Editing Path dependence (section)

===Videocassette recording systems===

The [[videotape format war]] is a key example of path dependence. Three mechanisms ''independent of product quality'' could explain how [[VHS]] [[format war#1970s|achieved dominance]] over [[Betamax]] from a negligible [[early adoption]] lead:
# A [[network effect]]: [[videocassette]] [[video rental shop|rental stores]] observed more VHS rentals and stocked up on VHS tapes, leading [[Renting#Rental agreements|renters]] to buy VHS players and rent more VHS tapes, until there was complete [[vendor lock-in]].
# A VCR manufacturer [[bandwagon effect]] of switching to VHS-production because they expected it to win the ''standards battle''.
# Sony, the original developer of Betamax, did not let [[pornography]] companies license their technology for mass production, which meant that nearly all pornographic motion pictures released on video used VHS format.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://knowledgenuts.com/2014/03/05/betamax-didnt-lose-to-vhs-because-of-adult-films/|title=Betamax Didn't Lose To VHS Because Of Adult Films|last=M.Admin|date=2014-03-05|website=KnowledgeNuts|language=en-US|access-date=2019-08-06}}</ref>

An alternative analysis is that VHS was [[Videotape format war#Market share|better-adapted to market demands]] (e.g. having a longer recording time). In this interpretation, path dependence had little to do with VHS's success, which would have occurred even if Betamax had established an early lead.<ref>{{cite book |last=Liebowitz |first=Stan |title=Re-thinking the Network Economy |year=2002 |page=[https://archive.org/details/rethinkingnetwor00lieb/page/41 41] |publisher=New York |url=https://archive.org/details/rethinkingnetwor00lieb/page/41 |isbn=978-0-8144-0649-6 |quote=It was the inferior playing time that led to the demise of the Betamax, not the fact that it was first or second or third. |url-access=registration }}</ref>
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