So that's about 25 discs for installing Final Cut Studio
Now they can sell it in a tennis ball tube though.
Ha, ha
Very good! I just can picture this 
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Apple Patents Mini CD/DVD-ROM Adapter For Slot Loading Drives
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Ha, ha
Very good! I just can picture this 
A little late...
I remember when I was an Apple Technician, fixing G3 iMac Slot-Load CD drives when users would insert the mini-CDs.
It was an easy fix (Open up iMac, remove drive, disassemble drive, remove disk, reassemble drive, etc), but not covered by Apple's Warranty. $80 labor for 20 minutes of work! I loved it! :-D
Apple shoulda come up with this idea long ago... Although there are slot-load optical drives that will take different sized media, but no way of knowing if your drive will without trying. Thus by the time you find out yours isn't capable, it's too late!
One thing that worries me is with this collapsible adapter vs. high-speed spinning drives... will it hold up to the torsion?
I remember when I was an Apple Technician, fixing G3 iMac Slot-Load CD drives when users would insert the mini-CDs.
It was an easy fix (Open up iMac, remove drive, disassemble drive, remove disk, reassemble drive, etc), but not covered by Apple's Warranty. $80 labor for 20 minutes of work! I loved it! :-D
Apple shoulda come up with this idea long ago... Although there are slot-load optical drives that will take different sized media, but no way of knowing if your drive will without trying. Thus by the time you find out yours isn't capable, it's too late!
One thing that worries me is with this collapsible adapter vs. high-speed spinning drives... will it hold up to the torsion?
Tell me about it. And why didn't my refridgerator come with food already in it, when I bought it?
Anyway, the folding design of this clearly means that it's intended to fit into small packaging with a mini-dvd.
Can anyone confirm or deny that a mini-cd or mini-dvd would fit into an iMac Drive (Core Duo iMac)? I don't want to be a guinea pig but I do have some mini-cds that I'd like to get some stuff off of....
I just dont get it. The price of CDs has become so low that you get them with a magazine. And if anything, because the smaller discs appear to be non-standard, they are actually more expensive. But thinking out of the box, is there something looming in the future? And are Apple taking care of backward compatibility right now?
If optical discs are going to continue to be around, they may as well be smaller. Imagine how much plastic would be saved by everyone moving to smaller discs. The 3" DVD discs these days can hold more than twice as much as a CD.
This seems like a way to push consumers to start using them. Especially if Apple has it's hand in getting the record companies to start distributing music on them.
So basically this could be a small tiny thing, or a huge industry changing move.
This seems like a way to push consumers to start using them. Especially if Apple has it's hand in getting the record companies to start distributing music on them.
So basically this could be a small tiny thing, or a huge industry changing move.
please ...
seriously, who gives a crap about this.
what's to stop itunes from offering software downloads in the future? you can download many major apps as demos now too. what do we even need discs for anymore? i think they'll be gone very soon, so this little invention is sorta pointless.
plus, mini discs are barely used now anyway....
seriously, who gives a crap about this.
what's to stop itunes from offering software downloads in the future? you can download many major apps as demos now too. what do we even need discs for anymore? i think they'll be gone very soon, so this little invention is sorta pointless.
plus, mini discs are barely used now anyway....
The difference between CD/DVD ROM and CD/DVD-R drives is that the laser is different (but generally the same basic size & shape) and the -R drives have a larger cache. Neither of these things would get in the way of the loading mechanism. I would say the reason that it works in the Wii (but not for Apple, apparently) is that Nintendo HAD to have a way for their system to be compatible with the smaller discs of the GameCube, whereas Apple had no such great necessity for having their machines compatible with smaller discs, which are, as someone pointed out, not used all that often.
Necessity, it seems, is the mother of better invention.
I'm with everyone so far: has nobody at Apple ever even seen a Nintendo Wii? The GameCube discs are 8cm and the Wii has a slot-load optical drive that can also accept 12cm discs (Wii). Sure it wouldn't help people with previous computers, but I'm wondering why they're wasting money with the R&D and patents on something so simple/stupid.
Indeed, 8cm CDs can't carry much data, but what about an 8cm DVD? Isn't there at least as much storage on that as a full-size CD?
I'm with you on the downloading, though. In this age of downloadable TV shows and movies, 600MB isn't that much data anymore.
A disposable electronic device would really not impress me, no matter what size it would be and even if it only cost 0.01$.
Indeed, 8cm CDs can't carry much data, but what about an 8cm DVD? Isn't there at least as much storage on that as a full-size CD?
I'm with you on the downloading, though. In this age of downloadable TV shows and movies, 600MB isn't that much data anymore.
A disposable electronic device would really not impress me, no matter what size it would be and even if it only cost 0.01$.
How about if our friends Apple are preparing us for the 3" Blu-Ray Disk. Imagine a tiny little drive in their sub-notebook.
I think it's the novelty. I have a freelance client who LOVES them. I remind him that he can get three times more stuff on a full-size CD, but he always wants the little ones--and then complains when I make him cut the content.
You forgot to read the patent. The great innovation was a way to sell mini-disks to people who already have slot loading drives. Requiring all users to replace their existing CD/DVD drives would not have been a popular move
Apple needed a way to put a CD in a small box. So they though "Why not break the CD into three pieces and let the user re-assemble the pieces?
If they had thought just a little harder they might have tried putting the iTunes software on the iPod so that when you plug in a new iPod it appears as a disk on the desktop with the instaler in that disk. Does anyome else think it is silly to include a CD with a device that itself has more storage space then a CD.
Indeed. Apple always has been one of those companies to encourage a industry-wide transition from one technology to another, maybe this will be the latest Apple-initiated trend?Dr.Who is using his or her brains!
