CD media and burners have been around for a very long time. They have become very affordable for many. CD's have a capacity of 750mb and re-writable ones can be bought. CD burners have dropped dramatically in price. So much so that they have become an absolute standard for any new computer. Some computers have multiple CD burners to make burning multiple copies of data a lot easier.

DVD media and burners were released a while after CD's. They cost more than CD's but also offer better features such as 4.7gb of storage space and compatibility with DVD players. DVD burners and media cost more than CD's but the price gap is slowly closing. Most new computer will have DVD burners or at the very least DVD readers.

Using removable media for task such as back-ups, movies or music has become very popular with consumers. It's simple, can be taken anywhere and is very affordable. In the case of back-ups it's a viable solution to making off-site back-ups of important data and documents.

These two technologies have become a part of everyones lives but may soon become obsolete. In the near future different technology standards will be released. Sony is set to release the blu-ray technology that's set to change the way we exchange data. It will have at least double the storage space of DVD's and products such as the Playstation will incorporate this new standard.

The second is HD-DVD. This stands for High Definition DVD. This will have an even sharper image than the current DVD's and will also have a lot more storage space. Deciding when to embrace these new technologies will be up-to the consumers.