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Hi, Ron,

So let's think about this...

M-Disc plays in standard players, right?

We have seen the almost complete collapse of availability of new audio 
cassette and VHS players and essentially the complete collapse except 
for the resale market of Betamax and DAT decks.

When will optical disc drives stop being made? 25 years?

Once they are, they are not a technology easily replicated by the 
average garage handyperson. 1/4-inch reel to reel -- there's hope, but 
optical disc drives, I seriously doubt it.

So, whatever M-Disc claims to be the useful lifetime of the media, even 
if I believe it or MAM-A's claims, I worry far more about the 
availability of playback drives within the claimed media lifetime.

As a person who makes his living in part by keeping old players 
alive--and modifying them to be more appropriate to the current 
condition of the media I'm asked to digitize--I am very sensitive to 
this point.

I have taken two approaches to this:

  (1) Reducing the number of formats I can support, in part
      based on market demand--just like what the manufacturers do.
      So, no one has asked me after the first person I turned down
      to do a DCC tape--even though I have had a machine for about
      ten years now. I don't even know if it will still work.
      I would be surprised if it does.

  (2) Deepening my stock of parts in a few machines that have
      proven useful and robust and have, perhaps, multiple uses.
      For example, I have or have parted out and kept the parts
      29 Sony APR-5000 reel machines.

We are now past the age of dedicated formats for most things and if we 
are not we should be. It's all just bits and we should be dealing with 
the bits. It's the only thing that will really be supported going forward.

Cheers,

Richard

On 2013-07-08 12:40 PM, Ron Houston wrote:
> Having a bit of trouble finding impartial, unsponsored reviews, opinions, and prognostications about the M-Disc. Any thoughts? Even off-line?
> Thanks
>

-- 
Richard L. Hess                   email: [log in to unmask]
Aurora, Ontario, Canada                             647 479 2800
http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm
Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.