A WHOLE new world of recording on ablank compact disc (CD) is now emerging. Researchers in Japan and TheNetherlands are working on the conceptof using a CD recorder at home to copyfavourite music tracks on blank CDs orrecord film sequences on blank videoCDs.
Hi-fidelity cD recorders exist. Butthey are priced at several lakhs of rupeeseach, while blank CD discs cost aboutRs 400. The blanks are the "write once"type, which means they cannot beerased and reused. Erasable CDs alsoexist. High-end personal computers usethem for mass storage or back up ofdata.
There are 2 different types of CDrecorders. Neither will work with thelaser optics in ordinary CD players.Consequently, all the leading electronics, chemical and tape companies havebeen trying to make an affordableerasable CD that will work on existing CDplayers.
Reports in Britain and Japanesepublications, detailing these advances,state that several years ago, Tandycomputers had claimed to have ablank disc that would do the trick.Called Thor, it was to be coated With amix of dye materials which changedtheir optical character when hit withlaser light. Hit again, their original statewas restored. But Thor never saw thelight of day.
TDK, the Japanese tape company, isreaping some success withreversible dyes, but it admitsthat the erase facility will workonly a limited number of times.So the disc uses a tape whichcan be erased and re-used onlya few dozen times.
The evolution of recordingon a blank CD involves workingWith several kinds of discs, eachserving its own particular purpose. The personal computer isthe Trojan horse that is drivingrecordable CD into the livingroom. It takes a long timebecause record, film and computer industries have completely different cultures. The record companies and film studios see home copying of musicand films as a threat.
The idea of consumersusing a CD recorder to copyfavourite music tracks or, withthe plans for video CDs, filmsequences, is obviously anathema tocopyright owners. It also explains whyhi-fi CD recorders are so expensive, andtargeted at professional users.
Today's floppy disks do not haveenough storage capacity to work as massback-ups. Streamer tape is slow andClumsy. SO, CD recorders are being soldfor computer use and there is a race onto drive the price down.
CD recorders for PCs now cost lessthan us $1,500 in us, and the price ofblank write-once discs is falling to aboutus $9. But, prices of both are expected ahalve within 2 years.
A computer software is alreadyavailable in the market that lets arecorder make copies of music or videotracks from a pressed cD on to CD, which then plays on an ordinarydomestic player.
A new high-tech development in theelectronics industry has emerged wherecompanies are now demonstratingnew high-density versions Of Co. Prerecorded discs will be able to store a fulllength film on a single side of adisc, with broadcast quality picturessound or as much computer data as sexeral conventional CD-rom (read-onlymemory) discs.
Modern PCs are designed to playmultimedia CDs that mix data, musicand video. The prospect of stopping arecorder from copying music and videodisks while still letting it copy computerdata, seems remote.
Audio and video tape, and floppydiscs, are now so cheap that it is ofteneasier to use a new one than to check content of used media and take a decsion to erase. If blank write-once CDscheap enough, the same model appbeLWith the right marketing strategyidea of paying a few hundred rupeesextra for a disc that will erase a dozen times might well appeal to theconsumer. 1!
For computer applications, there ismuch to be said in favour of noerasable discs. If it is used to back-uplarge quantities of database or sheet files, the last thing the ownerwants is the risk of erasing in error.
For applications where erasabilitybecomes necessary, for instance,,thetemporary storage of data that is containually being updated, the computerindustry is moving in the direction orphase-change recording. This worksmore like a tape recorder which canoverwrite one recording with anotherwithout first having to erase it.