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From: edm002@muvms3.bitnet
Newsgroups: comp.edu
Subject: Re: Why are CD-ROMs so expensive?
Message-ID: <11446@muvms3.bitnet>
Date: 29 Dec 89 15:44:07 GMT
References: <829@tijc02.UUCP> <3430@cbnewsl.ATT.COM>
Distribution: na
Organization: Marshall University
Lines: 56

In article <3430@cbnewsl.ATT.COM>, arny@cbnewsl.ATT.COM (arny.b.engelson) writes:
> In article <829@tijc02.UUCP> pjs269@tijc02.UUCP (Paul Schmidt) writes:
>>In doing some research on my Master's Thesis I turned to
>>Mathematic Review.  Unfortunately, my thesis does not fit
>>into one of the categories that they have listed.  I was
>>relieved to find out that they produced a CD-ROM with the
>>information called MathSci.  I went to the librarian to
>>find out if they had this disk.  No they didn't.  Why?
>>Because it cost $3000!
	And I assume that's not counting the dedicated PC and CD-ROM reader 
that the library must acquire.  Plus, there's been little work until recently
on standardizing the operating systems of these little devils.
	By comparison, if you're running some software on your IBM PC, and you
exit back to the A> prompt (or c> or whatever), someone can come along and run
a totally different software package without so much as a murmur.  Not so on
the CD-ROMs, at least the way they were originally marketed.  The software
controlling MathSci probably would not operate ERIC or MEDLINE or CINAHL.  So,
at least in the early days, libraries were looking at the prospects of a room
full of PCs, each dedicated to a particular CD-ROM service.
	Which of the services should the library buy?  Well, they're not going
to buy more than 1 or 2, unless they're a big-bucks sci-tech/engineering outfit
with money to spare.  So, even if the diskettes cost $2 each, the market is not
as wide open as, for example, the market for phonograph records--or music CDs,
for that matter.  There is a lot of hardware cost up front to the library, and
a commitment to a particular supplier of CD-ROM products [reminds me of the
TRS-80 vertical-integration story, in a way].
	As I understand, co-operation among CD-ROM producers was definitely 
*not* chic in the early days, although I have heard that [as with railroad 
track guage, computer operating systems, and everything else] some winners are 
emerging into a default common system.  
> 
> The object is to make the most money, not to sell the
> most CDs.  (Note: I'm no expert, and a lot is left out here, but
> you get the idea.)
	And, they were sold by dedicating hardware/software configurations for
libraries--making it impossible to run a competitor's products.

> (There's also probably little or no competition; it's a new/sexy
> technology; probably a limited market; etc.)
> 
> The sad part is: you are right.  Students (and others) are losing
> out because of the high price.  It's a shame.  Hey, I got an idea:
> why don't you start a competing firm, raise some money, master the
> CD, and sell it cheap!

	Good luck.  And remember, avoid what FORBES magazine calls "Chinese
marketing":  thinking, "If there are 4 billion people in China, and each one
drinks one Coca-Cola every day, then...."  The market is a whole lot more than
counting the number of libraries or math majors or subscribers to an index.
	How should I know?  I'm a librarian.
-- 
         edm002@muvms3.bitnet,Marshall University
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