HardwareDaily

A survey of 860 amateur and professional digital photographers across Europe, commissioned by French CD manufacturer and distributor Hi-Space, has found that CDs are the most popular archiving media for digital photos amongst consumers. Only 11 per cent of photos are printed to hardcopy.

Consumers cite the low percentage of printed photos as due to the cost of the photo paper and inks, and the perceived low shelf-life of digital prints. Twenty-three per cent of those interviewed believed that digital prints would 'age badly' within a decade.

"This is both good and bad news for the CD industry," comments Paul Chantry, UK sales manager for Hi-Space. "For the past two decades CD producers have done such a good job of persuading the public that CDs were indestructible, ever-lasting and perfect quality, that we're now having to live up to those claims. And not all CDs are. We don't want the public to be disappointed.

"Consumers need to be aware that CDs are manufactured to many different quality levels. There's a misconception that one CD-R is much like any other but the current influx of low-cost disks is in danger of damaging the reputation of the CD-R over the next few years as people learn about the quality difference the hard way.

"If you're really serious about the data you want to save to disk, particularly with digital photos, then you need to go one step further."

Emphasising this point, Hi-Space has recently launched a range of recordable optical disks for audio, video and multimedia applications.

This range includes a high quality Gold CD, which will save data securely for up to one hundred years (ideal for storing family photos), and a black vinyl-look CD-R, designed for traditionalists who want to store their favourite music on CD but still retain the look of vinyl. The funky design also incorporates a special layer of protection from UV light, which is one of the biggest causes of loss of data in CD-Rs.

Hi-Space say CD-Rs made of 24 carat gold are not just a gimmick or aesthetic exercise. The metal in the CDR is genuine 24 carat gold and is far harder-wearing than the silver normally used - so data is much more secure. The price difference is minimal, they say. "I can't understand why for the sake of a few pence per disk someone would risk storing their data on an inferior disk," says Chantry.

Hi-Space CDs are available from most branches of PC World, Currys and Richer Sounds.

For further details of the consumer survey, contact Influencer50 on +44(0)1628 779993.

About Hi-SPACE and MPO Media
MPO Media was founded in 1996 and is part of the MPO group. MPO Media develops, manufactures and markets recordable storage media for audio and data files used in audio, video and multimedia applications (CD-R, CD-R Audio, CD-RW, MD, DVD-R) under the name Hi-SPACE. MPO Media has a monthly production capacity of approx 7 million CD-Rs and DVD-Rs.

The MPO group (Moulages Plastiques de l'Ouest) has a presence on three continents with eight factories and five service and distribution centres.

It currently employs over 1,300 staff around the globe, some 1,000 of which work in Europe. MPO was the first company to manufacture vinyl records (1957) and audiocassettes in France, and in 1984 was the first company in the world to be granted a CD manufacturing license by Philips. For further information visit http://www.hi-space.com

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