Farewell to VCRs: Japanese maker to shelve once-hit product

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese electronics maker Funai Electric Co. says it’s yanking the plug on the world’s last video cassette recorder.

A spokesman, who requested anonymity citing company practice, said Monday production will end sometime this month, although it declined to give a date, because key component makers are pulling out, due to shrinking demand for VCRs.

He said the company had wanted to continue production to meet consumer requests, but can’t.

Many families and libraries have content stored in the VHS format. Such tapes can still be converted using VHS-DVD recorder-players made by other companies.

Last year, Funai made 750,000 units of such devices that played or recorded cassette tapes. In 2000, it had made 15 million of them, 70 percent for the U.S. market, according to the company.