The immediate question is, will Blu-ray Disc (BD) recorders, drives, and players read and write all types of CDs and DVDs? Will they clear the fog of application formats and content-protection measures? In last month’s column, I chastised BD device manufacturers for ducking clear answers to these questions. And surveying the broader situation, we see …
Don’t mess with success. That’s a lesson Coca Cola had to learn the hard way. Maybe it’s just me, but I think CD-Recordable (CD-R) is a proven success that should not risk being undermined by CD-Erasable, which is, in my opinion, of questionable advantage and may confuse the established market.
DVD devices of every description must read CD-R discs. It’s been more than five years since I first delivered that simple message. The consumer electronics industry, however, has yet to take it to heart.
By incorporating CD-RW support directly into future operating systems, Philips, Sony, Compaq, and Microsoft have unilaterally declared CD-RW to be the replacement for the floppy disk. They call it “Mt. Rainier.” What others may call it is another matter — maybe high-handed? Or arrogant? It’s like declaring darkness the industry standard if you aren’t smart …
Continue reading ‘Floppy Disk Replacement – CD-R or CD-RW?’ »
The Optical Storage Technology Association (OSTA) has undertaken a renewed effort to surpass its previous accomplishments in the hope of bringing some clarity to the DVD storage marketplace. I’m of course referring to the existing MultiRead specification for CD and OSTA’s desire to create a new MultiRead 2 specification designed to promote and facilitate compatibility …
Isn’t it odd that with all the talk about the importance of DVD drives being able to read CD-Recordable and CD-ReWritable discs, no one has stopped to consider the desirability of DVD devices also being able to write these formats?
As the first generation of DVD-ROM drives ushered in a brand-new day in high-density optical media storage, the same drives seemed to spell doom for die-hard CD-R users, who harbored a well-founded fear that they might have to abandon their investments in CD-R hardware and media and migrate to the new technology.
Speed of technological change seems inevitable. Sometimes speed gets you where you want to go faster, but sometimes speed kills. Speed in product development and rush to market rather than well considered long-term planning has come on the scene to infect well-ordered CD marketing.