Posted on 11/12/2003 1:02:12 PM PST by Perseverando
CDs 'could be history in five years'
Compact discs could be history within five years, superseded by a new generation of fingertip-sized memory tabs with no moving parts.
Scientists say each paper-thin device could store more than a gigabyte of information - equivalent to 1,000 high quality images - in one cubic centimetre of space.
Experts have developed the technology by melding together organic and inorganic materials in a unique way.
They say it could be used to produce a single-use memory card that permanently stores data and is faster and easier to operate than a CD.
It's claimed that turning the invention into a commercially viable product might take as little as five years.
The card would not involve any moving parts, such as the laser and motor drive required by compact discs. Its secret is the discovery of a previously unknown property of a commonly-used conductive plastic coating.
US scientists at Princeton University, New Jersey, and computer giants Hewlett-Packard combined the polymer with very thin-film, silicon-based electronics.
The device would be like a standard CD-R (CD-recordable) disc in that writing data onto it makes permanent changes and can only be done once. But it would also resemble a computer memory chip, because it would plug directly into an electronic circuit and have no moving parts.
A report in the journal Nature described how the researchers identified a new property of a polymer called PEDOT.
PEDOT, which is clear and conducts electricity, has been used for years as an anti-static coating on photographic film. Researchers looked at ways of using PEDOT to store digital information. In the new memory card, data in the form of ones and zeroes would be represented by polymer pixels.
When information is recorded, higher voltages at certain points in the circuit grid would "blow" the PEDOT fuses at those points. As a result, data is permanently etched into the device. A blown fuse would from then on be read as a zero, while an unblown one that lets current pass through is read as a one.
Story filed: 18:07 Wednesday 12th November 2003
Use Gnutella or Kazaa or whatever P2P service you want, and send the artist a check via their agent. ;)
This is not going to happen. Just as broadcast (over-the-air) TV was not taken away when cable and satellite TV came along, likewise broadcast radio is not going to go away just because satellite radio may eventually achieve a certain level of popularity. And in the same fashion, the move to digital television has not, and is not going to, lead to the end of free broadcast TV. All it means is that your local TV stations will be broadcasting on different frequencies than before.
Each reciever is coded with a unique ID and you need to initialize it to start decoding the signal. Okay, that's a pain but you only need do it once. Here is the kicker - when you stop the subscription it takes less than four minutes for them to cut off service to the particular reciever you unsubscribed. Connect a few dots and it's not hard to figure out that someone like XM knows what signal is being listened to where and by whom. In fact, user stats are collected by XM just like your ISP could keep a roster of URLs you visit.
You're connecting dots that aren't there. These are radio receivers. They RECEIVE. Just as they receive the signals that are turned into the various audio channels, they can also receive the inaudible signals from the company that tells them to start or stop working depending on whether or not you pay your bill. They cannot, however, transmit back. And transmitting back is the only way XM or Sirius could find out what station you're listening to at a given time. They can't even tell if your radio is on.
Smart cards can be made nearly impossible to hack--see DirecTV, et al. And with the DMCA, hacking it would be illegal, NO MATTER what the intent.
Also, smart cards can be married to specific players-- conceivably you would need to buy the White Album for the home player as well as the car player. Heck, the access method is programmable, there could be all types of control mechanisms implemented. And since we have this smart card reader interface, maybe instead of buying media, it would instead be distributed freely (or very cheaply)-- but you'd have to pay to listen. Just insert your Music Choice (tm) card and a number of credits will be deducted. Yippie. (Damnit, I need to patent this. :-)
I've always liked the idea of credit card-size media, but I'm afraid the next generation media is going to be down right draconian.
I own of of these myself. It's only 256MB (the equivalent of over 200 floppy disks) but it allows me to transfer files easily from work to home.
I also have a 256MB MP3 player that holds four hours of CD quality music (recorded at 160kps).
I think that CDs are going away as well. But I wouldn't throw them away. They will be very valuable someday as collector's items. I'm sure people who threw away their stacks of 45s in the 1960s and 70s are kicking themselves right now as some of them net over $100 on E-bay.
Don't know what the new business model in music will be but the CD is dead.
I don't think so.
Not any time soon, anyway.
CDR = 15c for 680 Mb
Solid state memory = $20 for 128 Mb
Do the math.
For what it's worth I agree with you.
I laughed when I saw their plan. Pay premium for equipment and then pay monthly fees forever?
I don't think so.
It was a dumb idea from the getgo.
A few thousand 40 year old spoiled brat teenagers with more money than good sense and an attention span of months is not exactly a good business model.
Sort of like the dumb self-destructing DVD.
I can answer this one:
1) Audio signal connection: My GM Delco stereo has a port on the back for connecting a 12-disk CD changer. There is a $100 or so adapter you can get to plug into that port that gives you two RCA input jacks, for the left and right audio channels. Therefore whatever you would have pressed to select the CD-changer as the stereo source now instead selects these RCA jacks.
Mine is from Precision Interface Electronics ( http://www.pie.net ); BitBlitz makes these as well, but car stereo pros typically think BitBlitz has crappy quality.
2) Power connection: Belkin and other manufacturers make a car adaptor for the iPod that plugs into the cigarette lighter.
On the 3rd Gen iPod, the iPod end of the cable plugs into the general-purpose port on the bottom of the iPod. So in addition to power, it also gives you a line-level mini headphone port with the audio signals at the cigarette lighter plug base.
Just connect the mini headphone plug at the cigarette lighter base to the RCA audio jacks described above. Now you have both power and signal connection to the car stereo system.
3) Mechanical mounting to car: I made a "car dock" by:
So now I can just drop my iPod into the car dock to automatically make power and signal connections, and take it out when I want to update the iPod's songs, calender and contact database, or when don't want the iPod attracting thieves. With the ashtray cover closed, the car interior looks unmodified.
I hope that answer your question. I wish I could use my steering wheel controls to switch songs or playlists, and BitBlitz is making noises they'll offer this soon. But with the iPod solidly mounted, swiching songs is easy.
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