Do we really need a DVD Drive any longer?

[Big Dan]

Howdy Folks,

After a recent reinstall of Windows, I realized that I don't install anything from CD except Windows. Aside from burning ISOs, I don't use my DVD drive for anything. I'm wondering if as we move more and more into grabbing programs from the web and cloud based applications if DVD/Blu-Ray drives are going to become a thing of the past? Even major applications like the Adobe Suite and MS Office come in downloadable form these days.

We can install Windows or anything else that used to require a DVD from a reusable USB stick. How cool would it be to walk into Best Buy plug in your USB stick and get the latest Windows/Office/Photoshop on there in seconds?

Just a thought a thought really..nothing more than that.

Cheers,
Dan

 

[Zidane24]

Howdy Folks,

After a recent reinstall of Windows, I realized that I don't install anything from CD except Windows. Aside from burning ISOs, I don't use my DVD drive for anything. I'm wondering if as we move more and more into grabbing programs from the web and cloud based applications if DVD/Blu-Ray drives are going to become a thing of the past? Even major applications like the Adobe Suite and MS Office come in downloadable form these days.

We can install Windows or anything else that used to require a DVD from a reusable USB stick. How cool would it be to walk into Best Buy plug in your USB stick and get the latest Windows/Office/Photoshop on there in seconds?

Just a thought a thought really..nothing more than that.

Cheers,
Dan

That latter part isn't such a bad idea...I actually like the thought of downloading the app and leaving

I guess it all comes down to the fact that folks feel...
1)Secure with a hard copy of a media
2)Protected by the fact that it is easy to format a USB drive (goodbye app)...not so easy to format a DVD (...impossible if it isn't an RW)

 

[Dreams]

Although I do own a lot of software via download, there are some titles I prefer to have on CD/DVD. The main one would be the OS.

 

[Maniaknl]

Ofcourse we still need it

How else would you install your windows at home ?
How else would you install your games you bought at your store
How else would you install your USB + Ethernet/LAN drivers when windows cannot find them.

Beleave me you want to keep that DVD player

 

[Lee]

Yes. After buying a new DVD/Blue Ray movie I back them up to a HDD. Also, even though not big any more with online music stores, I still purchase 95% of my music via CD (call me old fashion).

 

[pepsidude185]

Ofcourse we still need it

How else would you install your windows at home ?
How else would you install your games you bought at your store
How else would you install your USB + Ethernet/LAN drivers when windows cannot find them.

Beleave me you want to keep that DVD player

1) Just what the post says... with a thumb drive
2) with a thumb drive
3) you dont need windows USB drivers for it to work
----------------------------------------------------

I don't think the DVD players are going anywhere... as long as there still are DVD's out there to watch. An interesting idea would be to allow people to download movies onto thumb drives as well... but I don't see it happening. Additionally, if you download windows onto a thumb drive... and then you later need to use that thumb drive for something else... what do you do with the OS on it? You'll need another thumb drive... which is a lot more expensive than a CD

 

[Maniaknl]

Ofcourse we still need it

How else would you install your windows at home ?
How else would you install your games you bought at your store
How else would you install your USB + Ethernet/LAN drivers when windows cannot find them.

Beleave me you want to keep that DVD player

1) Just what the post says... with a thumb drive
2) with a thumb drive
3) you dont need windows USB drivers for it to work
----------------------------------------------------

I don't think the DVD players are going anywhere... as long as there still are DVD's out there to watch. An interesting idea would be to allow people to download movies onto thumb drives as well... but I don't see it happening. Additionally, if you download windows onto a thumb drive... and then you later need to use that thumb drive for something else... what do you do with the OS on it? You'll need another thumb drive... which is a lot more expensive than a CD

3 actualy you do some one installed his windows and all the usb ports werent working so he needed to use the good old CD to get those drivers installed

 

[tbernstein]

The stuff on my video camera needs to be
a. On a seperate, safer, medium
b. playable and
c. easy and cheap to duplicate for the friends and family to view


Try sending 4 hours of home movie along the internet to an aged aunt......

 

[Robert Cartman]

I haven't think about it until i found this thread, but really I can not remember when was the last time I used my dvd drive. Thats funny. I think next time I rebuild my machine, I will get rig of it

 

[sup3rsprt]

I still feel sorry for anyone who doesn't have a floppy drive.

