In 1976 Sony introduced the Betamax video cassette recorder. It catalyzed the “on demand” of today by allowing users to record television shows, and the machine ignited the first “new media” intellectual property battles. In only a decade this revolutionary machine disappeared, beaten by JVS’s version of the cassette recorder. This video tells the story of why Betamax failed. This is one of three videos in a series on marketplace failures of technological objects.