Super stores
Unmatched by any other portable storage format on the market, hard disk drives enable many users to carry their entire audio collections with them.
John Osterhout, Business Line Manager, Microdrive Products, IBM Storage Technology Division -- CommVerge, 11/1/2002
He didn't know it then, but the work that IBM innovator Reynold B Johnson began 50 years ago--on what would later become the first hard disk drive (HDD)--is today adding fuel to the analog-to-digital convergence in consumer-electronics products.
Half a century after its inception, the HDD is conferring its benefits on digital-audio players, where the value lies in users' ability to carry large amounts of audio content. Hard disks bring together the attributes that users of digital-audio players look for: high capacity, portability, and versatility.
For audio aficionados, 1.8- and 2.5-inch HDDs are finding their way into digital-audio players, offering up to 40 Gbytes of storage. At these capacities--unmatched by any other portable storage format on the market--HDDs enable many users to carry their entire audio collections with them. Hard disks also serve where portability is the most important factor; IBM's Microdrive, for example, offers 1 Gbyte of capacity, weighs less than a double-A battery, and fits into an industry-standard CompactFlash Type II slot.
Perhaps the most attractive feature of the HDD, beyond its capacity leadership, is its inherent cost advantage. The per-megabyte cost for hard-disk storage offers significantly better price-efficiency than competing flash-memory products. For example, you can buy a Creative Labs MP3 player with 128 Mbytes of flash memory for about $149. Or you can buy a 20-Gbyte, HDD-based player from the same manufacturer for $399. That's more than 150 times the capacity for 2.7 times the price. This cost benefit also makes hard disk drives attractive for product designers trying to capture the high-end market.
When compared with CD-based audio storage, HDDs boast a number of fundamental advantages beyond their sheer capacity. Hard disks hold a size advantage over CDs, not simply in terms of the actual storage device, but in how its size impacts the design of the audio system. This factor is critical, since the most popular MP3 players fit easily into a pocket or clip to a lapel.
In addition, hard disk drives offer a time-saving advantage over CDs in the data-writing process, allowing for the download of hours of music in just minutes. And since recording on a hard drive does not require a separate CD burner, new music can be loaded on the device from many sources. Finally, HDD-based devices are more adaptable to storing multiple data types, including MP3 files, traditional CD formats, video, and digital images.
The appeal of the hard disk drive is enhanced not only by its high capacity, small size, and portability, but also by its unmatched versatility. For instance, NASA recently used IBM Microdrives to store data-intensive images collected on Atlantis and Discovery shuttle missions. If HDDs can be trusted to capture NASA's history-making journeys, imagine what they can do to preserve your prized digital audio library.
