USB drive vs Blu-Ray

[Dartful Dodger]

We have a project that was going to be an multiple DVDs.  We looked into putting them on Blu-Ray disks but Sony charges an arm and a leg to use Blu-Ray technology so we decided to stick with DVDs.  Until the client decided they would upgrade all their sales people with Dell Minis.  Since the Minis don't have an internal disk drives we decided to put these multiple DVDs on a Flash Drive.

I told my sister this and she said that her son, who is in 4th Grade, got a Flash Drive for school, and that all the students were issued one with a lanyard for them to wear around their necks.

This got me thinking that they could also put movies on USB drives and if a USB drive can hold more than a Blu-Ray and is a cheaper technology, Blu-Ray is dead.

[stace]

4 or 5 years everything will be streamed & for those who don't have the bandwidth blockbuster predominately in the post.

[Ginsu Victim]

I will always prefer a physical copy of a movie. I will not accept streaming or digital copy only.

[whammoed]

For a very long time I have thought music would become available on a format that required no moving parts to play.  I would think: "If my atari 2600 had cartridges with no moving parts why can't my audio player."  Of course it's been totally possible for a while now but no-one has done it.   CD's were great but really they are kind of large and the first CD player I had for my car liked to skip.   

[ahofle]

4 or 5 years everything will be streamed & for those who don't have the bandwidth blockbuster predominately in the post.

LOL people have been saying that for 4 or 5 years. 
It will never happen IMO.  Bandwidth is becoming less plentiful, not the other way around, ISPs are starting to define caps, etc.

[Dartful Dodger]

5 years ago I would be able to tell my friends I'll be out of work by 8:30 because we have to make FedEx.

I use to have a FedEx run twice a week, Now I go to FedEx about 4 times a year.

I sometimes work until 1 am on a Friday night, starting a 4 Gig upload to the clients servers for Monday.

I agree with everyone on this.  Streaming will be the way to rent, but people who own will always want hard copies.

...and those hard copies will be on USB drives.

[Ginsu Victim]

If it's on a drive, I risk losing it.

I'll take a disc, thank you very much.

[Dartful Dodger]

If it's on a drive, I risk losing it.

I'll take a disc, thank you very much.

The USB drives we're going to be using will be dual drives, not sure about all the details but it's suppose to protect/lock the application we are creating while allowing the user to save their personal information on the other half of the drive.

The user won't be able to delete or modify our program.

I remember when people said they would never give up vinyl and the large album covers were as much a part of the "art" of music as the songs themselves.

The entertainment industry listens to what the younger generation wants.  If grade school kids are getting use to USBs, by the time they are in H.S. there won't be any discs for you to take.

[stace]

LOL people have been saying that for 4 or 5 years. 
It will never happen IMO.  Bandwidth is becoming less plentiful, not the other way around, ISPs are starting to define caps, etc.

I think it will.

Personally I prefer the physical media in my hand.  I have ripped all of my media to a nas server and stream around the house accordingly.

In terms of renting and streaming over the net, I do believe its the way things will go.  Netflix and BB are now in bed with M$, Sony are soon to be jumping on the bandwagon as well.  With all of the newer NMT's being able to deliver video straight from the net, its just a matter of time before additional services get onboard.

Capped bandwidth or not, the newer codecs can deliver HD to your door without lag on minimal bandwidth.

Just my tuppence 

[TOK]

I agree with everyone on this.  Streaming will be the way to rent, but people who own will always want hard copies.

...and those hard copies will be on USB drives.

Streaming is already established in a sense, with On Demand.
Internet streaming of 1080p video from providers other than Verizon/Cable? Don't think so.
Install base is just getting large for Blu Ray, it's not going to be dethroned for at least 10 years.
I've already bought special edition copies that come on multiple Blu Rays (like Watchmen), so it's not like they're encumbered by capacity.

[RayB]

The entertainment industry listens to what the younger generation wants.

    yeah. sure. Young people clearly expressed wanting music in portable formats (MP3) as far back as 1996. So the entertainment industry listened? No, they had to be "convinced", and their arms twisted by the likes of Apple.

[saint]

5 years ago I would be able to tell my friends I'll be out of work by 8:30 because we have to make FedEx.

I use to have a FedEx run twice a week, Now I go to FedEx about 4 times a year.

