CD-DVD-Drives

CD's holdup to 74 minutes of music or data which is over 700MB of data. They are cheap, about 10 cents per disk.They are generally interchangeable brtween computers. DVD's hold 4-5 GB of data, which can hold an entire movie. Bluray Player are typically used with TV's and entertainment devices, and not computers. If your computer is a Media Center, it might have a Bluray player (high definition).

They are optical drives, and use a laser to read the disc. Today CD/RW drives and DVD/RW drives are typically available for $20 and up. My experience says they are reasonably delicate, but cheap and easy to replace. And contrary to popular opinion, they are not good drink holders!

A few years ago, these were popular for data backup, because CD's are so cheap. However, with USB Flash drives being so large and cheap, as well as external hard drives being very large and cheap, the CD and DVD have taken a back seat.

The DVD has become more popular (4-5GB of data, and now cheap) so you are seeing more programs being delivered on DVD's. Most computers in the last few years have had DVD burners installed, (which also handles CD's). So you will need to have one good DVD/RW drive on your pc.

CD/DVD/RW drives on laptops

Laptops are unique, in that parts are unique for almost every model. This even applies to CD/DVD drives. There are so many different shapes, that it is hard to buy. Also, covers on laptops are sometimes very hard to open. So, replacing a CD/CVD drive is a challenge! The good news is that you can Google up the drive, and even how to replace the drive. This is not for the computer novice, though.

Note: The new "Ultrabooks" frequently do not have a CD/DVD drives, to keep the weight and size low. You will need to backup using USB flash drives, external hard drive or external CD/DVD drives.

Wikipedia on CD/DVD Drives

Probably more than most want to know, but here is some good stuff!

CD/DVD/RW Drives from Amazon. These are easy to install on desktops, though you will have to take covers off!

Summary:

CD/DVD drives are rapidly becoming "Dinosaurs!". You don't see them on tablets, and of course they are not on cell phones. The new "Ultra Notebooks" are light-weight, meaning no CD/DVD drive. In fact, the old hard drives are disappearing, giving way to SSD(solid-state drives). USB Flash drives are rapidly replacing CD/DVD's. However, those using desktops, will continue using DVD's for cheap backup. You can take data off the computer, for storage with CD/DVD's, make music CD's for car radios, etc. So they still have some value.