Plastic disks are on their way out as a storage medium
By
02 Dec 2009
If I was the proprietor of a CD or DVD store, I would be worried about my future given the irresistible progress of online digital movies and music, not to mention the growing global concern about the environment.
Just like the big vinyl records of my youth, it seems very likely that plastic processed disks, now used to store digital information like movies, television programmes and music, will soon disappear – just like Imoega’s zip disks did a few years ago. I still have a drawer full of them at home but nothing to play them on.
Firstly, there’s the issue of climate change and the environment. According to the World Watch Institute (http://www.worldwatch.org/node/1481): “Making products like CDs and DVDs consumes natural resources, produces waste and uses energy. CDs and DVDs are created from many different materials, including metals, plastics and dyes”.
The World Watch Institute says: “The discs are packaged in clear or colored plastic cases or cardboard boxes, wrapped in plastic, and sent to distribution centres and retail outlets around the world. If properly stored and handled, most CDs and DVDs will last for decades, and probably centuries. Depending on their condition, unwanted discs can be reused or recycled instead of thrown away, saving energy and valuable resources. Several companies in Europe, the US and elsewhere now recycle old CDs and DVDs into a high-quality plastic for reuse in products ranging from automobile parts to office equipment.”
The institute suggests that consumers should:
• Find out if the information you're looking for on disc is available over the Internet. If so, you may not need to buy the disc at all.
• Buy used CDs and DVDs or borrow them from others to help reduce the environmental impact associated with manufacturing new products.
Neither of these suggestions is good news for traditional CD and DVD retailers of music, movies or software.
And, if a recent Sydney Morning Herald news item is anything to go by, the writing is already on the wall for extinction for music stores and perhaps even software retailers.
The SMH reports that: “Retail giant Big W is letting customers make their own software discs. Instead of buying a pre-packaged disc from the store shelves, a new kiosk lets customers browse, click and burn on demand.
The system allows the store to carry a range of software in addition to what it physically stocks. Big W is trialing the system, provided by Digital Lifeware, and the kiosks can produce a finished disc, complete with packaging and printed manual. The discs are fully licensed copies with the original cover in a DVD case.
The kiosks contain about 1,000 PC and Mac software titles. They cover gaming, languages and children's educational material, anti-virus and video editing, and how to set up your own website.”
The SMH reports that: “Prices start from about A$15 (US$13.7) for an arcade-style game, while anti-virus software ranges from A$50 (US$46.33) to A$80 (US$74.13).
The managing director of Digital Lifeware, Rhett Sampson, reportedly told the paper that the discs are fully covered by warranty and supported by the manufacturer as its original product.
Sampson said that, apart from reducing costs associated with shipping and stocking physical products, the on-demand kiosks have the added benefit of broadening the retailers' catalogue of software titles. At the moment, there is no overlap between the discs sold on shelves and the software available through the kiosks.
"There are all of these software applications out there and because retailers really couldn't afford to give them shelf space, nobody really knows about them," Sampson says. "Customers end up with an original, quality product as though the manufacturer had made it."
The SMH quotes Big W's Charles Davey as saying that, with the system in place, the retailer doesn't have to manage inventory or worry about stock levels.
Many software titles already can be bought and downloaded online but Sampson says buying software from a kiosk-style system means you don't have to spend time and your own bandwidth quota obtaining it. He says the response from customers so far has been positive.
These are ominous indications for plastic disk retailers that their business model is dying.
Within the next few years (or sooner) I expect that the download digital approach will become a retail standard.
