Blogs Is it time to bin your optical drive?

Not necessarily, you can buy a music cd, a dvd or game in a optical disc, and sell it, used wherever you like, if you download it,
you are subject to steam weird rules to sell a game, like only being able to sell the game to your friends, only a few games are supported, you cant re-sell used games, so technically you dont own these games, you just paying to the right of using them.

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=6748-ETSG-5417

If you buy digital music or ebooks the same crap applies.

http://www.extremetech.com/computing/105437-riaa-claims-you-do-not-own-your-itunes-music-purchases

You cannot re-sell none of these.

Then its the quality factor in music and videos, i used netflix for a couple of months, and the selection was just rubbish, i used lovefilm streaming service while the selection was better, their quality is just appalling in most movies, so i gave up, and i just purchase dvd/blu-rays when i want a movie or i just rent it online.

While i cant deny that if the likes of itunes, steam, allowed to re-sell these, and they provided the same benefits as the optical ones would be excellent. at this moment it just doesn't happen.

EDIT: SORRY I DUPLICATED THE POST BY MISTAKE, PLEASE REMOVE THIS POST

 

My windows 7 64bit install is on a usb stick has been for some time. takes all of 5-10mins to reinstall.

I still need a DVD rewriter so can not really get rid of it yet. if online storage ever got cheap enough to offer me the space i require and the security i need then id look into it more.

My gaming pc does not have a optical drive though. My x79 system does though due to needing it for work stuff.

There is unlimited providers out there without caps. ( Bethere in the Uk is one such provider, I must download 100gb + a month from our company FTP and have never had any issues) add one what i download from steam and places then i must be quiet high usage user.

Never even had a letter saying your using too much ect.

1080p Blu-ray is 20mb/sec bit rate minimum in most cases. 3d blue ray is more like 30-35mb/sec.

No internet connection in the uk is ready for that sort of bandwidth requirement. It will take 5-10 years before we are at the point where most of the uk can stream Blu-ray quality titles to there tvs/pcs/tablets ect.

Japan and sweden are already at the point where they can stream at this level but no other country is even close to that level of infastructure.

 

Nope, it says nothing apart from the fact that you did that, there are many reasons to keep optical drives and hard media and many reasons not to have to rely solely on downloadable content from websites as the only way to buy something.

I have data CD's I made ten years ago that still work fine and can still make copies from them, I would never trust USB storage or a HDD as the only data backup (and certainly not the cloud!) and I have never had a HDD last that long and as for SSD's who knows how long they will last?

In the future people might finally realize that when all the main game makers only sell their games through the monopoly that steam has become and require a one time only activation that has killed the used game market that not having the option to buy a hard media version is a huge loss, when steam have the game d/load monopoly there will be no opportunity for any price competition, buy from steam at their prices or sod off if you don't like it

 

I dont use optical drives anymore. Ive told people to stop buying me DVDs etc as presents and have my installers on USB sticks. I dont buy/use CDs (Talk about out dated tech)
I do have a USB dvd drive incase but i dont own a blueray or anything else silly like that

 

Apart from using CDs I still use and buy vinyl records, old tech yes, yet sound quality is sooo much better, a nice fat & warm sound.

 

I was going to get a caddy for mine and remove it I have used it once in 2 years i think...

I also won a bluray drive I have never used

 

Skyrim on steam £45

Skyrim on disc from amazon £16

Cheaper to buy from amazon with a £12 optical drive and have £17 left over.

OU course uses optical discs, cd collection contains many thisngs not availible to download or stream.

Blue ray vs downloads is no contest for quality.

 

Interesting article thanks.

I just finished upgrading my rig and moving into a new case with a couple of other changes and decided not to put an OD in. It's been really weird though and while I haven't needed one yet I'm going to end up caving in and picking up a BD drive at some point.

 

When I updated my build recently I left out the optical disc drive. It now sits in my tech draw waiting.

I did buy a USB DVD drive but sold that recently after getting a USB BluRay drive for cheap which I use on my Revo 3700 MPC. So if I am in desperate need to install something via disc I will use that. I can only see this happening if I get a PC game as a present which is a disc copy rather than a download.

So I don't think it's time to bin the optical drive yet, but there isn't a need for a permanent optical drive installed in your PC 24/7.....just keep it a draw, on stand by, just in case

 

It's a lot faster for me to buy a game on Amazon and have it delivered than it is to download it.

Also, CDs are still the best way to buy music.

 

Show me where you can buy uncompressed video on optical discs?

But okay okay, you're right. BluRay > Legal HD Download. It's still compressed though!

Pedantic mode ends.

 

Since i´ve got one external slimline DVD-Burner via usb, I really do not need any Optical drives on my PC´s. It´s in use about 4 times a year.
Second to that I´ve a normal dvd burner in my WHS Server which can be used via the network.

 

"As far as installing Windows goes, there's a very nifty little free application called Wintoflash that allows you to copy your DVD to a 4GB USB stick and install it from there"

You're going to struggle to do that if you've just binned your optical drive.

*facepalm*

 

Interesting that we live in a world where tech-enthusiasts feast their eyes on ultrahigh resolution 10" devices, yet are happy to stream a heavily compressed movie to their Full HD monitor/TV

 

I only use to free space on my hdd. I had to a year ago since I couldn't afford a 2TB hdd so I went with 2 cakes of 50 DVD's to do so and some of my friends ask me to burn some tv shows so they can watch on the TV. The only thing I'll be doing to the optical drive is to buy an external case with eSata (since I don't have a motherboard with USB3) to only plug in the drive when needed

 

I would bin my DVD Drive but my motherboard doesn't seem to like booting from USB Pen Drives or USB DVD Drives.

Once it boot's and Windows install's I have to move it to another USB port.

My motherboard driver disc also won't install all the drivers from the disc when using USB.

I now have my old internal DVD Drive with a long power lead and long single sata lead sat in a box, and if I need to use it I just plug it in.

Not quite there yet for fully getting rid of it but getting close.

 

Hah, kinda figured somebody might point that on out while I was typing it.

Unfortunately kidnapping John Williams and the London Philharmonic Orchestra has logistical complications.

 

I am sure this idea of dropping the Optical Disc drive was made with a very large tongue in both cheeks

It certainly provoked a lot of reaction which may have been the aim

Let your blood pressures drop to normal--the disc drive is a long way from disappearing for many good reasons outlined in above posts

Oh, I just noticed that gramophone records are making a comeback-maybe when we all get tired of download compression sucking the best out of our listening and viewing experiences we might look more kindly on the tried and tested disc drive.

 

But how would i burn awesome CDs for my car?