Message-Id: <mailto:199506121524.IAA18565@listserv.ccit.arizona.edu> Date: Mon, 12 Jun 1995 11:19:44 -0400 From: Joel Wolfson <mailto:DigiWolf@AOL.COM> Subject: Re: CD ROM vs MO (Magneto Optical) To: Multiple recipients of list IMAGELIB
>What were the problems associated with CD Storage?
>The problem with MOs is that they are slow, and on the way out.
>Raj
I'm concerned this comment may give some people the wrong impression. I use
both Magneto Optical drives and CD ROM's as do most of my clients. They are
different media for different purposes. MO's are if fact, much faster than
CD ROM's with newer models even approaching hard disk speeds (granted, on the
slower end of hard drives). They are also much more expensive than CD ROM
players. $2000 to $3000 for a good one vs. a tenth that for CD ROM players.
If you want to write your own CD's, however, a good writer will cost at
least as much as a good MO.
CD ROM is a great way to distribute large amounts of data inexpensively. The
media is cheap (around $15 per CD vs. $70 or so for MO 650 MB disks) and lots
of people have CD ROM players or can obtain them inexpensively. And of
course, most of them also read Kodak's Photo CD's.
MO, on the other hand, has larger capacity, and is great for fast storage and
retrieval of large files and large amounts of data. Unlike CD's it can be
erased and written over acting like any other type of erasable media. And it
is not as sensitive to elements that would deteriorate magnetic media such as
heat and magnetic fields. It is perhaps more specialized than CD ROM
(pre-press, printing/publishing, commercial and stock photography, etc.), but
I would be hard pressed to characterize it as on the way out.
I hope to see the day that CD ROM's become as fast and flexible as MO or that
MO's become as inexpensive as CD ROM, but in the mean time many of us will
have to use both along with Syquest, Zip, floppies, DAT, ...............
Joel Wolfson
DPI Manager
Digital Photographics & Imaging
a division of West Photo
(612) 379-2321 Main (612) 699-2533 Direct
E-mail: mailto:digiwolf@aol.com