away. Obsolescence is built into technological progress.

Nevertheless, the economic windfall that home electronics makers have enjoyed with the changeover from analog to digital terrestrial broadcasts seems to be over. Analog broadcasts end today, so if the TV set you currently use only has an analog tuner, you won't be able to watch terrestrial broadcasts after 12 noon. For months now you've been reminded of the impending change with distracting visual announcements on your screen counting off the days until the end. TV stations, with NHK in the lead, have been offering advice on how to make the switch as painless as possible; and consequently there's been a run on digital TVs and tuners in the past month that's been so intense deliveries aren't guaranteed at some stores until the end of August. Significantly, 80 percent of the demand has been for old inventory sold at discount, according to the Asahi Shimbun, which means no profits for the manufacturers.

Digital stragglers probably don't have the money to spend on newer, more expensive equipment. They're likely just getting the bare minimum so as not to be left behind. In fact, hundreds of thousands of households — not to mention institutional users like hospitals and hotels, which push the number into the millions — are not expected to make the change in time. In some areas, it may not be worth it. In Tokushima Prefecture, for instance, analog tuners can receive up to 10 terrestrial stations. Analog signals still provide a picture even if they're weak, and seven of the available channels in Tokushima are broadcasters in neighboring prefectures. In order to receive a visible digital broadcast, however, the signal needs to be robust, which means starting today Tokushima residents can only watch Shikoku Broadcasting and the two NHK terrestrial channels. In remote areas where the government has determined that digital signals cannot be received, "digital refugees" can use antennas designed to pick up television by broadcast satellite — or BS — signals to watch terrestrial broadcasts, but Tokushima doesn't qualify since it does receive terrestrial digital signals. The problem is that it only has three local channels.