How's about RCA Video Disks? They played with a needle like a visual phonograph record. Too much wear and tear on the medium.

Jello once, late 1960s, made a dessert that automatically separated into layers (ala petroleum cracking towers) after mixing. But it was not reliable and did not last very long.

Did 8-tracks and Beta really not catch on?

8-track tape lasted nearly a decade. Only after dolby(@) technology made audio cassettes sound half-way decent did the smaller format take over.

Beta, a superior technology to VHS, was the victim of Sony's refusal to widely license its format. By the time Sony did, VHS had taken over the market. A similar mistake was made by Apple Computer, so they remain number two with an arguably better product.