I sometimes work until 1 am on a Friday night, starting a 4 Gig upload to the clients servers for Monday.

I agree with everyone on this.  Streaming will be the way to rent, but people who own will always want hard copies.

...and those hard copies will be on USB drives.

I don't think the USB drive form factor will suit people who want to own. Discs you can organize and look at. I dunno, could be wrong but I don't see it. I rip every DVD we buy on to my media server but we still keep all the cases in the media library. 

[Ginsu Victim]

I'm the sort who proudly displays their DVD collection and I'm not alone in doing so.

[Dartful Dodger]

In H.S a friend who loves music would proudly display his vinyl album covers.  In college he had to get one of those racks that hold 100s of CD cases.  DVDs come in bigger boxes, so now he's given up the fight and switched to putting them all in a binder.

I don't think the USB drive form factor will suit people who want to own. Discs you can organize and look at. I dunno, could be wrong but I don't see it. I rip every DVD we buy on to my media server but we still keep all the cases in the media library. 

Same here, sort of.  I don't have a media server, but I put my DVDs in a binder and put their cases in a storage box, same with all the music CDs, and ps1 and ps3 games.  The boxes are all different sizes, but they are all in the same storage box. I think if they switched to flash drives, I wouldn't skip a beat. I'd have to get a different case/binder for the drives and the boxes the drives came in would be put in the same storage box as the other media boxes.

Driving to work I like to listen to books on tape in my car's CD player (see what I did there?), but the last book on tape I wanted was on a dedicated mp3 player.  The librarian told me that's the way all the new books on tape are gong to be.

[Dartful Dodger]

Mini CDs (for singles) have never caught on, mini discs were dead in the water, the list goes on and on.

Apples to oranges.

I remember when a client asked us to create a cross platform application that would fit on one of those business card cds.  He was so hip and cool and he wanted everyone to know it.  He was so hip and cool his demo had to work on the latest and greatest Mac, since our only Mac at the time was a PowerMac we bought an iMac for this project.  After getting our brand new iMac we called the client back into our office.  We then showed him the suck in disk drive on our hip and cool iMac.

Those mini cds had the same problem, they were obsolete before they even left the gate.  We still have a spool of 90+ cds.  (Since I wasn't a Mac guy I still thought they were interesting so I put my demo on a few of them.

The usb isn't going anywhere anytime soon.  Even Mac's hip and cool fire wire has been squashed by the usb.  The great thing about usb drives is that they don't have to look like a lighter.  Although the slim shape works in most situations a car movie could be put on a matchbox car shaped drive with moving wheels or gun shaped drive or rose shaped drive...  The types of drives are as endless as the movies themselves.

[RyoriNoTetsujin]

Although the slim shape works in most situations a car movie could be put on a matchbox car shaped drive with moving wheels or gun shaped drive or rose shaped drive...  The types of drives are as endless as the movies themselves.

Well at that rate I hope that someone produces a documentary about Pez dispensers.  Then the whole thing can come full circle.

[Hogie1418]

What most of you are saying is that you like the cases to your dvds. They could always put the USB drive in a pretty case kinda like the nintendo DS games. Then everyone would be satisfied.

[saint]

In H.S a friend who loves music would proudly display his vinyl album covers.  In college he had to get one of those racks that hold 100s of CD cases.  DVDs come in bigger boxes, so now he's given up the fight and switched to putting them all in a binder.

I don't think the USB drive form factor will suit people who want to own. Discs you can organize and look at. I dunno, could be wrong but I don't see it. I rip every DVD we buy on to my media server but we still keep all the cases in the media library. 

Same here, sort of.  I don't have a media server, but I put my DVDs in a binder and put their cases in a storage box, same with all the music CDs, and ps1 and ps3 games.  The boxes are all different sizes, but they are all in the same storage box. I think if they switched to flash drives, I wouldn't skip a beat. I'd have to get a different case/binder for the drives and the boxes the drives came in would be put in the same storage box as the other media boxes.

Driving to work I like to listen to books on tape in my car's CD player (see what I did there?), but the last book on tape I wanted was on a dedicated mp3 player.  The librarian told me that's the way all the new books on tape are gong to be.

Well I have to give you that one so that's food for thought. I don't buy CD's or audio books anymore. I buy music digitally from Amazon or Itunes, and I buy audiobooks from audible.com -- all MP3 or AAC files....

