Optical Disc Prices Could Rise by 50% in Second Half of 2013

[btarunr]

Optical disc (media) prices could shoot up by 50 percent in the second half of 2013, according to Robert Wong, chairman of Taiwan's largest optical disc maker, CMC Magnetics. In an interview with DigiTimes, Mr. Wong observed that the optical disc industry is in a state of reshuffling, with second- and third-tier makers (medium-thru-small) of optical media, which are individually small and facing the brunt of bad economic climate, but many in number, closing or scaling down production. Ironically, the demand for optical discs isn't exactly in a free-fall, with developing markets stepping up appetite for DVDs, and developed ones for Blu-ray discs. The optical disc demand, overall, could decline at a rate lower than expected.



Source: DigiTimes, Image Courtesy: WikiMedia Foundation (CC)

[erocker]

The interview sounds like desperation from Mr. Wong. Optical media is dying rather quickly with PC users. Everything is going the way of digital/the "cloud"/etc. Online distribution of media has exploded. I can't think of one thing in the market that tells me Optical Disc usage will rise. The rise in price just reflects the dwindling demand and the need to keep profits/bottom line where they want it.

[Delta6326]

I am part of the Few, the Proud, the last optical Disc user!

I will always try and get a hard copy of anything I buy, you can never trust digital. I could have bought my F1 2012 from Steam, but I instead got a hard copy shipped all the way from the UK.

[phanbuey]

So the cost will go from 0.80 cents to $1.20... The cost of optical media will still be so low that it will remain far cheaper than potential alternatives. Also, as Erocker pointed out, he sounds like he made some bad bets on the production forecasting side of things, and is now coming up with reasons why his company is about to get rocked.

[Finners]

how much can they cost to produce? must be pennies! if it effects the end price to much they are just putting nails in their own coffins

i'll get games on disc as long as its cheaper and registers on a digital service so i dont have to listen to my drive bay spin up every time i play it.

F1 2012 being the last example of this

[Crap Daddy]

Wong knows there will be major flooding during the monsoon season.

[AphexDreamer]

End of 2012 madness I tells ya.

[cadaveca]

Originally Posted by erocker

The interview sounds like desperation from Mr. Wong. Optical media is dying rather quickly with PC users. Everything is going the way of digital/the "cloud"/etc. Online distribution of media has exploded. I can't think of one thing in the market that tells me Optical Disc usage will rise. The rise in price just reflects the dwindling demand and the need to keep profits/bottom line where they want it.

Consoles and 3D BluRay players are more than enough to make up for any loss on the PC side of things.

It's the lake of CD sales that ahs me confused..or simply...nobody but me ever bought them in the first place.

[NC37]

Originally Posted by Delta6326

I am part of the Few, the Proud, the last optical Disc user!

I will always try and get a hard copy of anything I buy, you can never trust digital. I could have bought my F1 2012 from Steam, but I instead got a hard copy shipped all the way from the UK.

And yet...for years the trust in optical was worse what with scratches and the overall fragile nature of the media. Optical disks have a lifetime just like anything else. If you do not store them properly they can have issues. Now we have buffers and tools to repair them.

Steam is digital but you can download it anytime you want as many times as you want. You can keep it backed up for years. Course by the time the backup dies you likely won't care about it because you'll either have forgotten it or be using newer titles.

[Frick]

Originally Posted by Delta6326

I am part of the Few, the Proud, the last optical Disc user!

I will always try and get a hard copy of anything I buy, you can never trust digital. I could have bought my F1 2012 from Steam, but I instead got a hard copy shipped all the way from the UK.

It's not that I don't trust "digital" (a fun name of saying that btw as the game is digital no matter how you put it). I like physical media mostly because they're cheaper. Like Deus Ex: HR. A pretty big game, was like €49 on Steam for ages, while it launched at below €30 retail. Now you can get it for €12 on steam, but it's now €9,17 retail.

Now it's just a matter of economy for me as even the physical versions rarely comes with actual manuals or anything like that.

But I think they're going away for sure. I mean they ARE going away, but they will be there for the premium packages. Lets say I bought an Diablo III Epic MEGATITS edition for like €2k, I would feel pretty crossed if I instead of a black, burnt bloodstaind package containing a disc with great art on it found a coupon with some numbers on it. For those big releases you want to shut down your home, even your internets!, and embrace the game completely. But nooo they drag you to their homepage while blasting you with ads and you have to enter it, get it wrong, enter again, realize it just doesn't work, contact support who help you the next day. Then you're down again, you're feeling it. It has been installed. You are about to enter a different world, you're excited. Connection failure. Wait 15 minutes. Connection failure. "WTF ARE YOU CONNECTING TO??" "DRM. Also to share achievements with your friends." "I DON'T HAVE FRIENDS" "They will be posted to your facebook wall and be texted to your mom"


Then we give up and it feels like gaming might not be for me anymore, so we become drones. Gaming drones. Shuffling along, being fed CoDs and BFs and MMORPGS and indiecrapEDGYshit we give up. Gaming is more like masturbating come to think of it.

What is this thread about again? Oh yeah. Yeaaaahhh that. I dunnolol.

