Pc CDs, DVDs, & Blu-ray

While the overall appearance of these drives hasn't changed drastically, their capabilities have changed. The days of the CD drives and read-only drives have long sinced passed, giving way to an incredible number of options in drives.

The first thing to mention when it comes to these drives is blank media, blank DVDs in particular. You will often see different types, such as +R and -R. Let's explain these terms.

A +R disc can be used for video, such as DVD video. But there's more to that + sign.

The term +R also signifies a higher quality disc. I never buy -R for anything. I still know some people who do, but they often throw away a lot of dead discs.

The moral of the story? Spend a bit more on +R and you'll save money in the end.

When it comes to discs, there are regular 4.7 GB discs and dual layer (DL) discs, which boast nearly double the capacity.

DL discs are still a good deal more expensive. In fact, it costs a decent amount more per GB of storage space for dual layer discs.

As for Blu-ray, the discs themselves boast a 50-GB capacity, but they can run as much as, or more than, $1 per GB ($50 +/- per disc).

Note that most commercial DVDs have copy protection, which encrypts parts of the disc, making it impossible to make copies without specialized software.