Word: rom
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Later this month, you can expect the first market release of DVD technology. This new technology, if successful in capturing the hearts and dollars of consumers, may revolutionize the way we store data and assimilate VCRs, audio CDs, laserdiscs and CD-ROM disks faster than the Borg in a Federation colony...
...While CD-ROM drive speeds keep increasing, the storage capacity of the disk itself has been limited to 650 megabytes for years. However, the first wave of DVD-ROM disks will be able to hold 4.7 gigabytes of data--that's more than seven times that of today's CD-ROM disks--using one side of a single-layered disk...
...with CD-ROM disks, DVD disks will first take the form of read-only devices (DVD-ROM). However, manufacturers are already working on a rewritable version of the disk (DVD-RAM) that will allow you to store and erase data from the disk just as with current floppy and hard disks. As a result, CDs would become a more attractive data backup option and there would be consolidation of multi-disk packages, such as electronic encyclopedias and phone directories...
...more pressing question for manufacturers is whether the technology will take a more firm hold in DVD players that would replace CD-Audio players and VCRs, or DVD-ROM drives for computers that are backward compatible with current CD-ROM disks...
...what determines a product's success before all these aspects? Price. If Phillips and Sony stick to to their announced intentions, then DVD-ROM drives will be offered in new computers at only $500 to $600--a low figure compared to the plus $1,000 price tag of the first CD players...