Optical media: dead or alive?

Ruben Naicker

However, while many experts have predicted the demise of optical media, it has failed to fade into obscurity as expected. Optical media is still very much alive and simply offers one more option for data storage and retrieval in a digital world.

One of the biggest factors driving the decision of which storage medium to use is cost. While it is true that hard disk drives (HDD) and flash drives are a lot cheaper than they used to be, for mass reproduction and dissemination of information, optical media, specifically CDs and DVDs, remains very popular.

For example, a lecturer may wish to hand out notes to a class and not all students may have access to shared cloud storage. In this case a CD is a cost-effective option for the distribution of this information. Another example is in the conferencing industry. Although flash drives have become popular for the distribution of information at conferences, DVDs are still widely used as they are a highly cost-effective option, particularly at events with thousands of delegates.

Theft

Another issue to bear in mind is that of theft. Hard drives and flash drives are by nature highly portable, but they also have a higher intrinsic value than optical media, because they can be erased and used again and have high capacity storage. A CD or DVD, on the other hand, is generally written once and can then only be read, and even if it is a rewritable disk, the value is generally not sufficient to warrant the theft of the disk.

For this reason, information may safely be stored on an optical disc without the risk of the actual storage device being stolen. This makes CDs and DVDs popular options for consumers to store downloaded music for playback in motor vehicles, for example, as although this music can be played back using a digital music player or even a flash drive, these are more likely to be stolen.

In the home entertainment space, DVDs and Blu-ray discs are still widely used, particularly in South Africa. Although it is possible to download movies or stream them to your television, the speed and cost of bandwidth in the country makes this an option available only to the select few. By far the majority of individuals will still visit their local movie store and rent a physical disc. When it comes to music, the same applies. While music can be downloaded from the Internet, many people still visit music stores and purchase a CD or DVD of music from their favourite artists. Added to this, while smart televisions and media centres have become more common, they are not the norm in the local market. This means that playing downloaded movies and music on a television may be difficult, whereas many people have a DVD player or Blu-ray capable of playing various media easily.

More than one back-up

For back-up and data-storage purposes, portable hard drives, flash drives and even solid state drives (SSDs) have become increasingly common, as they have high capacity and can be linked to automatic back-up solutions. However, data protection best practice recommends keeping more than one back-up of critical information and many small businesses, and even home users, still use optical media for this purpose. Purchasing two hard drives for extra back-up can be too expensive for some users, so DVDs provide a more cost-effective option for additional data back-up.

Optical media is also preferable when data needs to be moved around, as hard drives are sensitive to movement and can fail if they are dropped. Optical media, on the other hand, enables multiple copies to be made easily and cheaply, and, thus, the data itself will not be lost if the medium is dropped, lost or broken while being transported.

While storage devices such as flash drives and portable hard disks have become more affordable, and the availability of digital content has seen downloads become more popular, there are still many uses for optical media storage, such as CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs. It is affordable and easy to create, easy to duplicate and durable, and is unlikely to be stolen, making it the perfect alternative for storing, sharing, transporting and distributing information.