Out Spun: Say Good-Bye to Discs

A little while back, I went to one of the big box electronics stores to buy some blank CDs and DVDs. I’ve gone to this store, and it’s competition, for years to purchase blank CDs and DVDs to store audio, video and other digital files.

I was shocked when I went to the almost non-existent spot in the store left for removable media, to see a slim selection of blank CDs, DVDs, even the more recent Blueray blank discs weren't stocked very well.

I asked a passing store clerk if this was all they had, and he told me it was, as they just don’t sell as much of these as they used too.

As hard drives constantly become cheaper, and virtual storage in the cloud becomes more popular, people aren’t burning their data to disc anymore.

I remember when CD burners first came out, circa 1990’s. They were extremely expensive, running at least $1,000 for a decent one, and blank CDs cost about $15-$20 per disc.

Then DVDs came out, killing the CD industry, and when DVD burners came out, the movie industry tried to get them banned, as they witnessed the demise of the music industry thanks to people copying and sharing music CDs, instead of buying them.

Today, the music industry and to a lesser degree, the movie one too – continue to suffer from failing to adopt to the changing nature of digital media. We not only have CD and DVD burners, but Blueray burners aren't uncommon either.

Though that may change, as bigger hard drives at dirt cheap prices flood the market. Why spend hours burning your own discs, when you can just plug in a portable hard drive that stores many more hours of movies and music?

It’s a sign of progress, but in a way, it’s also a sign of the times.

We’re moving away from big tech, and gravitating towards mobile devices. With smart phones, tablets and laptops always on and connected to the Internet, we want to be able to access our movies, music and other data at anytime, from anywhere.

So, people will buy more hard drives, and get more space on cloud storage platforms. But we probably won’t be lugging our hard drives wherever we go. We’ll probably set up our own media servers (I already have one myself), which allow us to access all the information on our hard drives at home, from anywhere at anytime over the net.

I can watch movies, listen to music, and even remotely access my desktop computer from my mobile devices, simply by logging onto them using apps on a WiFi or 3G or better connection.

The days of creating menus, chapters, and burning our own discs are long gone. Now just dump everything in a folder, and log in to play.

Progress is awesome. But I’ll miss the creative aspects of choosing images, background sounds and animations for menus, creating chapters, and even taking the time to burn a disc just right.

Reminds me of making mixed audio tapes in the 1980’s. This was long before digital media was even an idea. You’d sit in front of your radio, waiting for your favourite tunes, and then stumble with two fingers to press “Play” and “Record” together to capture that song on a 60-minute audio tape.

Ah, those were the days. Sometimes you’d slip, and only hit “Play” and curse as the song you wanted played on, but without you recording it. Sometimes the tape you were using would unravel, rip, or even get “eaten” by the tape deck.

But there was something very romantic – in an old school geeky kind of way – about making a mixed tape for a friend, a party, or even just yourself.

Good-bye discs, you’ll be wherever blank tapes, eight-track-tapes, and records now call home. Long gone, but never forgotten.