New, Fast CD-ROM Drives-A Buyer's Guide

摘要

Like all other computer components, CD-ROM equipment continues to get cheaper, faster, and more readily available. Ten years ago, intrepid users had to contact manufacturers directly or use systems integrators or MIS personnel to special-order equipment. Requests for CD-ROM drives at retail outlets were met with blank stares. Those first generation drives amazed us—we thought they were great. Today, they seem like awkward, expensive, heavy museum pieces. And they are. We are now in what the industry calls the eighth generation of CD-ROM drives (generations largely being measured by the speed of data transfer). Today's CD-ROM drives are lean, mean, information machines, with highly reliable performance, reasonable pricing, and a host of features from portable units to models that can easily be networked or used in jukebox towers for easy access to huge data files. In the past year, CD-ROM has become the preferred method for distributing software. Easily transported, with no fear of data loss due to magnetic or other interference, CD-ROMs can be stamped out by the thousands for far less cost than the same information in any other format. Perhaps the Internet or some other technology will someday replace CD-ROM, but not today—or in the near future.