Question Nearing last call for CD/DVD writers and media?

[tcsenter]

I was in the market for a DVD writer (full height internal) about 15 months ago and there was still a nice selection of models (new) in stock at Newegg, selling at the $18 ~ $24 (delivered) pricing floor that writers reached back around 2010. I happen to check again today and the pickings are getting slim. Prices have increased significantly on a few of the models that are still available. There are a couple "open box" offerings (from Newegg and third-party marketplace sellers) but I consider those very likely refurb or previously used.

Selection of recording media seems to be dwindling as well, though prices have only increased modestly on those Newegg still has available. e.g. 50-pack Verbatim AZO DVD+R is $21.00 delivered which is not too bad, only increased a few bucks in the past few years.

Sometimes these things happen pretty quickly and without much notice, until you have a need for one and end-up going at the prices and selection.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Thanks for the Heads Up.

Mainstreamers are like Lemmings: they go the way the industry leads them. I'm actually sorry I threw away a 3.5" floppy drive!

I refuse to give up optical devices. I migrated from the 5.25" full-height DVD burner to the laptop units, which -- for me -- have performed just as well.

Another Lemming phenomenon, originating with the Jack Valenti Media Nazis: They want you to "rent" access to music etc. through Spotify subscriptions.

I think it's fine to buy music albums as MP3 downloads. But I also like my movies on optical discs. I can rip them to ISO files and put them on my media server.

As for the laptop optical discs, I need more "fan" space and less for front-panel device access. I now purchase something like this:

ICYDOCK 2x 2.5" + ODD

 

[dave_the_nerd]

I read somewhere recently that some companies were stopping production of optical media, but there's still some being made. Prices won't spike until they all stop, probably.

I've got a little stash, but when any computer made in the last 25 years can use a USB thumb drive with or without a Type A/C adapter, it makes burning disks for data transfer kind of silly. My music "collection" (really just... such a mess) was ripped decades ago; I have Vinyl and MP3. And I'm not really somebody who watches movies more than once, so streaming/renting is fine there.

 

[dlerious]

I use an LG bluray writer with mdisc media for music (bandcamp) and photos mainly. I've checked some discs written over 20 years ago and they're still readable. I don't think I have any flash based media that has lasted that long.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

For plans to build my Arrow Lake rig early next year, I've started collecting parts, like the case. After reading this thread and some thoughts, I decided it would be better to obtain and test the ODD and HDD devices I would need. The ICY DOCK bay device was $75 in in 2017; it is now as much as $140. There are "Ultra Slim" (LG BU40N) BD burners, and a "Slim" Sony model still available online besides some others, but I've used LG and Sony, so I have more confidence in them.

Some folks just arrange to put their optical drive in an external box deployed with USB connection, or they buy such a device. I have no problem with that idea. But if I can put it in the computer, well -- there's a convenience factor.

 

[bigboxes]

They sell BluRay burners that cover all your bases. Personally, I stopped burning media years ago. Everything is backed up on HDDs. I only use the optical drive if I need to extract data off a disc. Everything is either online, on my server, on my back up drives or on a USB stick if I need to install Windows and such. I have stacks of DVD±R that I'm never going to use. I went diskless in 2015? Not sure. I've got walls of media out in the living room. I rarely use them. Occasionally, I'll play a DVD in the stand alone BD player in the living room. But digital is digital. I can just stream from the server. Of all my media, I play my vinyl more than anything.

 

[boondocks]

I have north of 33TB of surround sound music all ripped and residing on HDD's...and except for old DTS-CD's everything is ripped to .iso.
But, if you are going to rip an UtraHD movie or music you need an optical drive that hasn't been crippled by it's firmware. In some cases you can flash earlier firmware, as I did on my LG WH16NS40 BD-RE drive. Also the earlier WH14NSxx will rip the large blu rays right out of the box, or should
I also have an external Verbatim (rebranded Pioneer) slim drive I was able to flash to another model. Both will now rip the large blu rays.
Sony is stopping production on some optical media, but that still leaves at minimum Ritec, Verbatim, Panasonic.
A lot of the optical media for sale by other names is often made by Ritec.