Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!wuarchive!julius.cs.uiuc.edu!apple!amdcad!mozart.amd.com!cayman!brett
From: brett@cayman.amd.com (Brett Stewart)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: CD-ROM documents (was Paperless Office)
Message-ID: <1990Nov29.162726.11411@mozart.amd.com>
Date: 29 Nov 90 16:27:26 GMT
References: <11191@pt.cs.cmu.edu> <00940487.15804140@KING.ENG.UMD.EDU> <28083@mimsy.umd.edu>
Sender: usenet@mozart.amd.com (Usenet News)
Organization: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., Austin, Texas
Lines: 29

In article <28083@mimsy.umd.edu> chris@mimsy.umd.edu (Chris Torek) writes:
>(I have no idea what this has to do with computer architecture...)
>
>Musician friends tell me that you can walk into a CD house with a digital
>master tape, plunk down $2000, and walk out with a digital master tape
>and 1000 CDs.  This means that the cost is $2/CD for very low volumes,
>hence only lower for reasonable volumes.  I have no idea whether CD-ROMs
>use the same mastering techniques as music CDs, but a good estimate for
>100% markups at two levels of delivery would put CD-ROM prices at around
>$5 each, *provided* that the equivalent of `making the master tape' was
>free.

What this has to do with computer architecture is that the economics
here pretty much predict that the things on our desks will have CD
slots Real Soon Now, and this stuff will become indispensable to us.
Lots of our customers are talking to us about how to do this now.
And what I wanted to report to the net was similar economics for CD
ROM mastering:  last year during COMPCON I walked down to the CD-ROM
show and browsed around.  A guy from Denon (yeah, like in audio CD)
told me that if you show up with your master tape and $1800, 48
hours later you could start getting your CD ROMS for under 2 bucks
in Jewel Cases, you supply your own art.  Other interesting news was
that Full Motion Video compressed via DCT was getting 70 minutes per
CD-ROM of normal US TV resolution video, and people expect this to
quadruple within a few years.
Best Regards; Brett Stewart
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.           1-512-462-5321  FAX
5900 E. Ben White Blvd MS561           1-512-462-4336  Telephone
Austin, Texas 78741      USA           brett@cayman.amd.com