Thanks Andy, good post.
I was aware of CD-R's "appending" capability. I just think it's grossly inferior to true rewritability. My point was the salesman was touting it as RW. When I pointed out the CD-R on the box, instead of saying "oops" he in turn pointed to the word "write" on the box, like I was implying it could not write. Then I said something like "It's CD-R, not CD-RW" and he realized his mistake. The poor customers' eyes were glazed over. They were completely at his mercy. I would not be surprised if that kind of confusion is the norm, such is number of CD "standards" out there. I can't keep them all straight either. For instance, I read recently that one of them, CD-R or CD-RW, can't be played back on a CD player. Whether this is wholly or partially true, I don't know, but the point is, they are shipping stuff with incomplete compatibility and the potential is there for many people to buy based on an incorrect understanding. They've so muddied the waters, the average consumer is/will shy away from that swimming hole. They may fix it in the future, but right now, it's a mess that's making a lasting impression.
I am not the only one taking a wait-for-DVD attitude. Every person I know at work is waiting too. And we all know how the DVD waters are being muddied too. Will they never learn?
As a backup medium, I'm sure CD-R and CD-RW will have a real nice niche for a while. Also, a nice niche for those who want to record their own CDs. But I don't think it really has a chance to replace the floppy. Zip has the best chance I've seen so far. Though it is not a shoe-in, it's prospects still beat all the rest by a healthy margin.
A week ago, I overheard two men passing me at Fry's. One yelled: "What's Zip for?" The other replied: "It's for backups." Assuming he knew Zip holds 100MB, I was stunned. It called into doubt my assumption that GB media is the thing average people need for backups. It also shows people think Zip has a purpose (the wrong one, in my book, but I am high-end.) The point is, Zip sells itself. Salespeople sell CD-R(W), and not too well, I might add. |
