Why are we still using discs?

OME6A · 09-17-2007

You know what I'm tired of? Disks.

We have them everywhere, in various formats. They occupy unnecessary space, call for unnecessarily large electronic devices to use them with, and cause unnecessary grief for consumers the world over.

There's CDs, DVDs, HD-DVDs and BRDs. The whole thing is nuts.

You know what would be fantastic? If we abandoned all of those silly plastic coasters, and went with compact flash media. I'm talking about SD cards.

SD cards are small, universal, have zero moving parts, and don't require enormous hardware to use them with.

That'd put this whole HD-DVD vs. BRD war to rest. HD-DVDs are at 30gb, and BRDs are at 50gb. Guess what, you can get SD cards for 32gb now, and probably 64gb by Christmas.

The whole Xbox 360 vs PS3 could be next to go. At the very least we wouldn't have to worry about as many hardware failures to deal with because there'd be less hardware involved, and a lot less moving parts.

Do you know how much space in our homes that would free up? Do you know how much less waste we would have?

Let's talk about it.

What're the pros and cons of the topic? Would you welcome a world where all your media came on postage stamp sized squares of plastic, or do you like worrying about scratching that favorite cd/game/movie when the disk slips from your hands?

sublime8022 · 09-17-2007

To be honest I like what you say but you cant just vanish it. Sd is nice and all but it is very small and belive me gets vaccumed up pretty easly. Also having my cd collection and video game collection taking up alot of space doesn't bother me if any thing when people come over I show it off. Like hey I have more games then you. If we had SD's I would just have a draw full. I know probably in the near future cd's will be gone but as of now I dont think it will be soon.

OME6A · 09-17-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by sublime8022

Like hey I have more games then you. If we had SD's I would just have a draw full.

Yeah, but the next time you move, would you rather move boxes and boxes of cds & games, or a box full of everything?

sublime8022 · 09-17-2007

You got me there. My family is moving hopfully by next spring. Once its all done though it wouldn't be bad. I still like cd's though.

BoyEngland · 09-17-2007

Seeing disks everyday of my life (as most people) it has become en everyday part of life. I still agree with your about using other (smaller) media formats.

I honestly think the main reason they are used is because they are traditional. There are still people out there who use VHS to record TV programs, just think how long VHS has been on the go. I know VHS is slowly dying, but the CD (the disk, not format) has been in use for almost the same amount of time. Neither of them are dying because there are technological dinosaurs out there who use them because they are the "norm".

In saying that, I still use disk. I even went out of my way today to buy some DVD's. The reason I bought them? Because my Flash Drive was full of pictures and I needed to free up space for college, the pictures wouldnt fit on a CD so I needed a DVD. Granted, it is easy to buy a flash drive (or SD card) for around $25 (2GB) but you can buy about 50 DVDs for less than that. People see "I can pay $25 for 2GB, or get 200GB for the same price."

We all know there are SD cards/Flash Media out there with large capacities like you said, but they aren't really easy to get a hold of. More and more TV's are starting to incorporate SD card slots to let us display picture shows, but it would be nice to use those slots instead of a DVD player.

Just think of what it would require to do such as thing. DVD companies will go bust, they wont put their resources into SD cards when they still have a disk market. TV companies wont convince DVD companies to stop making their products so the TV company can switch to another media source. Its just not practical.

I love SD Cards/Flash Drives and all the rest that go with them (Micro SD, etc) but to replace the standard disk with them is something that the disk companies wont let us do (Not physically of course)

Subject 17 · 09-18-2007

Well, for one the newer disc technologies (ones not yet released) still totally pwn memory cards in every aspect. Second, SD cards are ****ing slow as **** compared to Blu-ray (i doubt you can stream HD movies comfrotably from them). Sony's memory stick would be a better choice for now. Third, Memory cards are expensive as hell compared to disc based media.

On the plus side, memory cards require much less energy to operate. This makes them ideal for music, since the data rate doesn't need to be as high as for video, and the lower power consumption is better for a battery powered device.

::EDIT::

Oh yeah, and what BoyEngland said.

BoyEngland · 09-19-2007

I did run into a problem when using my flash drive at college yesterday.

The college network prevents any software to be installed, downloaded, etc. So, I stick in my flash drive and it requires for the software to be installed before use. So, what do I do?

Do I keep trying it bearing in mind every time I try to install, there is a report sent to the server?

Do I ask staff to help me?

Nope, I have to e-mail it to myself using a college e-mail address that is not accessible outside of the college network.

If it was a disk, I would have been fine, but who the hell carries disks to college/school? I know I dont or ever have.

So one disadvantage of flash/related media is the requirement for installation of software and/or drivers. (In some cases, they don't need software to be used)

PS: Who the **** keeps a server in a room with no fire prevention or lock on the door when it contains information about all students and staff?! DPA '98 will have something to say about that.

Conflicted · 09-19-2007

SCI FI Tech | SCIFI.COM
32 GB SD card from Toshiba
Amazon.com:

Well, price is one thing.

Would I rather pay 60$ for 25GB's, or 60$ for 16 GB's?

FazeD · 09-19-2007

It would be alot easier to copy a game on an SD card then one on a disk, litterly drag and drop. No more modded systems

kevinXcore · 09-19-2007

i was thinking about this. the only downside is that SDs can easily be lost. i was thinking, what if you could just DL movies to your DVD player, like tivo.