nah, japan had MiniDisc boon in 90s-early 00s, it is just the west was lagging behind until we got mp3 players.
Didnt help that the grip the western music companies had on pushing CDs as the ONE record standard was firm. That and we were too used to cassettes as easy recording devices.
This is my Cassette Single.Cassette?What's that?Konno Junko