[Coco] torn on getting a coco...

[J.P. Samson]

> Need I mention that I need to buy new media if I decide to get a
> replacement floppy drive?  No matter who I buy it from, the disk
> reliability issue is going to mean that some are bad and others
> will go bad quickly.  Disks are not a good distribution means
> in this day and age of better alternatives, especially 5.25"
> disks.  Optical drives are more popular than disk drives today
> and for very good reasons.

I've seen lots of people wind up with defective CD/DVD-R discs.  Some  
of them don't work right out of the box.  Other discs fail in a  
handful of years due to exposure to light and air.  Heck, my Dad lost  
his scientific research--his life's work--due to hard drive failures  
and defective DVD-R backups (thus forcing him to retire early).

> Back in the day, floppy drives were cheap and about all that anyone
> could afford.  Today, cdrom writers and CD-R media are what's cheap.

CD-ROM drives are on their way out, just like floppy disk drives  
started being phased out 10 years ago.  Why should software be  
distributed on this 1990's optical technology?  I'd suggest you  
download your software over the Internet.  That's exactly what Roger  
Taylor's CoCoNet is all about!

Part of the charm of the CoCo is the antiquated peripherals that work  
alongside it.  Save for one particular brand, my 25-year-old floppy  
disks all still work just fine.  It is interesting to note that many  
of these disks carry unlimited, lifetime warranties against failure  
(not that you could go out and make a claim on them these days).  I  
don't have any 25-year-old CD-R's to test to see if they work, but I  
doubt their longevity will be any superior or worse than floppy disks.

You complain that you can't buy new CoCo-compatible drives and media  
these days for next to nothing.  This is true--running into computer  
items from the 1980's that have never been opened is rare.  If you do  
find some, a collector will snap these up for a premium price you  
aren't willing to pay.  You do realize that the CoCo Cloud-9 is  
offering to sell you is likely in used (but good) condition, right?

-- JP