Looking back: CD/DVD-ROM in 1999

Volume 17, Number 2 • February 2000

Looking back: CD/DVD-ROM in 1999 — CD-ROM products, though still popular, are starting to lose ground
by Péter Jacsó

CD/DVD COMMENTARIES column relates that it was a good year for all kinds of CD/DVD hardware, but a disappointing one for CD/DVD applications software (with a few exceptions). However, notes that the CD-Recordable (CD-R) drive - not the CD-ROM drive - is becoming the standard built-in device on new PCs. Says that it is not only the plummeting prices of the CD-R drives themselves that make people buy them, but also the $1 price of the recordable discs. Reports CD-RW drives have been selling very well, although they are not often bundled with new PCs, due to the cost. Discusses DVD-ROM drives and says that they have been coming on strong, despite the fact that there are very few DVD-ROM applications available. Concludes that there is a definite shift within the CD/DVD market. Reports that International Data Corp. predicts next year will be the last year in which CD-ROM shipments will exceed those of DVD-ROM.