Is optical media outdated?

there was an article on slashdot about a new material for storing information.

It was write-once, like a CDR, but when you consider the amount of static unchanging data around, that''s not such a problem.

Imagine installing the newest program by plugging a little solid state drive into the side of your machine, and viola! new application.

I have always disliked the fragility of CDs. When a new affordable media (that is some what durable) comes out I''ll be all over it.

beethoven is neither aware of nor cares about the noise he creates

Cd''s are not fragile at all, compared to disks. Just put a floppy too near a magnet, and it''s gone. Take it in your pocket, when it''s raining, and it gets a little bit damp, it''s gone. Shake it too much, even drop it in the floor, and it might be gone. Compared to that cd''s can take much damage, actually you have to be really uncareful to get any fatal scratches.

i agree with that. a CD is the most robust form of (transportable!) datastorage i know of.

just as long as youre not the kind of moron who puts his cds next to his computer with the written side down. almost everyone i know does this. dont be surprised then when you try to pick them up and theres just a grain of sand under it will be screwed up.

quote:

---

Original post by Eelco
i agree with that. a CD is the most robust form of (transportable!) datastorage i know of.

just as long as youre not the kind of moron who puts his cds next to his computer with the written side down. almost everyone i know does this. dont be surprised then when you try to pick them up and theres just a grain of sand under it will be screwed up.

---

Yes, many people doesn''t know that the layer of the labeled side is thinner, on a cd-r it can be really really thin. The underside can have a lot of scratches though and still work.

Thats because the reflective film that stores the data is printed directly under the top of the cd, which the label covers, or in the case of a CD-R, the shiney coat of plastic.

You can scratch the bottom as much as you want, provided you have a device to re-surface the disk. (about 14 CND + refills), but if you scratch the top, chances are you''ve scratched the optical film as well, and then your screwed.

Am I the only one who''s ever wondered why CDs are loose like they are? I mean, wouldn''t it completely avert the whole scratching issue (for most general conditions, anyway) if they were to stick CDs in a case that stays on, like with floppy disks? With those you could scratch the disk as much as you pleased (again, within reason), and the black disk inside was unharmed. Only reason I could think of is it would be a bit harder to make a portable CD player that fits in pockets quite as well.

-Arek the Absolute

quote:

---

Original post by Arek the Absolute
Am I the only one who''s ever wondered why CDs are loose like they are? I mean, wouldn''t it completely avert the whole scratching issue (for most general conditions, anyway) if they were to stick CDs in a case that stays on, like with floppy disks? With those you could scratch the disk as much as you pleased (again, within reason), and the black disk inside was unharmed. Only reason I could think of is it would be a bit harder to make a portable CD player that fits in pockets quite as well.

-Arek the Absolute

---

Because it costs more money.


Companies are trying to make as much money as possible, and therefore produce the cheapest pieces of crap that the public is willing to accept.

Corporations are more than willing to have easily scratchable CD''s and DVD''s, especially when in means that the purchaser must go out and purchase another copy when their first one inevitably dies.

quote:

---

Original post by Arek the Absolute
Am I the only one who''s ever wondered why CDs are loose like they are? I mean, wouldn''t it completely avert the whole scratching issue (for most general conditions, anyway) if they were to stick CDs in a case that stays on, like with floppy disks? With those you could scratch the disk as much as you pleased (again, within reason), and the black disk inside was unharmed. Only reason I could think of is it would be a bit harder to make a portable CD player that fits in pockets quite as well.

-Arek the Absolute

---

Cost. You''d end up with CDs costing considerably more, simply because the packaging would cost more. Why do you think spindles are so much cheaper than boxes of CDs with jewel cases?

CM

quote:

---

Original post by Mithrandir
Because it costs more money.


Companies are trying to make as much money as possible, and therefore produce the cheapest pieces of crap that the public is willing to accept.

Corporations are more than willing to have easily scratchable CD''s and DVD''s, especially when in means that the purchaser must go out and purchase another copy when their first one inevitably dies.

---

To say nothing of the fact that consumers are willing to pay a little less for a medium you have to take a little more care of.

Everything isn''t the fault of big bad corporations. Consumers are responsible for many of the problems that you put solely on the corporations.

