Reasons Why You Might Still Want An Optical Drive

Introduction

An optical drive used in computing and electronic systems allows a user to play DVDs, CDs, and blu-rays for associated purposes like listening to music or watching a movie. They also allow the reading and writing of data. This task is performed by using either electromagnetic rays or laser light. They play a pivotal role in all kinds of players like DVD players, Blu-ray players, and others. They are also a part of Xbox and PlayStations.

For writing data, the laser or electromagnetic waves emit out of lenses mounted on the drive. They melt the organic paste or whatever alloy is used on the drive. Depending upon the type of software you are using, you can store that data either temporarily or permanently on the concerned disc.

With every passing day, they are vanishing from the scene. Advancement in technology has paved the way for more sophisticated drivers and discs. With every updated version of a particular system, we begin to lose the original one. The Same is happening with optical drives.

Why are We Losing Optical Drives in the Past?

The increase in the advancement of technology is surreal. Man is producing modified systems with better features every month. There was an era when optical drives were in their prime. Now, they are kind of becoming a thing of the past due to the same technological advancement. We can observe that about seventy-five percent of laptops and desktops released these days do not allow an additional optical drive feature.

The main reason we are losing them is their use. In the past or a few years back, they were used to play movies, listen to music, store music for later use or listen to it while traveling, install some kind of software in your system, and stuff like this. Now we have absolutely better alternatives for all these tasks. Since the advent of the digital era, everything has changed. Now we do not need optical drives to watch movies; we can watch them online on some streaming platform or by pirating them.

We do not need optical drives to listen to music because, again, we have digital platforms for it. In cars, people can easily shift to the radio or connect Bluetooth to listen to music. To store data as a backup or simply to carry it with yourself, we have external USB drives, hard disks, etc. To download a particular software, we can simply use the internet. Almost every task can be accomplished via the internet. Hence they are losing their importance.

Another major reason is the space it requires. An optical drive requires a good amount of space and adds up to the weight of your device. Manufacturers are focused on reducing this extra weight by making compact devices and storage units. Mobile phones are getting sleeker and slimmer day by day. No one would want an additional heavy compartment for an optical drive.

Why Do We Still Need Optical Drives?

Why you might still want an optical drive? Despite the technological advancement, we still need optical drives due to multiple reasons.

• Purchasing albums in the form of optical discs is a better option monetarily. CDs work really well if the bandwidth is right, and for that, you would definitely need an optical drive.
• Writing data to an optical disc is not very common these days, but that does not mean they have lost their value. It is a cost-effective method and is handy too.
• Installing drivers into your computer is a big task. Optical drives provide an efficient way to do that too. This is because sometimes the system requires all drivers installed before you connect it to the internet.
• Windows are installed via optical discs more commonly than any other means.
• You might need to play some old data on your drive. It could be old music, movies, surveillance camera footage, or any other file. You cannot rely on modern technologies to play your archival files as those old files have a few limitations. You would definitely need an optical drive for such a matter.

Conclusion

No matter how old or bulky they are, we still might need optical drives in our daily life. Not every day, but someday, we might need to refer to these drives for our concerned purpose.