Tedium:

As proprietary, non-standardized formats go, Iomega’s Zip drive got a heck of a lot further than most of its competitors. It managed to improve on a format people were used to (the old floppy) just enough that it ensured it’d gain popularity. It fit niches for people who had to share a lot of data. And it even had a sizable base of home users—which was impressive for its time. But the Zip drive was a famously problematic product, and one whose faults created big problems for Iomega. Today’s Tedium talks about the Zip drive, along with the era of proprietary PC storage.

I’ve often wondered if Iomega could have hung on if they hadn’t ignored the Click of Death issue. If they had been more responsive to customers, we might have stuck with them. Now, with the rise of the internet and the ability of customers to communicate and warn each other much more quickly, there’s no way Iomega could have hidden the issue for as long as they did.