Last I looked, Apple still had these in the Apple Store near me. Not sure if they're still there though. I can't imagine many needing this today. There are other solutions out there for cheaper and will work with any computer, Mac or PC whereas the SuperDrive only works on Macs without an optical drive unless Apple silently changed something with them.
I haven’t picked up a CD, DVD, or Blue Ray disc in 5-6 years. Like others have said the SuperDrive doesn’t play well with non-Apple devices. I still have a Samsung alternative that seems to work okay with other platforms. It’s sitting in a drawer, snuggled right up next to my SuperDrive. Tech ballast.
This past year I have purchased several more 4K Blu-Ray drives - for future proofing. I use the two in my 2010 Mac Pro on a monthly (sometimes weekly) basis to rip discs (anything from DVDs to 4K UHD BluRays). I have a Plex server in the basement which does an outstanding job of streaming my well curated content, with a picture quality which streaming cannot hope to approach. I also regularly purchase CDs for use in home audio - again, the quality is far superior to compressed formats.
I have found some drives seem to work better on some discs, so having a choice of drives from different manufacturers is quite beneficial.
To each their own.
That’s cool and makes perfect sense because it’s meaningful to you. Go for it.
I had about 10K songs worth of CDs but due to ready storage limitations I quit buying CDs, DVDs, and Blu-Ray media. I ripped the music into my Apple Music library. I’ve added about 25K more songs to my library so far from Apple Music. Always discovering new material. I also have another 50 or so LPs and a turntable hooked to my very old analog receiver. I have no desire to digitize the LPs.
Do music CDs, DVDs, and LPs sound better? Hell yeah. But I can put up with the subjectivity reduced fidelity and sound quality because I can listen to my music from pretty much anywhere and at any time using a variety of player devices. It’s all music I enjoy surrounding myself with regardless of what I’m doing. My LPs are all original and have a lot of play time on them, but listening to them is still special. But yeah, it’s a trade off.
The Superdrive is pretty awesome actually. I found one someone threw in the trash and plugged it into my Windows 10 and 11 stations and at first, no go. But, easily enough I just added the AppleODDInstaller64.exe from the bootcamp dvd and voila. 100% ok.
...Apple knows all about the pros and cons of Blu-ray technology. And you don't need to explain this ancient tech to AppleInsider readers either. It's not like it's cutting edge.
"ancient"? This is what my previous post was trying to address. So I shall clarify further.
I realize that some (including the article author) prefer to label optical media "ancient" tech. The term "ancient" is most often used to drive a point home which says "it's so old we cannot possibly consider using it now in modern times." But that would be totally and utterly wrong! The only thing closely resembling "ancient" is the fact that "optical media" has been around since the Sony/Philips design collaboration in 1979. That's when it all started. I was born in 1971 and don't consider myself "ancient" by any stretch of the imagination. Okay, okay... LaserDisc hit a year prior in 1978, but that was a different sort of optical disc that didn't gain widespread adoption like CD sized discs due to high cost and the sheer size of the things.
Sony's CDP-101 audio CD player went on sale in Japan in 1982, and by the mid-1980's (a bit after the release of the Macintosh 128K), CD Audio was gaining a bit of traction in the US. CDs really started to give audio tape and vinyl a run for the money in the 90's though, which is when I bought most of my current CD audio collection.
DVD wasn't released until 1996, two years after I graduated from college. Affordability came around 1998.
Blu-ray didn't hit the scene until 2006, gaining traction in the market around 2009. "Ancient"? Hardly!
Now consider that the first 4K UHD Blu-ray player didn't hit the market until 2015, gaining market traction around 2017.
So while optical media itself originated in the late 70's (a good number of years after I was born mind you, and I am NOT "ancient," still with relative few gray hairs too), the tech itself has advanced considerably through the years in terms of what you can store on it and the drive tech used to read/play/burn it.
"Ancient"? LOL. No! "Ideal"? Absolutely not!
But the terms "ancient" and "not ideal" should not be confused here. You may not like certain technology. You may prefer other tech instead. But treating modern optical media tech flippantly by suggesting it is so "ancient" as to be laughably worthless amounts to little more than emotionally charged hyperbole.
What I wrote in my earlier post pertain to the USER EXPERIENCE. It is a fact that UHD 4K Blu-ray beats 4K streaming.
Would it be nice if streaming could match or beat Blu-ray 4K? You bet! Will streaming ever match Blu-ray? Maybe, but I don't see evidence that streaming services care about that, and without public outcry, I doubt they will.
Some people may liken this to a compressed MP3 vs. AIFF debate, but I think many people cannot discern between those two audio formats mainly because so many people listen to highly compressed audio and few these days listen to lossless. But I would argue that more people would probably notice the improved quality of a Blu-ray over 4K streaming on a reasonably good 4K TV. Add to that the fact you need to pay MORE to your streaming service for 4K. Netflix being one. So you pay more for less, when compared to Blu-ray 4K.
With that said, I am NOT trying to excessively defend OPTICAL MEDIA. In many ways, I think it's just plain stupid. Slow. Easy to scratch. Don't get me started on how triple-layer 4K discs can be rendered dead. The real problem is there is no public outcry. Many just silently watch what streamers feed them and leave it at that.
