This page will contain random links to various sources with pricing/release dates on MD discs
https://www.sony.jp/cat/lineup/audio-md-past.html
https://sites.google.com/view/crazyforminidisc/home-page/history-of-blanks
https://web.archive.org/web/19990428012347/http://www.sel.sony.com/SEL/consumer/md/blankmedia.html
Sharp claims 1 million MD units shipped by Sept - 1996
Sharp claims 5 million MD units shipped by November, 1998
Sonly claims > 1 billion MD Discs sold by 2001 https://www.sony.com/ja/SonyInfo/News/Press_Archive/200209/02-0902/
A good MD Blank Gallery Gary from Minneapolis Gallery
MD Disc Press Releases:
[Company links]
a few example news links:
Sony Color collection Press Release
Sony MD2000 Sony Drive MD media Sony late MD part#'s
Sony productpark list of older discs with model#'s and some pictures example: bianca example: md2000
many of the above products show up here without more info
MD-74DBL color series TDK expands MD production from 3 million discs per year to 4.6 million November 1998
Victor D-Cruise Press Release Victor MD-74EBL Victor Pokopo Victor Air press Victor Air product page
https://web.archive.org/web/20040623105906/http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/docs/20040616/tdk.htm https://www.phileweb.com/news/d-av/200406/16/10550.html
A good thread on 5ch.net linking tons of MD disc info https://hobby5.5ch.net/test/read.cgi/av/1065976343/ https://hobby.5ch.net/test/read.cgi/av/1044252363/
Beyond MD: Projects of the future
Sony Press release of "quadruple density MD" 650mb MD Data
http://www.minidisc.org/part_future.html - Sharp was rumored to be developing 980MB and 3.6GB MD-data drives for introduction in 1998
Fujitsu and Sony jointly develop 1.3GB 3.5 inch MO Max expected capacity of 3GB with 5GB expected. Capable of reading and writing existing 3.5 inch MO disks of 128/230/540/640MB.
Sharp/Sony collaborate in 2000 to make a 50.8mm disc that can record 1 gigabyte (1 GB) using a red laser (wavelength of 655 nm) and 2 gigabytes (2 GB) or more using a blue laser (wavelength of 405 nm) https://web.archive.org/web/20020202050830/http://www.sharp.co.jp/sc/gaiyou/news/000323.html
Mammos to deliver 20 times the storage capacity of CD-ROM Sanyo Mammos Press Release
Sanyo created iD Photo 50mm magneto optical discs for camera use The only camera to use it was the IDC-1000z - pic archive https://obsoletemedia.org/sanyo-id-photo/
2002 Kenwood / NHK project to use Blu-Violet 2 beam pickup with "phase change" optical discs. - Probably some form of CD-RW but shows the state of optical research in 2002.