[erocker]

Originally Posted by cadaveca

Consoles and 3D BluRay players are more than enough to make up for any loss on the PC side of things.

It's the lake of CD sales that ahs me confused..or simply...nobody but me ever bought them in the first place.

We're past that. Digital distribution are taking those over too, consoles are next.

[btarunr]

Originally Posted by erocker

The interview sounds like desperation from Mr. Wong. Optical media is dying rather quickly with PC users. Everything is going the way of digital/the "cloud"/etc. Online distribution of media has exploded. I can't think of one thing in the market that tells me Optical Disc usage will rise. The rise in price just reflects the dwindling demand and the need to keep profits/bottom line where they want it.

You're talking about only a fraction of the market (consumption of media by PC enthusiasts), and an even smaller fraction of that (countries with unmetered internet that's fast and cheap enough to support online distribution). Businesses very much still consume optical discs to archive their data and camera surveillance, and there are countries which are just waking up to the gaming market, where people prefer to buy physical copies of their software/games (should they decide to buy and not pirate).

[newtekie1]

Oh noes! So CD-Rs might go from $0.17 a piece to $0.25 a piece and DVDs might go from $0.20 to $0.30 a piece?! How ever will we survive?! Oh wait, I'm still have more than half the box of 200 CDs that I bought from Circuit City back in 2003 and half the spindle of 100 DVDs I bought back in 2006...I think I'll be fine.

[Mckertis]

Originally Posted by NC37

And yet...for years the trust in optical was worse what with scratches and the overall fragile nature of the media. Optical disks have a lifetime just like anything else.

And yet...i have a working HDDs from 17 years ago, and hundreds of DVDs i burned 7 years ago are still perfectly readable. Whereas modern HDDs are pretty much a lottery, and you sigh with relief if they work problem-free for over a year.

Steam is digital but you can download it anytime you want as many times as you want.

You can download it anytime THEY want, as many times as THEY want. Steam is not exactly open and transparent in the way they do business. They can just ban you and not even grace you with a reason. Attempts to communicate with Steam regarding the way they make their decisions are pretty much waste of time.

[Ravenas]

Is it the economy, or is it just that optical solutions are begining to become outdated?

[bmaverick]

DVD isn't the way to go for data backup or storage. 64Gb USB thumb drives hold more data.

[TheGuruStud]

BR is too expensive. They should have thought of that before bringing out a standard with a less than stellar increase in capacity (single layer is a joke) and high price tag.

What are DL BRs going for now, 5 bucks a pop? LOL

F that noise. I just built a 13 TB server for about 1,250.

[RejZoR]

Who gives a flying toss? Haven't burned an optical media for years. Plus they are very unpractical and get scratched if you just look badly at them... If anything, they should get cheaper, not more expensive...

[Dj-ElectriC]

Not using a DVD-RW drive since 2011.

[syeef]

Go Digital.

[de.das.dude]

i have over 200 discs of pictures and videos! and stuff!

[JayliN]

Originally Posted by erocker

The interview sounds like desperation from Mr. Wong. Optical media is dying rather quickly with PC users. Everything is going the way of digital/the "cloud"/etc. Online distribution of media has exploded. I can't think of one thing in the market that tells me Optical Disc usage will rise. The rise in price just reflects the dwindling demand and the need to keep profits/bottom line where they want it.

Prices aren't dictated by any single manufacturer. Its dictated by the market. You're misinformed if you think a company can charge whatever they want just to meet some sort of bottom line. If you can't make a profit at a price consumers are willing to pay, you go out of business. Raising prices will only drive your customers to your competitors faster.

He gives a logical explanation for why prices are expected to increase. Because smaller producers are closing up shop. With less competitors and a higher than expected demand, prices will inevitably increase. Its simple economics really. Not some method to maintain profits. It just doesn't work that way.

[The Quim Reaper]

Discs are still a useful cheap way of archiving...I have 130GB of comic books on my 2nd 1.5TB Hard Drive, and one day that drive will fail, as all Hard drives do.

So I just purchased 50 DVD+R to back them all up and store them away safely for that day my Hard Drive fails.

To do the same on USB drives, whilst more convenient, would cost 4x as much.

[Rockfella.killswitch]

This really! I frequently burn DVDs for my non-geek friends as my last one died 'coz i didnot use it for a long time

Originally Posted by RejZoR

Who gives a flying toss? Haven't burned an optical media for years. Plus they are very unpractical and get scratched if you just look badly at them... If anything, they should get cheaper, not more expensive...

[newtekie1]

Originally Posted by The Quim Reaper

Discs are still a useful cheap way of archiving...I have 130GB of comic books on my 2nd 1.5TB Hard Drive, and one day that drive will fail, as all Hard drives do.

So I just purchased 50 DVD+R to back them all up and store them away safely for that day my Hard Drive fails.

To do the same on USB drives, whilst more convenient, would cost 4x as much.

Look up disc rot. It is more likely that in 5 years the optical disc will have deteriorated than it is a hard drive will have died. Especially burned optical discs.

Discs might be a cheap way to archive, but they are also the worst. You're better off picking up a second hard drive and doing backups to it every few weeks.