Few people are demanding movies sell on USB thumb drives, which I think would be outstanding, especially because TVs these days have USB ports! No scratching to worry about, and your can keep your "physical media" collection in a much smaller area. Movies on thumb drives all the way, I say! (Yeah, yeah... "cost of media" and "DRM" concerns are there, but I'd still love movies on tiny, unscratchable media nonetheless.)
Downloading movies in 4K has advantages too, but you then need to figure out how to store all that data. Not everyone wants to maintain a multi-terabyte media server.
Until the aforementioned problems are completely resolved, modern optical media still has an important place in our lives, at least in the lives of those who care about quality and who want to watch their movies at any time.
Oh, and one last thing. You can't rely on streamers for your favorite films, folks. My daughter is a Star Trek fan. She's attending a university in the US right now. (I live in Japan.) She said Star Trek is no longer on Netflix in the US, which floored me. It's funny because Netflix Japan still streams it. She she often can't wait to get back here to watch "good" Netflix. I can understand why kids her age at college don't have a collection of Blu-rays, but the fact remains that you have to buy the movies or shows to watch them perpetually forever. And right now, nothing beats a good UHD 4K Blu-ray.
Comments
While I haven't burnt a disc in ages, the drive comes in handy to pop in old recorded discs and copy videos onto the Mac for editing.
I still love tangible things, like 4K discs, Blu-rays, CDs, LPs and books.
Here's a link to the simple tutorial I wrote and file itself right from apple's drivers.
https://supercala.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=280
This is what my previous post was trying to address. So I shall clarify further.
I realize that some (including the article author) prefer to label optical media "ancient" tech. The term "ancient" is most often used to drive a point home which says "it's so old we cannot possibly consider using it now in modern times." But that would be totally and utterly wrong! The only thing closely resembling "ancient" is the fact that "optical media" has been around since the Sony/Philips design collaboration in 1979. That's when it all started. I was born in 1971 and don't consider myself "ancient" by any stretch of the imagination. Okay, okay... LaserDisc hit a year prior in 1978, but that was a different sort of optical disc that didn't gain widespread adoption like CD sized discs due to high cost and the sheer size of the things.
Sony's CDP-101 audio CD player went on sale in Japan in 1982, and by the mid-1980's (a bit after the release of the Macintosh 128K), CD Audio was gaining a bit of traction in the US. CDs really started to give audio tape and vinyl a run for the money in the 90's though, which is when I bought most of my current CD audio collection.
DVD wasn't released until 1996, two years after I graduated from college. Affordability came around 1998.
Blu-ray didn't hit the scene until 2006, gaining traction in the market around 2009. "Ancient"? Hardly!
Now consider that the first 4K UHD Blu-ray player didn't hit the market until 2015, gaining market traction around 2017.
So while optical media itself originated in the late 70's (a good number of years after I was born mind you, and I am NOT "ancient," still with relative few gray hairs too), the tech itself has advanced considerably through the years in terms of what you can store on it and the drive tech used to read/play/burn it.
"Ancient"? LOL. No!
"Ideal"? Absolutely not!
But the terms "ancient" and "not ideal" should not be confused here. You may not like certain technology. You may prefer other tech instead. But treating modern optical media tech flippantly by suggesting it is so "ancient" as to be laughably worthless amounts to little more than emotionally charged hyperbole.
What I wrote in my earlier post pertain to the USER EXPERIENCE. It is a fact that UHD 4K Blu-ray beats 4K streaming.
Would it be nice if streaming could match or beat Blu-ray 4K? You bet!
Will streaming ever match Blu-ray? Maybe, but I don't see evidence that streaming services care about that, and without public outcry, I doubt they will.
Some people may liken this to a compressed MP3 vs. AIFF debate, but I think many people cannot discern between those two audio formats mainly because so many people listen to highly compressed audio and few these days listen to lossless. But I would argue that more people would probably notice the improved quality of a Blu-ray over 4K streaming on a reasonably good 4K TV. Add to that the fact you need to pay MORE to your streaming service for 4K. Netflix being one. So you pay more for less, when compared to Blu-ray 4K.
With that said, I am NOT trying to excessively defend OPTICAL MEDIA. In many ways, I think it's just plain stupid. Slow. Easy to scratch. Don't get me started on how triple-layer 4K discs can be rendered dead. The real problem is there is no public outcry. Many just silently watch what streamers feed them and leave it at that.
Few people are demanding movies sell on USB thumb drives, which I think would be outstanding, especially because TVs these days have USB ports! No scratching to worry about, and your can keep your "physical media" collection in a much smaller area. Movies on thumb drives all the way, I say! (Yeah, yeah... "cost of media" and "DRM" concerns are there, but I'd still love movies on tiny, unscratchable media nonetheless.)
Until the aforementioned problems are completely resolved, modern optical media still has an important place in our lives, at least in the lives of those who care about quality and who want to watch their movies at any time.
Oh, and one last thing. You can't rely on streamers for your favorite films, folks. My daughter is a Star Trek fan. She's attending a university in the US right now. (I live in Japan.) She said Star Trek is no longer on Netflix in the US, which floored me. It's funny because Netflix Japan still streams it. She she often can't wait to get back here to watch "good" Netflix. I can understand why kids her age at college don't have a collection of Blu-rays, but the fact remains that you have to buy the movies or shows to watch them perpetually forever. And right now, nothing beats a good UHD 4K Blu-ray.