Tech Olive

With the recent announcement from Sony that they would be ending their floppy disk manufacturing next year, officially killing the thirty-year-old storage format, it’s really hard to think that CDs and DVDs will last much longer. Much like what people are doing with floppy disks now, there are some that are starting to create different objects out of discs and not use them for their intended use. Just myself alone I’ve seen peers decorate their room with discs and even make boxes out of old jewel cases super-glued together. Heck, I’ve even started using a DVD as a drink coaster not too long ago. With digital content services being used more and more every day, it’s hard to believe that discs will be surviving for much longer.

When was the last time you used your optical drive? Probably not in a while, right? If you do use it frequently, my guess is that it’s for music, installing drivers/programs, maybe a movie, and so on. The cool thing is, you can do all that stuff without an optical drive. Most things you can simply download or stream legally nowadays.

I have noticed that it’s really only us geeks that are kicking the CDs and DVDs out the door. We use Steam for video games. We have iTunes for music downloads. We take advantage of NetFlix for movie streaming. We have torrents for…well…you get the picture. It’s really only the everyday consumer that is seen using discs and I believe it’s because of the everyday consumer that the damn things still exist.

Music downloading via iTunes and other music services is definitely growing in popularity amongst a majority of consumers recently, but one of the biggest activities I see discs still being used for is movie watching. There really isn’t a convenient alternative to easily obtaining and watching a movie on a TV. Popping in a DVD and hitting play is about the easiest way so far. NetFlix movie streaming is only available to those select few who have a gaming console or a cable/satellite subscription, and not all DVD players and set-top boxes have a built-in USB port to plug in a thumb drive that has downloaded movies on it. However, USB ports are becoming more standard on new DVD players, so perhaps some day all you would have to do is go to the store, pick out and pay for a movie at a kiosk (similar to a Redbox, let’s say), plug in your flash drive and have it automatically load the movie onto it. I know I’m completely dreaming here, but anything’s possible.

Also, there’s one use for an optical drive that geeks and everyday users have yet to find a solid replacement for and that is installing an OS. We all rely on the optical drive for the installation of our computer’s GUI. That’s because there has yet to be a better replacement. Sure, you can definitely install an OS from a flash drive, but that’s only recommended for the brave-hearted who know what they’re doing and even some geeks just find it easier to use a disc.

Even though there isn’t a viable alternative to installing an OS in today’s world, I’m quite positive that there will be a simpler and easier alternative in the future. Perhaps Microsoft and Apple will start selling flash drives with their operating systems pre-loaded on them, ready to be installed. All the user would have to do is plug in the flash drive, turn on their computer, and it would automatically recognize the flash drive as well as the OS files and begin the installation. Again, just dreaming here.

Obviously, CDs and DVDs won’t be around forever, but I think that their time will end sooner than most people think. Blu-ray did buy a little more time for discs in general to live, but I think Blu-ray will be the last major disc format to exist. The only question now is how long will Blu-ray last? It will be interesting to see how these next few years play out and even the years beyond, but for now, it’s really only the geeks and power users who have mostly abandoned discs, while a majority of everyday users are still handling them.

This topic brings up a lot of points of discussion and there are many different factors and variables that play in with my many thoughts and ideas. So, feel free to share your thoughts about this as well!