A high school friend bought a Minidisc recorder (pretty sure it was a Sharp) with his summer job earnings, and at the time (1997ish) it was an incredible object - battery technology more advanced than NiCad, LCD display of track titles, easily able to create mix MDs of anything, wouldn't skip even over rural Northern Irish roads (which are not good at the best of times, and are certainly not good when being driven in an aging Vauxhall Cavalier at significantly faster than the posted speed limits). But the counterpoint to the linked article is that he was about 30 metres from the epicentre of the Omagh bombing, and the minidisc recorder in his pocket did significant damage to his abdomen and still worked perfectly afterwards. Apparently not everyone built them fragile.