 

[jbmadsen]

Yes and no, really.

As some have mentioned, music and movies are a nice thing to have on CD/DVD, as well as some larger apps (OS, Adobe, some games, etc.).

On my laptop however, I have used the CD/DVD drive 3-4 times within the past 3 years.. once for re-installing Win XP, and a couple of times for installing games. So for my next laptop, I probably won't need it. On my desktop/music player/DVD player, I definitely do need it for years to come.

I even installed Win7 on my laptop using a USB stick, as it was less noisy than a laptop DVD drive

 

[Dreams]

As someone already mentioned...a hard drive is not the safest place to back up data. Backing up your data to DVD (single or dual layer) or to Blue Ray disks is probably the best way to prevent data loss. So yeah you still need that drive.

 

[Robert Cartman]

May be I will keep it as a cup-holder.

 

[Zidane24]

As someone already mentioned...a hard drive is not the safest place to back up data. Backing up your data to DVD (single or dual layer) or to Blue Ray disks is probably the best way to prevent data loss. So yeah you still need that drive.

No matter what you backup to...there is always the risk of the backup becoming corrupt...

HDs have a tendacy to fail while CDs, DVDs, Blu-Rays, etc can easily get a scratch at the right spot and then become un-readable

No matter how you backup...backup multiple times on multiple things. Have an external HD accompained by DVDs isn't a shabby idea

 

[Jordus]

The need for hardy physical media with a long shelf-life will never go away entirely.

 

[pepsidude185]

Ofcourse we still need it

How else would you install your windows at home ?
How else would you install your games you bought at your store
How else would you install your USB + Ethernet/LAN drivers when windows cannot find them.

Beleave me you want to keep that DVD player

1) Just what the post says... with a thumb drive
2) with a thumb drive
3) you dont need windows USB drivers for it to work
----------------------------------------------------

I don't think the DVD players are going anywhere... as long as there still are DVD's out there to watch. An interesting idea would be to allow people to download movies onto thumb drives as well... but I don't see it happening. Additionally, if you download windows onto a thumb drive... and then you later need to use that thumb drive for something else... what do you do with the OS on it? You'll need another thumb drive... which is a lot more expensive than a CD

3 actualy you do some one installed his windows and all the usb ports werent working so he needed to use the good old CD to get those drivers installed

I was referring to the fact that quite a few motherboards let you boot from a thumbdrive. so the mobo's can just have the drivers build in.

As you said above though, keeping hard copies of windows around for errors like that can be priceless

 

[pepsidude185]

I still feel sorry for anyone who doesn't have a floppy drive.

LOL i feel sorry for me too

 

[nate42nd]

I still feel sorry for anyone who doesn't have a floppy drive.

LOL i feel sorry for me too

I can't believe they sell Floppy drives.

I think DVD burners are where floppys were a few years ago. With flash media getting cheaper, we will start seeing cases with no place for a DVD drive within 2 years.

 

[24x24]

Wouldn't it be awesome if a consumer (somebody who pays for programs, movies, etc.) could go to a walmart, speedway or wherever a kiosk might be, stick a specialised flash drive into the kiosk and it recognizes who they are bringing up preferences and account info and they could scroll through choices and pick a movie or two and download it to the special flash drive and its charged to their credit card and they could go home and stick it into their cable box or a usb slot on their tv or a small player and watch the movies they just rented and not have to worry about returning them because it is time stamped (and right-protected) and won't work after 1,3, or 5 days?

Blockbuster is making their own flash drive and operational kiosks and att's new u-verse cable box has a very suspicious usb drive on the front with no functionality and dolby digital printed above it....

 

[mickey megabyte]

i'm not quite sure what the original question was...

was it 'do computers need a dvd drive to work?'
or was it 'does anyone still use it?'

right now, i still use my dvd drive to

• install software (especially big games - can't download them all from steam overnight)
  
  
• ripping my legally acquired cd and dvd collection
  
  
• burning discs (believe it or not) to play on non-pc hi-fi or tv systems
  
  
• backing up stuff

i do like the idea of installing everything off a usb stick - i copied my windows install onto one for example -and maybe sometime in the future we will be able to buy/install software that way - but for now, blank dvds are so cheap, compared to a 4 or 8 gig usb stick.

how many years will it be until we see polls entitled 'do we really need usb sticks any longer?'