Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!hoptoad!tim
From: tim@hoptoad.uucp (Tim Maroney)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: Phil & Dave, where are you?  All is forgiven: come home!
Message-ID: <10214@hoptoad.uucp>
Date: 13 Feb 90 09:01:19 GMT
References: <7497@tank.uchicago.edu> <7202@mentor.cc.purdue.edu> <38436@apple.Apple.COM> <46056@wlbr.IMSD.CONTEL.COM> <38493@apple.Apple.COM> <10159@hoptoad.uucp> <38555@apple.Apple.COM>
Reply-To: tim@hoptoad.UUCP (Tim Maroney)
Organization: Eclectic Software, San Francisco
Lines: 42

In article <10159@hoptoad.uucp> tim@hoptoad.UUCP (Tim Maroney) writes:
>>Actually, I want to wait for the last-minute rush, because then the
>>prices will be less ridiculous.  I'm not about to pay even the
>>factor-of-five inflated "discount" price at this point; if I do, then
>>I'll be kicking myself left and right in a year or two when the players
>>only cost one or two hundred dollars.

In article <38555@apple.Apple.COM> mjohnson@Apple.COM (Mark B. Johnson) writes:
>No one is forcing you to purchase an Apple-labeled CD-ROM drive.  There
>are lots of less expensive third-party drives on the market and you are
>free to purchase those if you think the Apple CD-ROM drive is overpriced.
>(I'll refrain from voicing my opinion on this matter of price.)

The Apple drive at developer's discount is the lowest priced drive I've
seen, about two-thirds the price of the nearest competitor.  I'm not
sure why you thought I was referring specifically to Apple CD-ROM
drives.  I was referring to all of them.  I really have a lot of
problems justifying to myself the purchase of machinery which in one
form is five times more expensive than almost identical machinery in a
slightly different form (different driver software and interface).

>All I am stating is that Apple is very committed to CD-ROM, and developers
>who want to stay current with Apple tools and information would benefit
>greatly from having a CD-ROM player.  In some cases, those without
>CD-ROM players could be excluded or forced to pay expensive diskette
>shipping or AppleLink download prices. (I'll also refrain from voicing
>my opinion about pricing of these two services.)

How many diskettes do you have to ship to pay for a CD-ROM drive?  A
few hundred?  (And yes, I know there's a few hundred floppies worth of
storage on a CD-ROM -- but as a developer, I don't *need* hundreds of
megabytes of stuff from Apple; my total development software needs
would fit comfortably on twenty to thirty floppies.)

All I'm saying is that you're fooling yourself if you think CD-ROM is
going to catch on in a big way before the prices come into the range
of CD-audio drives.  They're just ridiculously high now.
-- 
Tim Maroney, Mac Software Consultant, sun!hoptoad!tim, tim@toad.com

"Philosophy is the talk on a cereal box
 Religion is the smile on a dog" -- Edie Brickell, "What I Am"