No Optical Drives - it's wrong!

SixKi113r said:
What about the high street, CD, DVD's BluRay, stores that sell these will cease to exist.
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This is a ridiculous statement. Stores that sell those items will just have to adapt or miss out. People didn't resist moving to cars because they'd eventually put the local farrier out of business. Holding back advances in technology to save an outdated business model doesn't help anyone.

I would much rather buy from an online store that keeps a record of what I've bought and lets me re-download it whenever I want even if that happens to be in the middle of nowhere over a mobile connection than fill a shelf up with boxes.
 
My 2011 mbp has had its optical drive replaced with an optibay. I think I once put a DVD in there, but that show was available on Netflix anyway. I never used it apart from that as I had £200 credit in iTunes vouchers, subscribe to a number of services etc
 
What would make me happy is when I downloaded an album, they sent me the CD too. What can I say, I just like having the CD. I also print my photos out and put them in albums. Is that really so odd?
 
Happy with my first thread though. Appreciate all the replies, I can see you all have strong opinions :-)

This one went so well, I started another on GD.
 
itsallaboutyou said:
I've got an iMac that still has an optical drive - but to be honest, I can't remember the last time I used it properly... My iTunes library, before was all ripped from my CDs but since then I've always used the iTunes store, on my iPhone, or my iMac..

Everybody complained when floppy drives went.. I don't hear anybody moaning now!

With internet speeds getting ever faster, even large movie files can be downloaded quickly... /nopoopsherlock...

Sorry for stating the obvious - but I don't think I'll miss it... In Apple's thought process, must be the fact that it costs LOADSA money (in relative terms) compared to digital distribution...

'tis all good.
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You do realise that geographically the UK has still got pretty poor broadband provision don't you? Whilst it may be true that the BB speeds for towns and cities is now pretty decent (due to the fact that's where the ISP's spend all the money) millions of consumers are still lucky to get a 2mb service. In fact large parts of Apple's own backyard have poor BB provision so I think Apple have been somewhat premature in jettisoning the DVD drives.
 
Smaller music releases have it right. Special editions which come with a download code, so you buy the CD but can download it as well. Good for those that want the CD for their collection. I'm a very minimalist person so prefer not to have loads of possessions taking up space :/
 
Kol said:
Smaller music releases have it right. Special editions which come with a download code, so you buy the CD but can download it as well. Good for those that want the CD for their collection. I'm a very minimalist person so prefer not to have loads of possessions taking up space :/
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I am in some ways too, which leads on to my ebook vs Print thread on GD. I've just been a little scared to completely embrace the technical revolution, but slowoly moving over. One step at a time. I like my CDs and DVD, it's a momento, I like flicking through the CD book too.

Like the idea of buying a CD, and downloading too.

You know, you cannot buy a CD at all in Brent Cross shopping centre. That's crazy, and a sign of the times.
 
I think it's a good thing. So much plastic and oil wasted on things that you don't need, especially when you're going to rip it digitally anyway. Just more clutter you don't need.

And this has been on the cards for years. Apple said they wouldn't put bluray into their devices as physical media was an outdated model.
 
I don't use them much anymore in a personal sense, but in a professional environment I still use DVDs now and then. That's why I think a 'Pro' machine needs to keep it, just a shame there isn't one which also has a retina display.

I'm also sure I'd use mine even more so if Apple had ever allowed Bluray drives.
 
I've heard bad review of the super drive. Most external Apple gear tend to last out the warranty and not much more. Thinks like time machine, apple TV, super drive etc.
 
SixKi113r said:
Hi All,

I'm a forum noob, but thought I'd begin by expressing my annoyance at Apple removing the optical drives from their new machine. For me, this is forcing everyone to buy music, video and software through their own apple stores. What does everyone else think?
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Optical drives have been dead in my eyes for years. DVD's never took off in my eyes for backup purposes so I never included them in my PC builds. The last time I used one was back during the Vista days. I then realised I never used them on my Windows laptops as I'd just download the drivers off the Dell site.

As for my uMacBook, I have never used the superdrive at all since its purchase in 2009. Hell I don't even know if it works. I just use USB sticks wherever possible, and I do have a slim USB powered external samsung drive if I am desperate.

Apple have a history of ditching stuff and imo its the correct decision. Drives are bulky gits, and their omission saves a ton of space.
 
It makes sense to get rid of them when space is limited, for example in laptops.

Removing them from a desktop is pointless and possibly irritating though.
 
I haven't used the optical drive in my desktop in probably 4 years. The OS installs off a USB stick, music comes from iTunes, films get played on the PS3 on a bigger screen. If Netflix's version of HD wasn't a total joke then I probably wouldn't bother getting films through the post either.

I honestly don't see the need to have them at all - an 8GB USB stick is about £5 and can be reused. The most you can burn to a DVD without finding the needle in the haystack that is dual-layer discs is about half that, there's just no point. On Infinity I can download the contents of a disc in barely any more time that it would take to copy it off a spinning piece of plastic, and I'm not left with something to take up space and get dusty.
 
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You have the option to use a USB optical drive if you wanted. They've stopped including them because they're not really necessary.

I think a lot of what Apple does is stupid, but this isn't a particularly bad idea. I haven't used my Blu-Ray drive in ages because for me, most of my discs are obsolete.

But don't whinge like the choice to use discs has been completely taken away from you because it hasn't.
 
I have been having fun without an optical drive today! Finally learnt how disc sharing (and sharing in general) works across osx. That's gone really well!

Next thing to try is the bootcamp assistant with a usb stick :)

With apple on this that internal cd drives are just really in the way and expensive.
 
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