Is ZIP Really Dead?

i think ZIP is good, but dying. it just is. there's no explanation except for better technologies, and soon they will be obsolete.

Re: Is ZIP Really Dead?

Originally posted by Rezet
You know, I bought myself a 750 Mbs zip drive for USB 2.0.
Sales person was implying that those are practically dead and that I should get those usb memory sticks.
Well, I went with zip, and I think it's a kick-ass thingy.
I mean it copies 7 Mbs in around 2-3 seconds. It seems to be quite reliable and one 750 disc is 10-15 bucks.

So, I was just wondering what you guys thinnk about those.
I just don't get why is it everyone thinks that cdrw that can die any second and are quite bulky are considered great competitors to zips.
Or DVD-RW that cost a bunch and take forever to burn while reliability is also questionable. Memory sticks dont seem to hold enough space and aren't cheap at all.

???

Click to expand...

You want to know why ZIP disks are dead? CD burning is faster, cheaper and easier. If you want to protect your data, buy a jewel case. ZIP disks have zero compatability with anything else besides themselves (and sometimes that isnt even true), while CD's have almost universal compatability.

Also, that price is atrocious! 15 dollars for one disk! I found, for $17.00, a 50 pack of Memorex, 48x CD-R media. (source) thats 35 GB of storage for the price of one, 750MB ZIP disk.

Now, I hope you see why ZIP really is dead.

I have yet to burn a CD on a Mac, but I'll tell you one thing, burning a CD on a Windows computer is one of the most unreliable things you can do. I cannot tell you how many CDs I've wasted trying to burn a CD on both Windows ME (horrible, horrible OS) and Windows XP...it's a pure headache. I only have a Zip 100 (external USB) but it is fast, easy, and works perfectly every time.

hell, i think zips are dead as well. first of all 17 dollars is a little high in my opinion for a 50 pack of cd's. if you look in the right place you can get 50-100 free with rebates. 10-15 dollars for 1 750 disc is pricey in my opinion. and since it is still a disk like a floppy, it can get corrupted easily. i moved our whole newspaper department to cd's just because zips we clunky, you had to have this huge drive to carry around if you wanted to use it. and there are no hybrid discs. sure you can format a zip disc to pc, but it is slower transferring stuff on a mac vs a pc unless you have it formatted to the right format. i just feel you spent a lot of money for old technology, zips were never popular enough to replace floppies. but its your money and thats all that counts.

iJon

Originally posted by Rezet
Well, iJon that all seems to be your bias. You don't give any specifcs on how is that cds are much better. CDRWs always die. I had 4 dead on me. And I'm greatful I had them backed up.
My friend also lost a cdrw with all his financial files. He backed it up, but most recent file changes were lost.
I'm not talking about CDRs. CDRs are one thing, CDRWs is another. On pcs, it's ridicuolus that you actualyl have to buy a program for like 80-100 bucks before you can burn cds normally.
And yes, old zips (100, 250) were slow and not very reliable.
But 750 are powered by usb 2.0 or firewire 400. they are probably 6 times faster than cdrws. I just dont really see what's better.

Click to expand...

hell, when i can buy 50-100 cdr's for free why do i need cd-rw's they are slow and a waste of time. i burn cds all the time for a single file without a flinch. on windows i never bought software to burn cd's on windows. xp comes with all that, just like mac os x. another thing about zips, if you come over to my house it useless. now if you have the cash to put a zip on every computer you use it on then be my guest. i would rather use the dirt cheap cds that i can buy by the bundles, and plus with my same drive i can burn dvd's, which cost about a couple of dollars for me, and they hold 4.7gb.

iJon

Originally posted by Rezet
Even if I could get CD-Rs free, why in the world would I use one disc for one file that I will have to modify in 20 minutes?
This is ridiculous! I'll have a pile of useless CDRs that will rather confuse me, than help me. Besides, it's all talk. Let me see some offers where you get 50-100 discs for free.
And dvd-r? Please, that also isn't an option. First off, DVDRs cost a bundle. And it's rare I have to back up the whole 5 gig of data.
Second they take forever to burn. And using 4.5 gig disc if you have to back up 200 mbs file is also stupid.
And also, many many people do not have dvd-roms on their computers still. So unless you bought a computer within 2 years, you are just as screwed as as those with zips.
Besides, external Zip is very, very small, so i can take it with me - no problem.

As for windows burning, PLEASE! Not everyone has XP to begin with, nor does everyone has OSX. Second, WIndows burning is very crappy and only burns one way. There practically no custom burning allowed. IF I thought Windows xp built-in cd burning feature is good, i wouldnt get Roxio EZ cd creator.
(It's good if your computer comes with one of those, but some, like mine didn't)...

Click to expand...

well i use the trash can to discard all my cd's. and about the free cd's, ill show you where. this sunday open up your paper and get the best buy, office max, office depot, circuit city, and all those others annd youll find some free ones in there somewhere, my mom has about 1000 cd's she has bought this year and recieved all her rebates, thats a thousand free cd's we have now. i know not everyone has os x or windows xp. but i bet you more people have xp and os x than 750mb zip drives. thats great if its portable, but you still gotta take it with you. if i burn a file on a cd i can take it to my buddies and he can look at it, i dont have to take anything to him besides a jewl case. and those zip drives are only good for data backup. with my cd burner i can burn sotware, games, data, music, movies, vcd's, mp3 cd's. its the standard. and i can go buy a single apple dvd for about a couple of bucks, or i can get 5 for even cheaper. by all means if you like your zip drive, congrats, i will throw a party for you. i just think cd's better, and i think most people would agree with me. thats why no one offers built in zip drives anymore. i would rather save my money and buy myself a nice little potable firewire hard drive.

iJon

Originally posted by Rezet
This is ridiculous! I'll have a pile of useless CDRs that will rather confuse me, than help me.

