When was the last time you used a CD?

When I built my current desktop computer, I had a dilemma: I couldn’t find a CD, DVD, or Blu-ray drive that perfectly matched the anodi ed, brushed aluminium exterior of my new Lian Li case. A 5.25-inch block of beige blighting the front of my black case and the resulting pillorying at LAN parties would’ve been more than my fragile ego could take.

I was on the verge of buying a can of black spray paint when I had a reali ation: If my new computer didn’t have a DVD drive, would that actually be a problem? A black drive would certainly look nicer than beige, but the front of the computer would look even better if it had no drives at all. So, last year, I built a computer without an optical drive.

Only a few years before that I’d finally built a computer without a floppy disk drive — but this was different; floppy disks had been antiquated for almost a decade by the time I removed the drive from my computer. Optical discs are still the default way of installing games, operating systems, and drivers, and watching movies and TV shows. By foregoing an optical disc drive, I am breaking new ground! I am leading the charge towards a new, silicon-based, USB flash memory future!

Believe it or not, I haven’t used an optical disc since. It was hard at first and required a lot of planning: I made a backup of my Windows 7 installation disc and burnt it to a USB stick, and I made sure I downloaded vital drivers to my hard drive before The Big Switch. Games have been a little trickier: I now either stick to Steam, or I buy the boxed game from Ama on and then download a cracked version from the internet (you should see my cupboard, it’s full of unopened games). Applications have been easy: Adobe Creative Suite and the like have been available as digital downloads for years.

Which leads us neatly to the title of this post: When was the last time you used an optical disc? Do you wish you could give up the DVD but can’t? (Why not?) Just how far away are we from a future where applications, games, music, TV, and movies are distributed on SD cards rather than DVDs and Blu-ray discs?

 

When was the last time you used a CD?