The future of the disc (CD, DVD and Blu-ray)

Digital media is now stored and distributed on discs (CD, DVD and Blu-ray). But will this stay, or is there a major change coming?

Current situation

For years now we have know music on CD and movies on DVD. Since a few years Blu-ray (for movies in HD) has been added. We could soon burn CDs and DVDs on the PC. With Blu-ray, this is not as fast as expected. Sometimes we find Blu-ray burners and recordable Blu-ray discs, but this is not widespread. The amount of Blu-ray burners is still limited and the discs are still very expensive. Why is this and when will this change?

Vision

Maybe this will never change. It is possible that the disc as media support will disappear. There are two reasons for this:

1 The advent of portable hard discs and flash chips (USB stick or SSD)

2 Distribution of media via networks

The advent of portable hard discs and flash chips (USB stick or SSD)

Burning discs is a time-consuming and cumbersome process. With the arrival of new components (portable hard drives and flash chips) this is not from this time anymore. The portable hard disks and flash chips can be connected to an increasing number of equipment (e.g. television, home cinema set and radio). This will make discs superfluous.

Distribution of media via networks

The second explanation is found in the way of distribution. In recent years, there has been a major change in how consumers buy music and movies. Where before a trip to the store was needed, we can now download our music and movies on sites like iTunes. Our networks are so fast that we are able to watch movies on demand (streaming via interactive television). So, also from a distribution standpoint, there is no reason to regard the disc as a medium to maintain.

Conclusion

This trend is accelerating and will probably mean the end of the disk as media support. I can not say how quickly this will happen, but remember: think twice before you spend a lot of money on Blu-ray burners and discs.

Sources: www.todio.nl