Click to expand...

Confused? Buy a Sharpe.


Anyway... no one is calling you an idiot or anything for buying a Zip drive... You asked people for their opinion of Zip and they gave it. No reason to be defensive.

lighten up.

My advice to you is enjoy your new Zip drive. I have used many zip and jazz drives and they have all been more than useful over the years. CDRs are good for some things, but for lots of quick files and data you need to change and move around on a regular basis, I don't see how CDs or DVDs could compete with that kind of ease of use. I for one am jealous

dude, if you like it keep using it who cares about everyone else. I mean your a mac user, its not like your worried about being like everyone else already. This is probably one of those things you shoudl enjoy but not become a zealot about. I think they are fine, very similar to the ext. hard drive I use in many ways except the media is much more portable and easier to detach.

I think the ZIP format is on it's last leg. I think the biggest detractors are cost and compatibility. I can burn data to a CD and give it to someone and they are set. If I dump something to a ZIP I have to make sure they have a ZIP and that our models of ZIPs are compatible. Or I have to let them borrow my ZIP drive and wait for them to return it. ZIPs were great when I was in college 'caue all of the campus PCs had zip drives built in. But since then I've haven't used my ZIP at all (that's over 2 years ago). I've burned hundreds of CDs over the past 4 years or so and only 1 has gone bad on me. As long as you don't buy crappy media you'll be fine. Of course you could have purchased a defective CD/batch of CD's but defects happen w/all products.

W/DVD burners working their way into the mainstream (and blu-ray dics on the horizon), USB "thumbdrives" and Firewire/USB HDDs getting cheapper the niche ZIP once filled is quickly closing. We used to use JAZ drives at work for xfering files but we recently switched to "pocket sized" external FW drives. $180 can get you an external FW ZIP 750 (w/o media) or a 20gig SmartDisk FW firelight HDD for the same price.


Lethal

fair enough, but yes i have used them. i used just about everything of that nature, ill sell them at work and ive played with them all, and not too many people are interested in them. thats great that you like it and in no way was i trying to put you down, just having a fun argument. i just dont see them having enough pro's to jusify a purchase, and many of my customers feel the same way with having a cd burner do what they need most.

iJon

I think zip drives still have some life left in them. I love using them for everyday file moving etc. Zip drives won't become obselete until the day when a burning a CDRW is even close to copying files to a zip, or until a new media is developed. USB "thumbdrives" aren't viable as they are too limited by their capacity. Next is firewire/USB2 drives. There are some small ones out there, but they're expensive. I think the next logical step is a VERY small portable HD. The size of a credit card and no more than 1/4" thick would be nice. The data is protected, the HD is portable and uses 1 cord, and can hold a lot. The capacity should be around 1 gig to keep the price and size down. Sell it for $75 and I would snap that up in a heartbeat. Until I can buy something like that, I'll stick with the quick transfer of files on my zip.

I use Zip 100 disks all the time for school and I also have a USB bus-powered drive at home.

They seem perfectly acceptable for temporary storage. However, they have been dying ever since the first went on sale. There have been plenty of removable drive types available but the idea of using floppy disk-type technology is not that great an idea. I have seen many of these die, taking along someone's homework. "The Zip disk ate my homework!"

Your best bet is to copy your project from the Zip disk to the hard drive, work on it, and copy it back to the Zip disk when done. It will last longer that way. If you're really considering backing up data, I don't think they're reliable enough but you'll find that out soon enough.

Good luck!

Originally posted by Peyote
I think zip drives still have some life left in them. I love using them for everyday file moving etc. Zip drives won't become obselete until the day when a burning a CDRW is even close to copying files to a zip, or until a new media is developed. USB "thumbdrives" aren't viable as they are too limited by their capacity. Next is firewire/USB2 drives. There are some small ones out there, but they're expensive. I think the next logical step is a VERY small portable HD. The size of a credit card and no more than 1/4" thick would be nice. The data is protected, the HD is portable and uses 1 cord, and can hold a lot. The capacity should be around 1 gig to keep the price and size down. Sell it for $75 and I would snap that up in a heartbeat. Until I can buy something like that, I'll stick with the quick transfer of files on my zip.

Click to expand...

The SmartDisk Firewire HDD I mentioned are 3 1/4 inches x 5 inches x 3/4 inch, are bus powered (so only 1 cable needed), have 2 FW ports and a 20 gig version costs as much as a ZIP 750 drive (w/o media). And you can buy 1gig "thumbdrives."


Lethal

ZIP was great when it was first introduced... but when the ZIP250 came out.. i brought one.. but no one support it much... these days, is all about those USB memory and CDRW/DVDRW...
who want to carry a ZIP disk around anymore? I haven't touch m y ZIP250 for X months... very dusty... but my 128MB USB memory stick.. is in my pocket everyday...

Originally posted by Powerbook G5
I have yet to burn a CD on a Mac, but I'll tell you one thing, burning a CD on a Windows computer is one of the most unreliable things you can do. I cannot tell you how many CDs I've wasted trying to burn a CD on both Windows ME (horrible, horrible OS) and Windows XP...it's a pure headache. I only have a Zip 100 (external USB) but it is fast, easy, and works perfectly every time.

Click to expand...

Then its probably your cd burner's fault...I have had an LG cd burner for about 3 years now and I have used it on 98SE, ME, and 2Kpro and I have probably burned 8 coasters. Not bad for 3 years....


Like I said if you are having such immense problems with cd burning it is probably the cd burner itself not the platform...

DVD drives have been out for at least 5 years...not 2.

I remember buying a P2 350 in 1998 with a 8x DVD drive.