What! I grew up in the UK and it was everywhere. For years you couldn't get on a bus or a train without seeing someone listening to MiniDisc. The little inline remotes were very obvious.

They stuck around for a long time, only finally being killed by the iPod.

Indeed.

I even had a MiniDisc car stereo. So much better than CDs, you could just let them rattle around in the glove box and they didn't get scratched.

And it wasn't the first iPod that ended up killing it. Circa 2004->2006 minidiscs were still super common.

Around 2001 pretty much all my friends had one. I owned 3 over that period (a friend destroyed one, the other me: skating falls were tough on them!)

They were easily the best format for portable music until mp3 players got their capacity problems sorted out.

They were amazing for copying music and making mixes. No one ever bought a new release on MD to my knowledge. You bought the CD and copied it onto MD. We also used them to record our band practise sessions.