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From: jmunkki@hila.hut.fi (Juri Munkki)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: NeXT Religion
Message-ID: <1990Sep25.173547.12094@santra.uucp>
Date: 25 Sep 90 17:35:47 GMT
References: <20467@orstcs.CS.ORST.EDU> <448@news.nd.edu> <2444@lectroid.sw.stratus.com>
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Reply-To: jmunkki@hila.hut.fi (Juri Munkki)
Organization: Helsinki University of Technology, FINLAND
Lines: 49

<2444@lectroid.sw.stratus.com> jmann@angmar.sw.stratus.com (Jim Mann) writes:
>I don't think the price of ODs can EVER drop enough to completely replace
>floppy disks. If I have something that I want to send to a few friends,
>I'm quite willing to put it on floppies (cost $0.30 to $1.00 each) and send
>it off to them. Even if optical disks dropped down to say $20, I would not
>be willing to just use them to pass information to friends. It's too
>much of an investment. They're great when you need that much data, but
>expensive overkill when you just want to transfer a few hundred K or
>even a Meg or two.                                                          

Let's go back 15 years to the time when 8" floppy disks were new... I bet
that there were people saying:

	"I don't think that the price of floppy disks can ever drop enough
	to completely replace paper tape (or magnetic tape). If I have
	something that I want to send to a few friends, ... They're great
	when you need that much data, but expensive overkill when you just
	want to transfer a few kB or even 200 kB."

As long as our files grow faster than the space or our floppy disks, we'll
need new methods of storing data. I think optical disks will be widely used,
but they might face competition from users who prefer a large fixed disk
and a DAT recorder for backup.

This is probably the wrong newsgroup, but:

Just think of the possibilities of a DAT recorder: it has stereo 48kHz
(16 bit?) sampling and output and probably houses a signal processor.
All you need to do is add some buffer memory (let's use those 256kB
SIMMs that are lying around and give it 1MB now and expand to 4MB
when 1MB SIMMs are are obsolete) and you have a sound subsystem for
your computer. It also works as a backup media and tapes are easy
to send to friends.

This setup allows you to make copies of DAT tapes with just a computer
and one DAT player. The memory can be used as a buffer so that you have
a delay in the recording. With enough memory, you have from a few
seconds to a minute or so to insert a tape and start recording from
a radio broadcast.

Optical disks have the advantage of being random access media, but
some users will be able to manage by using a hard disk as a cache
to the DAT tape. Of course you could use a combination of OD and
DAT.

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 / jmunkki@hut.fi  /  Computing Center Macintosh Support  /  Surf  /  STORM  /
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