[Ginsu Victim]

What most of you are saying is that you like the cases to your dvds. They could always put the USB drive in a pretty case kinda like the nintendo DS games. Then everyone would be satisfied.

Yes I like my cases, but no, I wouldn't want my movies on USB. I still trust optical media more.

[wp34]

Well I have to give you that one so that's food for thought. I don't buy CD's or audio books anymore. I buy music digitally from Amazon or Itunes, and I buy audiobooks from audible.com -- all MP3 or AAC files....

I've looked at audible.com.  Do you actually "own" the audio book or do you have to delete it after you listen?  I currently rip my audio books to iTunes but also burn an MP3 CD for listening in the car. Can you choose either MP3 or AAC when you download?

[saint]

You own it, and you can choose from various formats including MP3 and AAC. We own a pretty big Audible library. If you lose it for some reason, they maintain an online library for you of titles you bought and you can re-download at will. It's really well done.

[Ginsu Victim]

At least they let you redownload. Some places don't (like iTunes).

[ChadTower]

I just don't care what format new stuff comes on so long as it isn't forcing me to upgrade my TV, media player, network, driveway, mailbox, boxers, shoes, and flatware.  What ticks me off is when formats change without real tangible benefit or marginal quality improvement.  I still haven't gone HD because I just don't have the motivation to upgrade the dish, the multiswitch, and all of the Tivos.  Nor am I motivated to pay more money for DirecTV service just to get the content in slightly better quality than the SD I'm already getting.  It's not worth the extra effort and money on a set of 32" TVs.

And somehow, contrary to my collector's nature, I have no desire to collect a massive movie or music library.  I watch movies and then get rid of them.  I listen to music until I'm tired of it and then toss it.  For every person that proudly displays their collection of 1000 DVDs there are dozens who don't and could care less if packaging looks good on a shelf.

[wp34]

You own it, and you can choose from various formats including MP3 and AAC. We own a pretty big Audible library. If you lose it for some reason, they maintain an online library for you of titles you bought and you can re-download at will. It's really well done.

Excellent.  That is all I needed to hear to get off the fence.  I am going to give them a try.  Thanks for the info.   

[RyoriNoTetsujin]

Going back to the OP; seems to me that the main difference between USB and Blu-ray as physical media delivery systems lies in the fact that USB keys are not easy to store and organize for Joe User. 

The "novelty shape" gimmick that DD mentioned, while perhaps clever, points at the problem.  There is no standardized size/shape for a USB key, beyond what it needs to adhere to the form factor.  Any standardization of USB keys for this purpose would include some sort of  proprietary tech now anyway (see below.)

(Personally, the whole USB key idea smacks of "Fisher Price: My First Media Player."  Yes, despite the fact that I own and love cartridge-based game consoles.  )

On the other hand, the "disc" form factor (CD, DVD, Blu-ray and on) is monumentally ubiquitous, having already been agreed on by the major global electronics distributors better than 25 years ago.  "Newer isn't always better." 

Anyway, the way I see it, all these businesses want is steady cashflow, with a minimum of loss (to piracy, competition, etc.)  Proprietary, set-top digital distribution (OnDemand, the PSN Network, etc.) gives them total control.  I don't like it, you don't like it, but that is the future... eventually. 

However, the question is: Is that really so bad?  If a subscription service was reasonably affordable (and that of course is key,) contained the complete spectrum of "rich media" you care to consume, while making it instantly accessible, wouldn't you want that?

[Ginsu Victim]

If a subscription service was reasonably affordable (and that of course is key,) contained the complete spectrum of "rich media" you care to consume, while making it instantly accessible, wouldn't you want that?

Only if I could own it without the risk of losing ownership.

I don't want strings attached, such as requiring internet access to view films I own. I would want a storage unit that I could view from, and the only streaming I would care about is for downloading movies I buy or streaming ones I rent.

Changing hardware should not make me lose ownership. I want ownership records to be on their end (and hopefully backed up by them multiple times in multiple places).

My fear is a company going out of business and I lose my movie collection.

Still, I'd prefer to own media (solid state would be awesome, as long as it is stable), but the above list is what it would take for me to consider going all streaming.

