Erasable CD to Be on Sale in 2 Years, Tandy Promises
It started with a bright young scientist’s dream that he could create what had eluded hundreds of scientists before him: a new compact disc that could be erased and re-recorded with music, video or computer data hundreds or thousands of times without failing.
On Thursday, Tandy Corp. promised that dream would become a reality, saying that it would sell within two years an audio compact disc recorder-player retailing for less than $500.
The announcement from Tandy, known primarily for its Radio Shack retail outlets and inexpensive computers, has stunned and baffled dozens of electronics executives, scientists and analysts who are wondering how the company achieved its technological breakthrough. Some even are wondering if Tandy has achieved all that its announcement implies.
“Every single company with anything to do with lasers, compact disc players and discs has been trying to figure out how to do this,” said Linda Helgerson, editor of CD Data Report, a compact disc newsletter in Falls Church, Va. “I’m amazed and I have have every possible source out there trying to figure out how they have done it, and what they have done.”
Tandy isn’t saying much. “We’re talking about major, major secrecy here,” said Ed Juge, a company spokesman. “We’re doing all the things companies do to protect their intellectual property.”
Two ‘Major Accomplishments’
Juge said scientists at Tandy’s Magnetic Media Research Center in Santa Clara, Calif., had been working on the compact disc technology since February, 1986. The work began after a still unidentified “young Ph.D.” developed a computer simulation for a new type of compact disc that, unlike existing unerasable CDs, allowed for data to be erased and re-recorded.
Juge declined to reveal additional details, saying only that the simulation had to do with a “formulated, man-made material for the CDs.”
Analysts say that if Tandy actually develops the products it has promised, it can claim at least two major accomplishments: creating an erasable disc that does not become flawed with repeated use and putting that technology into a product priced for the consumer electronics market.
Tandy is not the first company to announce erasable optical discs, which offer the advantages of storing massive amounts of data and easy retrieval. Over the last several years, similar announcements have been made by Sony Corp., the Japanese electronics giant, Eastman Kodak’s Verbatim subsidiary, Sharp, Olympus and Nikon. But none of the companies is shipping products in quantity. And none has targeted the consumer audio electronics market as pointedly as Tandy.
Sony Corp., which is shipping small numbers of its erasable optical disc drives for testing and evaluation by computer manufacturers, says its computer drives are much harder to make than the audio drive Tandy ballyhooed Thursday.
“The human ear is a lot more forgiving than a computer,” noted Olaf Olafson, marketing manager for Sony’s optical division in San Jose.
Sony’s erasable optical disc drive uses what’s known as magneto-optic technology to store, erase and retrieve data. The drive alters the intensity of its laser beam, depending on what job is being done.
To “write,” or record, data, the laser shines intensely to change the polarization of a magnetic field on the disc. To “read,” or play back the data, the laser shifts to low-intensity operation. And to erase, the laser sends out a diffused beam, effectively eliminating the data.
According to Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing, which makes optical discs for Sony and a variety of other customers, the biggest hurdle it faced was determining the correct balance between the performance of the disc and its life span. “We could have made a product that would last forever, but you would have had to imprint it with a blowtorch” rather than a laser, explained Mark Anderson, 3M’s manager of recordable media products.
Sony pooh-poohed the Tandy announcement. “It wasn’t a very detailed announcement from a technical standpoint, and, from a business standpoint, their product is two years away,” said Sony’s Olafson.
Others were equally skeptical, particularly because Tandy has said it would not have its product on the market for another two years.
“In this industry, ‘it’ll be ready in two years’ has become a familiar refrain,” said Les Cowan, editor of Rothchild Consultants’ Optical Memory News. “I’ll be waiting breathlessly for two years,” he added. “We’ll see.”
