Jump Drives Vs Floppys, CD, and DVDs
In recent times, there are some words in the English language that seem to have experienced a shift in meaning. One of those words is the word, "cheap." A lot of us would gladly, for example purchase extremely useful items on the "cheap." Cheap USB drive for example. At the end of the day, we are not necessarily looking to brag about some sort of special purchase. Cheap USB drive make sense because they are inexpensive, yet functional as portable data storage devices.
Cheap jump drives are a great way to save money on what used to be a luxury concept. Before the age of flash drives, starting from the very beginning, we were confined to floppy disks. Unlike cheap USB drive, there was no hope of getting a video file, or even an Mp3 on a floppy disk. Then again, in that day and age, video and music files were at their beginning, so the mention of cheap thumb drive is slightly absurd. Internet speeds were barely able to play music of video at this point, rendering the need for portable data like a USB Drive to be non-existent, let alone even addressable.
Before USB Drives, but after the dawn of floppy disks came CD-Roms. These were the first real forms of portable data storage on a mass level that could contain multimedia. It's actually kind of interesting to think back to the days of the CD-Rom, when they seemed so... advanced. Before flash drives, the CD, with its shiny, reflective surface and laser light optic technology, seemed so futuristic, even intimidating to the un-initiated.
While CD-Roms remain a viable multimedia portable data storage vector (averaging around 700MB of storage space), they do have at least two major disadvantages compared to memory sticks. Major disadvantage number one is that CD-Roms are much more delicate that a cheap thumb drive- or any jump drive for that matter. Major disadvantage number two is that CD-Roms are also a lot more cumbersome than a simple flash drive. Sure you can carry around a CD-Rom in a book because they are flat, but try putting one in your pocket like you could a cheap USB drive. And of course, let's not forget that while not advised to test unnecessarily, inexpensive flash drive (or any flash drive for that matter, once again) have been known to actually survive a full wash cycle, lest you accidentally leave it in a pocket on a garment being laundered. Let's see a CD-Rom try and survive that. We think, not.
Cheap USB drives certainly have some formidable competition from DVD-Roms, however. DVD-Roms are great data storage systems for multimedia - and effectively replaced the VHS beginning in the 90s a and ruled for the first decade of the 21st century. However, DVDs suffer the same fragility issues as CD-Roms, and now that cheap USB drives are increasing in storage size continually, it's only a matter of time before flash drives actually end up becoming the true portable data storage vector of choice, if even right now that becomes hard to imagine at this point.
So as you can imagine, the word cheap is no longer necessarily negative, or derogatory when describing something at this point. Yes, it's still not cool to be called cheap in a dating context, however when it comes to portable data storage, and the fact we've weathered some tough economic times as of late, cheap USB Drive sare something to be celebrated, embraced, and appreciated. Technology is a wonderful thing, these days. Three cheers for technological innovation.
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