Ehhhh, AN industry wide...
Mind your English P.S. I've had one Vodka Martini too many
First, "reducing distribution cost" seems a bit silly given that current costs are fast approaching zero. If it fits on a mini disc, it's probably just as well to distribute it by the net.
Second, the drive should handle this. Two separate parts rotating very, very fast just sounds like a bad idea to me. The disc has a hole in it-- let the drive just worry about putting the hole in the right place.
Second, the drive should handle this. Two separate parts rotating very, very fast just sounds like a bad idea to me. The disc has a hole in it-- let the drive just worry about putting the hole in the right place.
1) This was originally filed May 2006. Does that make it a dead project? Maybe?
2) I don't know how well they sell (compared to other options) but there are those video cameras that use those little discs (blank mini DVDs). I also have a professional level audio recording deck from Fostex that uses that size DVD-RAM disc.
The DVD-RAM discs are fading away, but there are seemingly plenty of the same sized DVD-R and DVD+R devices out there. It would only make sense that the HD and Blu-Ray technology eventually trickle down to the mini discs. The only advantage my deck has with the DVD-RAM discs is that they come in a caddy (like a minidisc), so i don't have to handle them super carefully while i am working on a film shoot. That, of course, means little to the rest of the world. I'm guessing camera size is the obvious reason not to use full sized media. I'm guessing that in some situations people prefer to use media like this, as opposed to flash memory or a P2 card because they do not have the opportunity to download and reformat.... or do not want to lug around a laptop?
Anyway, it would suck for somebody to buy a new video camera only to realize the media is sort of incompatible with any Apple laptop, iMac or Mac Mini. I'm sure plenty of people still try to load the discs anyway, and as i understand it is a crapshoot if it will work.
As the above said, i would prefer to use something like a P2 card, or compact flash.... but i can easily use 6+ gigs on a day of filming, and that's not reality TV. That world would possibly be using tons more space when using 6 isolated tracks of audio at better than DAT quality. You isolate the audio in case, for example, one wireless mic goes to hell. That keeps the rest of them usable.
Just to put things in perspective... if i record 6 (isolated) tracks of audio at 48kHz/24-BIT, i only get 24 minutes on one side of a mini DVD-RAM disc (1.4 gigs). the discs are double sided, but the drive does not flip itself. It's not a huge market so the drive is proprietary. It's an oddball drive, but it will not fail if you are running behind a camera while chasing the action and rolling the whole time.
2) I don't know how well they sell (compared to other options) but there are those video cameras that use those little discs (blank mini DVDs). I also have a professional level audio recording deck from Fostex that uses that size DVD-RAM disc.
The DVD-RAM discs are fading away, but there are seemingly plenty of the same sized DVD-R and DVD+R devices out there. It would only make sense that the HD and Blu-Ray technology eventually trickle down to the mini discs. The only advantage my deck has with the DVD-RAM discs is that they come in a caddy (like a minidisc), so i don't have to handle them super carefully while i am working on a film shoot. That, of course, means little to the rest of the world. I'm guessing camera size is the obvious reason not to use full sized media. I'm guessing that in some situations people prefer to use media like this, as opposed to flash memory or a P2 card because they do not have the opportunity to download and reformat.... or do not want to lug around a laptop?
Anyway, it would suck for somebody to buy a new video camera only to realize the media is sort of incompatible with any Apple laptop, iMac or Mac Mini. I'm sure plenty of people still try to load the discs anyway, and as i understand it is a crapshoot if it will work.
As the above said, i would prefer to use something like a P2 card, or compact flash.... but i can easily use 6+ gigs on a day of filming, and that's not reality TV. That world would possibly be using tons more space when using 6 isolated tracks of audio at better than DAT quality. You isolate the audio in case, for example, one wireless mic goes to hell. That keeps the rest of them usable.
Just to put things in perspective... if i record 6 (isolated) tracks of audio at 48kHz/24-BIT, i only get 24 minutes on one side of a mini DVD-RAM disc (1.4 gigs). the discs are double sided, but the drive does not flip itself. It's not a huge market so the drive is proprietary. It's an oddball drive, but it will not fail if you are running behind a camera while chasing the action and rolling the whole time.
OS needs a re-install. OS is thus dead. OS is needed to be able to connect to (the) Internet. Without OS, no Internet. OS needs CD (DVD) drive. Single point of failure. End of lame message.
supply computer with small onboard ROM. Size: 2 perhaps 4 MB. Fill with code for network installation. End of smart message.
This is stupid. We get to be inconvenienced by having to assemble a rinky dink adaptor to install software so Apple can save a few cents on packaging?! Gimme a break. I can see the class action lawsuits for these grenading in a drive.
Not everywhere. HughesNet is our only option. $800 setup, $100 a month after that. It's as bad or worse than Dial-Up most of the time, and if you download/view more than 300 MB of content in a day, they pretty much disable your connection for 24-48 hours. If I had to download something like Leopard, I'd be screwed.
Off topic, but when you're quoting somebody, put the quote above your response rather than below. You don't respond to people before they talk.
Onboard code doesn't know what kind of Internet connection you are on. ISP doesn't provide for network boot. Imagine pulling 4 GB over a telephone line. I whish you luck, Yoda
How different is this from the ones that already exist? I have adapters for small CDs now.
Usually the small disc media runs MORE expensive than full size media. I don't see how they will save money with this and the inclusion of the adapter.
Just use regular media.
Usually the small disc media runs MORE expensive than full size media. I don't see how they will save money with this and the inclusion of the adapter.
Just use regular media.
True, but there is plenty of scope for reducing the packaging supplied with existing media, for example the unnecessarily large plastic oblong boxes that movie DVDs tend to come in.