Complain about optical media all you want, but written and stored properly, optical media definitely provides a more reliable long term storage solution than current mechanical hard disks, and even most flash memory provide.
I would love to see write-once flash technology. Think of all those game cartridges back in the day that withstood a tremendous amount of abuse, sun, humidity, dust, and read cycle wear and tear, yet they still lasted and maintained (for the most part) data integrity for years! If we make write once flash drives that are read-only after the first write, that would substantially reduce the wear and tear, as typically erase/write tends to produce more heat and cause more wear than strictly read cycles. These write-once flash memory modules would be very tough, like flash drives. They would be a great place to store, transport, and archive movies, photos, whatever, and the flash technology is constantly being produced cheaper and cheaper and in larger capacities.
Selling write-once memory devices could also be a (temporary at least) solution to DRM. Consoles are proprietary and only work with their own games (unless hacked/modded somehow). You could make a USB/Firewire/eSATA reader for your brand of games. The games can't be copied, because this reader doesn't write, and the game will only play in that reader because it physically cannot fit in any other I/O port on your computer. It's a hardware solution that won't require any SecureRom or other DRM software to be installed, and copying could be prevented at the hardware level within the device. This could be used for high-definition movies as well. The modules would all be read only, just like your old Nintendo games, and be encrypted in a way that only the device, when connected to your computer, can read and display the material. I really think media companies should go this route. No more scratched, cracked or sunburnt discs. The movies and games would be a lot more durable, shock proof, etc.
We're a long way from there right now, though, and Blu-Ray still provides a compelling solution. I'm seeing sales on blu-ray burners for $150 now, and I said over a year ago, that when I can get a $100 BURNER, I will adopt blu-ray. It's getting very close, now!! And $100 is worth it. I have a high-definition camcorder, and a powerful editing workstation. I want to take all the high def. footage of my three-year-old and make blu rays. Since it's now a ratified standard, I can send the blu ray discs (that I made myself!!) to my father and my mother & father in law, and they will be able to watch videos of their grandson in HD. Both of them have HD plasmas, but no HD or blu-ray players!! In fact, my mom and my step dad have DirectTV, but not the HD version. It's a 55" plasma TV!!! But now, I can just get them each a blu-ray player, and they can play normal movies, blu-ray movies (if they are on a good sale!), and my home videos in perfect HD quality.
I'm not a Koolaid drinker, not a die-hard Sony fan (in fact I have an HD DVD player and about 35 HD DVD movies!), but they really sum it up well here:
"Blu-ray is already well established in professional markets, and it is a matter of time until BD products will finally reach low mainstream price points. We believe that there will be a coexistence of both technologies for many years to come."
Discs and burners are getting cheaper, and when more people can burn blu rays in their homes, more people will be able to also play them, and that includes me. There are movies that I like enough (like the new Star Trek or the Dark Night) to pay extra to have them in Blu-ray. But I don't spend that money now because I don't have a blu-ray player. There are lots of people in my situation. When they can afford a blu-ray player that fits their budget, they will be able to appreciate the higher quality, and storage benefits if they're going to use it as a data backup solution.
This also makes it finally practical to backup the raw HD footage on optical media. I only have my HD footage on hard drives, and if my HD's die, the footage is gone! I have most of it backed up on two different drives, but that's still not as reliable as having an optical disk in an inexpensive fireproof safe. That's where I want to back up my critical stuff, but blu-ray just isn't quite where my budget will allow it yet. It's getting closer though.
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