Optical Drives - Are they going out of fashion?

Introduction

There was a point in time when optical drives, such as CD,
DVD, CD-R, RW and others were very popular and very widely used. At least when
it comes to personal and home computing, in the last few years the optical
drives are seeing lesser and lesser demand.

Why is that?

Well, the only real reason we even have the optical drives
in the first place is for data reading and writing. Data reading is usually
used when installing software, such as games or applications. Operating systems
are also commonly loaded onto CDs and DVDs so that the system can be easily
restored.

However, in the recent years most software manufacturers
have shifted towards Internet traffic and downloading, no longer requiring the
purchase of the actual CD. For example, Office products by Microsoft tend to
only come with a key and a manual. Installation is usually performed by
following the instructions in the manual, downloading the software from a
particular location and installing that way. Almost 99% of games released for
PC today are being pushed out via online clients such as Steam, Origin, UPlay
and others. Because of this huge shift in traffic, the need to publish CDs has
dropped down significantly and manufacturers are doing it less and less. For an
average user, the need for the optical drive in terms of data reading and
essentially diminished and will likely continue to do so in the near future.

What about writing?

Well, it's pretty much the same reason. We often used optical
drives to store our data either as a backup, or to transfer it to another
machine, or perhaps use it later. With so many companies offering free to
low-cost online cloud-storage, most people no longer burn data onto CDs and
DVDs. Even the external drives and flash drives (along with other flash media)
have dropped in price enough to make them affordable to most people. It's
easier to transfer your data to another HDD then it is to constantly burn
Cds/DVDs. Also, the practicality of the CD/DVD has been diminished due to the
increase in overall data size. Most games, programs and media tend to be rather
large, usually 4GB or more in some cases. While the dual layer burning will
allow storage of about 8GB, it's much easier to have a 500GB (or higher)
external hard drive to store data on. With only a capacity of about 800MB for
an average CD and 4.5GB for an average DVD, it's just way easier to use a large
capacity hard drive (internal or external)

Other examples

Music industry has also strayed away from CD publishing and
most songs are now available via music clients such as Spotify, iTunes and
others. In these instances, it is much better to have a large hard drive for
storage, then an optical drive because CDs are just getting harder and harder
to find.

What about video?

Due to increased size and quality, most videos had to
migrate to a new format, the Blu Ray disc. Some people use Blu-Ray drives, as
well as Blu-Ray burners to make high quality video content. However, most of
the general public that simply wishes to watch high quality movies will find it
more affordable to purchase a dedicated blu-ray player for their TV. Most
computers are usually connected to a sub 30” monitor, which makes viewing high
def content such as Blu-ray little less enjoyable.

Space Savings

Optical drives have been ditched long time ago amongst many
liquid cooling users, because they often get in the way of a full liquid
system. Unless you have a rather large case, most average cases may not provide
enough bays to store the drive as well as items such as bay reservoirs, pumps,
etc. In these instances, optical drives are removed and simply not used.

As an alternative, most people will simply purchase external
optical drives, that are USB based. These are generally thin (such as ones
found on laptops) and connect via single USB port. They provide enough
versatility and burning capabilities of a normal drive, but can be disconnected
and put away when you're not using them. They are fairly inexpensive too, which
makes them a product of choice for many users who don't exactly have the space
or the need for a dedicated optical drive.

Conclusion

With the boom of the internet services that provide storage,
media, software and games, the need for optical drives has been greatly
reduced. Services such as Spotify, iTunes, Steam, Origin and others have made
content easily available to users online. Because we live in the times where
internet connections are available to most consumers and at reasonable speeds,
these types of services offer a much better alternative to the traditional
CD/DVD style of sharing and using software.

Not all is lost for the optical drives however. There are
still many drives being used today and will probably continue to be used in the
next few years. This is especially true for business that use them for various
software deployment strategies, or those which require data backup specifically
on CD/DVD media. In those environments where it's absolutely necessary to have
them, will probably continue using them.

It is however very likely that within the next few years, we
will probably have no need for the optical drives at all and they'll likely be
deprecated. The Blu-Ray technology will likely soldier on and provide us with
better, more capable systems in the future.