"..The recordable version of the CD ROM drive has been one of the big success stories over the past two years. During this period drive prices have fallen from over $3000 to around $400 and volume sales have increased to a level where Philips are forecasting a world-wide installed base of over 20million units by the year 2000.

According to Jan Oosterveld, President of Philips Key Modules, this concurrent launch is not seen as a problem because the positioning of CD-ReWritable (CD-R) differs from DVD-ROM. This is because CD-ReWritable is, thanks to its Multiread feature, the first, and so far the only, platform to create the data interchange option with DVD and thus allow users to play their disks on as many drives as possible.

This interchangeability feature offered by CD-RW should guarantee that it will be a sales success. Manufacturers are also expecting a similar sales success from DVD-RW drives, but for a different reason. According to Mark Brierly, Business Development Manager for CD and DVD at Pioneer, the fact that there are very few DVD titles available means that the introduction of DVD recordable may be a major turning point in the general acceptance of DVD-ROM in the PC world.." This interchangeability feature offered by CD-RW should guarantee that it will be a sales success. Manufacturers are also expecting a similar sales success from DVD-RW drives, but for a different reason. According to Mark Brierly, Business Development Manager for CD and DVD at Pioneer, the fact that there are very few DVD titles available means that the introduction of DVD recordable may be a major turning point in the general acceptance of DVD-ROM in the PC world.."