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One of my friends told me that scientists have developed a new optical disc that can supposedly store up to 1.6 terabytes. After telling me this, he joked, “Should I start thinking about packing-up my brand new Blu-ray player?” Technology always changes and I am sure it will again, I thought to myself. So, I decided to dig deeper and gather some facts about this new SUPER disc. As it turns out, my friend was correct, researchers at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia have created a prototype using 'gold nano rods' (i.e. tiny particles of gold too small to see) and polarized light (i.e. light beaming in only one direction).

One of my friends told me that scientists have developed a new optical disc that can supposedly store up to 1.6 terabytes. After telling me this, he joked, “Should I start thinking about packing-up my brand new Blu-ray player?” Technology always changes and I am sure it will again, I thought to myself. So, I decided to dig deeper and gather some facts about this new SUPER disc. As it turns out, my friend was correct, researchers at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia have created a prototype using 'gold nano rods' (i.e. tiny particles of gold too small to see) and polarized light (i.e. light beaming in only one direction). A

With the economic downturn, more and more folks are resorting to either pirating software or buying pirated software! A recent article I read indicates that software piracy which was already a major problem is rapidly growing. This mounting problem is also holding back the economic resurgence.

I just returned from the Future of Packaged Media 2009 summit in Universal City, CA where I went to present a paper on "Eco-Friendly Optical Media Production & Products". Most people that I spoke with were cautiously optimistic about the optical media industry, but did feel that there will be a few MAJOR hiccups along the way this year. Maybe I am the eternal optimist or maybe my perspective is different, but I see tremendous opportunity with the manufacturing on demand model when it comes to optical discs - especially in this kind of an economic environment.

It's interesting how dynamically the software world is changing - both in the digital download space and the retail space. Someone at lunch asked me today if I thought the optical disc (i.e. CDs, DVDs, etc.) business is going to fizzle out soon. I believe that on the retail entertainment side, it will probably slow down a bit because of the economic conditions and because of the prevalence of digital downloads especially for music; but on the software side, I think we will see a surge - especially in the area of "fix it", "anti-spyware", "internet security" utility software. I know that with the current economic conditions, I and a lot of my friends are not going to be upgrading our PCs anytime soon; so we will need to buy software to keep our PCs running in tip-top shape. The next couple of years should be very good for software companies in this space. We saw a huge surge in our back-up CD business last year - in fact, while the rest of the market was seeing a bad Q4, we had the best Q4 in our 17 year history! No joke! There were lots of people downloading software and we were publishing and fulfilling lots of back-up CD orders. Moreover, we added several new e-commerce partners that help software firms monetize their software titles via digital downloads and back-up CDs.

This country is full of do-it-yourselfers, and that includes people or companies who want to do their own CD or DVD duplication without working with an outside service organization such as Acutrack.  However, many who choose this without guidance get into trouble.  That said, it's important to stay up to speed on the most cost effective ways to get your content such as movies, music, or materials, out to your target audience.  What do you need to know before buying your own CD or DVD publishing equipment?  There are many options available.

Often times, when purchasing this type of manufacturing equipment, people's selection criteria may have been off, and so they may not have purchased what they really needed.  Before purchasing any CD or DVD manufacturing equipment, there are a few facts that everyone should know -- and because we are in this industry -- we can offer some advice.

As Acutrack continues to work with clients an interesting trend has emerged reflecting growing complexities related to managing CD and DVD production, as well as the production and management of other content such as CD or DVD, movies, music, software intended for your target audiences.

“Our customers are up against many challenges, including the fact that typically the CD or DVD is just one component of a larger project," said Todd Shur, vice president of sales of Acutrack, Inc. “Multiple pieces are procured via several vendors, so there are growing complexities to managing content, period.”