On Aug 2, 2011, at 11:03 AM, Arno Hautala wrote: > On Tue, Aug 2, 2011 at 12:41, objectwerks inc <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> >> I do agree with the overall sentiment though that the optical drive is going >> the way of the DoDo. I just think we are not quite that far along yet. > > I'd say we're further along than we were when Apple dropped the > floppy.
I disagree. For one big reason. The optical drive on computers has many more uses now than the floppy did in 1997 (not only for SW distribution, but also for media -- music and movies) AND in 1997 there was a reasonable replacement -- the CD-ROM and CDRW drives. Today, there are still a lot of people using DVD media for movies (Red Box is always busy when I see the kiosks and I've seen a few neighbors recently walking to the mail box with Netflix envelopes) and lots of people still use their computers to watch things, and still an awful lot of CDs sold (yes CD sales have tanked percentage wise but there are still a lot of CDs sold). > As they pertain to computer uses, optical discs are already > mostly gone. Their primary use to consumers is through other, > non-computer, devices (CD / DVD / BluRay players, game systems, etc.). > I bet a very small percentage of users have computer based media > centers That is probably true, but not all users of optical drives for media are using them for media centers. A lot of people still consume media on their computer. I know people who use their PCs or Macs to watch movies on a regular basis. They can watch stuff the kids shouldn't see, or while they pretend to work, etc. I bet if Apple had come out with just one variant of the mini with an optical drive, it would outsell the server dual HD version. > and a drastically smaller percentage are using Apple computers > for that task. That is irrelevant to the discussion (number who use Apple). Since we are talking Apple users, only the Apple computers are considered and the PC people doing it are mostly irrelevant except for a handful of switchers. ----- On Aug 2, 2011, at 11:18 AM, LuKreme wrote: > objectwerks inc <[email protected]> squaked out on Tue 02-Aug-2011 10:41 >> >> On Aug 1, 2011, at 10:50 PM, LuKreme wrote: >> >>> On Aug 1, 2011, at 17:48, Nathan Sims <[email protected]> >>> wrote: >>> >>> >>> Optical drives in 2011 are a lot like floppy drives in 1997. Other than >>> burning a backup of Lion, I've not used mine in about a year. >>> >>> For the very few people who need an optical drive, Apple offers one for a >>> reasonable fee. >> >> >> I do wish that Apple had included one model of the mini with an optical >> drive, personally. I use a mini as a media center for the family and an >> in-built optical drive is easier with little kids than a plugged in one and >> we still get DVDs that we borrow and they want to watch. And I still buy >> DVDs on sale. And until I get them ripped to my movies volume we use them >> with the optical drive. > > I don’t allow my kids NOW to handle discs, much less when they were little. Who said anything about letting the kids HANDLE the discs. Just having an external drive attached to the computer is tempting for kids to mess with. They are not allowed now to handle discs -- parents handle the discs for them. > Everything gets ripped to the hard drive with Handbrake. The slowest part of > that process is feeding the discs to the drive. I do something similar, but my time is limited and I have a stack of discs to slowly do. So if the family wants to watch a movie while they are waiting for me to rip them to the family server (transitioning over to a Nexenta based system running Netatalk as the current system is full) they use the disc, with a parent to do the actual inserting. Additionally, we borrow discs from my parents, the library, etc and I don't take the time or space for these short term discs to rip them (let alone the time until I would get to it). For those kinds of discs we use the actual disc. (I don't use handbrake though as I like to have the complete DVD with menus etc for my family to use so I use something else that keeps it in DVD format and use Media Central as the playback system) (yes I know it takes a lot more space -- I handbrake some stuff for me to use on iPad/iPhone) > >> I also use my Mac Pro optical drive often to rip new DVDs and I still buy >> music on CD whenever I can (for the small amount I buy) and I am still >> finding long lost music CDs of mine (misplaced in moves, etc) that I rip to >> my iTunes volume. So I use the optical a lot. > > Well, if you have a computer with an optical drive you can rip the DVDs there > with Handbrake. If you need to access a CD or DVD on your new mini an the > other computer is a Mac, you can share the disc drive. See above > >> I do agree with the overall sentiment though that the optical drive is going >> the way of the DoDo. I just think we are not quite that far along yet. > > So said a lot of people on 1997. Apple is going to be in front on this. Of course, but there are major differences. See my comments to Arno above. I am not saying Apple should not start going down this road, but was just wishing that they had one variant available with an in-built optical drive. It is not a deal killer but a nuisance. I was ready to get a new mini but the money did not come through I was planning on (at least yet) and then when I read about the optical drive my enthusiasm was diminished some. I would still have gone for it if I had the funds as I want to give my MIL in Japan our current mini so she can upgrade to Lion when we go there next month. Alas it won't be happening. Her current mini is a core duo original Mac mini we brought her last time 2 years ago when we got the new mini (at the time). Chad _______________________________________________ MacOSX-talk mailing list [email protected] http://www.omnigroup.com/mailman/listinfo/macosx-talk
