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IDE Hard Drives
You're in the market for the latest software suite and multimedia games. But you have neither a CD-ROM drive nor a hefty hard disk capable of holding all those programs. What are you waiting for? At today's prices, there's almost no excuse for not having a capacious hard drive and speedy CD-ROM.
Thanks to booming demand, storage costs have dropped steadily in recent years, from about $2.50 per megabyte in 1992 to a mere 19 cents today. Likewise, it's a buyers' market for CD-ROM drives. A 4X CD-ROM will cost you about $55 today, down from a whopping $300 in 1994.
If you can wait, next summer should offer great prices for today's leading-edge CD-ROM technology. By then, an 8X IDE CD-ROM drive should cost PC makers about $40 (down from $65 today). Meanwhile, 2X CD-Recordable (CD-R) drives will cost you about $500 against $750 today.
For the longer term, keep an eye on DVD (Digital Video Disc) compact discs and optical drives. DVD initially promises a spacious 4.7GB of storage on a 120mm compact disc, with more capacity coming later. It's expected to replace current CD-ROM technology, and even the VHS videotape format. In other words, expect a single standard for data, music and movie storage.
The first DVD movie players should be available by the time you read this; they will cost about $650. It's unclear when PCs will include DVD drives as an option, but don't say we didn't tell you about this promising technology ahead of time. -Cheryl Dominianni
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