[ChadTower]

Still, I'd prefer to own media (solid state would be awesome, as long as it is stable), but the above list is what it would take for me to consider going all cleveland steaming.

fixt

[Ginsu Victim]

Heh. Nice way of pointing out the typo. Wouldn't make sense on any other board...

Fixed for real.

[Nipedley]

I don't like my movies to be 'digitalised', I have no problems with the same for Music and all of my cd's are ripped to the appropriate players, but I still want the CD's because files get deleted, hard drives bust, and it makes a nice display. Movies however for me are a different kind of experience and to have them as a bunch of random 1's and 0's instead of a nice box, vhs, dvd or whatever it might be isnt the same. Kind of like emulation, it's funky for a while but it's not the same for me as playing it properly. It all feels a bit too fake. Personally I wouldn't buy into USB based media, and I won't be with streaming movies until it becomes necessary to do so which is probably inevitable in the long run..

[Ginsu Victim]

Just pointing out the obvious:
DVDs are "a bunch of 1's and 0's"

[ChadTower]

Maybe that's his problem... his DVDs just contain random binary code! 

[Nipedley]

Hehe I knew someone would pick up on that I recognise that dvd's are digital media in themselves but I don't know, there's something different between holding a dvd and some form of flash media. The point I was trying to make I think was that while with a dvd, yes you get the 1's and 0's but you get a case, you get something you can hold in your hands. Off a hard drive or a usb drive, it's a purely digital experience, and I don't think I would be satisfied with that personally.

Could well happen though, things seem to be going that way

[Ginsu Victim]

The point I was trying to make I think was that while with a dvd, yes you get the 1's and 0's but you get a case, you get something you can hold in your hands. Off a hard drive or a usb drive, it's a purely digital experience, and I don't think I would be satisfied with that personally.

You CAN hold those in your hands.

DVDs ARE digital.

Just picking on you more (we agree on DVDs)

[Nipedley]

I don't know.. after all they seem to work pretty well with the Nintendo DS and the old N-Gage, maybe we'll all come around to it?

Then again it could just be that even though they are flash media, they just act as an extension to the traditional cartridges we all know and love.

Ah, who knows

[daywane]

You own it, and you can choose from various formats including MP3 and AAC. We own a pretty big Audible library. If you lose it for some reason, they maintain an online library for you of titles you bought and you can re-download at will. It's really well done.

thinks for the tip. I will also check them out

[daywane]

the more I think of it... The more I like it. My wife has a way of burning up cheep DVD players. I bet I replace at least 4 a year.

non moving parts seems a good way to go. I have never wore out a usb port , but I never plugged and unplugged one a 1,000 times yet eather.

It took me a very long time to get away from VCR. once blank DVDs came cheep I jumped in.

I think I could deal with a USB Player system .
I see one problem. blank DVDS are about .50 cents each,  a 4 gig USB is about $12.00. That is a huge jump for the movie industry to tack on.
I do not see people ready to add the extra cost to purchase a movie .

[Ginsu Victim]

I see one problem. blank DVDS are about .50 cents each a 4 gig USB is about $12.00. That is a huge jump for the movie industry to tack on.
I do not see people ready to add the extra cost to purchase a movie .

Remember why game companies switched from cartridges to discs?

[ChadTower]

...because they insisted on bloating games with unnecessary cutscenes and cinematic crap?

[Dartful Dodger]

I see one problem. blank DVDS are about .50 cents each,  a 4 gig USB is about $12.00. That is a huge jump for the movie industry to tack on.

How much do blank floppies cost?

Remember when Mac stopped putting floppy drives on their computers and people said that would be the nails in Mac's coffin?

The new Mac laptops don't have a CD/DVD drives.  Dell wasn't waiting for Mac to be proved right(again) so CD/DVD drives are an external option for their mini laptops.


BTW: This thread is called USB drive vs Blu-Ray.  The $12 for a blank Blue-Ray disk is just the tip of the iceberg.  Like I already mentioned my company looked into distributing an application on Blu-Ray.  It's expensive and you're limited by the Blu-Ray playing software.

A USB drive can be any size and contain any software and doesn't require consent and licensing fees that cost an arm and a leg from Sony.

[ChadTower]

A USB drive can be any size and contain any software and doesn't require consent and licensing fees that cost an arm and a leg from Sony.

Which is exactly why they won't use it.