CM

quote:

---

Original post by Mithrandir

quote:

---

Original post by Arek the Absolute
Am I the only one who''s ever wondered why CDs are loose like they are? I mean, wouldn''t it completely avert the whole scratching issue (for most general conditions, anyway) if they were to stick CDs in a case that stays on, like with floppy disks? With those you could scratch the disk as much as you pleased (again, within reason), and the black disk inside was unharmed. Only reason I could think of is it would be a bit harder to make a portable CD player that fits in pockets quite as well.

-Arek the Absolute

---

Because it costs more money.


Companies are trying to make as much money as possible, and therefore produce the cheapest pieces of crap that the public is willing to accept.

Corporations are more than willing to have easily scratchable CD''s and DVD''s, especially when in means that the purchaser must go out and purchase another copy when their first one inevitably dies.

---

Blah blah blah, so big bad evil corporations are selling us CDs that scratch if you are a complete moron about handling them. Yes, I would much rather have those evil corporations waste resources on putting a pointless plastic layer around the CD, then I could drop it on a bed of knives and stomp on it!

Really though, what is wrong with the CDs we have now? It''s not like the 5 seconds it takes to put your cd back in the case is that horrible. They aren''t cheap pieces of crap, and they aren''t even that easy to scratch anyway. The bottoms can take quite a beating before they make the CD unreadable.

I suggest you stop trying to blame everything on corporations and the government.

Glad I had an opportunity to show off my amazing ability at missing the obvious. Oh well.

-Arek the Absolute

it's been a while since i've posted.. i had to see if i even had a login anymore...

anyway....

The whole storage thing is crap... the manufacturers can EASILY make a portable storage media that is damn near bullet-proof.. but they continue to fail to do it..

Sony was on the right track with their mini-discs... But they need to take Mini-Discs and add the density of DVD media... so you can get 2GB or so on a 2" square plastic disc.

It's rediculous that they can't put a little plastic cover over the media... CD's would be tough as nails if they had a plastic case over them like 3 1/2" floppies do.

[edited by - aegrimonia on November 20, 2003 1:01:24 AM]

I have to agree that CDs are problematic. I think the solution will be ultra-high capacity solid-state storage devices. Imagine carrying around a terabyte of data on a very stable, shock resistant cartridge the size of a Gameboy game. On that note, I can''t wait for wearable computers.

quote:

---

Original post by light-nexus
It seems that optical data storage (i.e. CDs) is somewhat outdated. A nice little scratch can ruin a $200 CD.

---

Why the hell are you buying a CD for $200?

quote:

---

Original post by Samith
Blah blah blah, so big bad evil corporations are selling us CDs that scratch if you are a complete moron about handling them. Yes, I would much rather have those evil corporations waste resources on putting a pointless plastic layer around the CD, then I could drop it on a bed of knives and stomp on it!

---

Actually he''s right, and you can simply have the same effect with a CD caddy. CD-ROM that use a caddy are much more expensive because they have more moving parts & the caddies themselves are $2-5 bucks.

You can still get them, because a caddy is very useful in the automotive sector, where you don''t have to clean your hands to use a CD-ROM. At the dealership, we have a computer with 100 or so CD-ROMs, each one in its own caddy. The program is so expensive, that having the extra cost is worth it.

I had one on my NEC 3 spin. It was $100 bucks more than a 4 spin, but I never had to handle a CD-ROM directly, and all my disks except 1 are like new.

Of course, if you ask someone, "You can have a CD-ROM drive that is $100 more expensive, doesn''t last as long, and costs $2-5 extra for every CD you buy, or you can go with the standard", most consumers go with the cheaper model.

In fact, even knowing that almost none of my CD-ROM were scratched, I''d STILL go with a cheaper model!


~~~~~
"dede dude" - bishop_pass
Download and play Slime King I.

I read in a comp. magazine a couple of months ago that a few companies are developing a new type of optical storage using blue lasers. the media will be the same size as a CD but will hold up to 28 GB''s I think. It said there were also a few companies developing it , I forget which though.

The idea for casing CDs in a hard outside is not so new.
The old Acorn Archimedes at my old school (running ye-olde RISCOS 3) had a stack of CDs in grey and clear plastic cases, with a large thin metal slider on it to open a slot in the bottom (imagine a floppy disk-- yeah, like that, but with a CD inside).
None of the CDs at my last school never scratched...