Will DVD Really be King?

In a Reuters article hosted on Yahoo they talked about the consumer preference of DVD machines over VHS. They described how DVD players were some of the top selling electronic devices of the 2001 holiday season. Now in 2002 the question is if VHS tapes will soon fade away like its predecessor BETA. Maybe the question should be “is DVD more practical than VHS?” Those who support DVD argue that DVD has superior audio and visual quality, as well as an infinite shelf life. Others would agree but point out that DVD players can not be used to record any material whatsoever. This includes TV programs, home movies, and copying or splicing clips from movies for creating presentations. DVD players also have encoding that prevents you from transferring any media from DVD to VHS. DVD equipment is also expensive. Although the cost of players and movies are coming down gradually, if you ever intend on recording in DVD format it can cost thousands. Recording Devicescan cost between $436.00 and $4,470.00 for a single DVD-RW drive. The recording media can also be expensive, DVD-R and DVD-RW disks generally cost from $5 to $15 dollars for one disk. With prices this high it is no wonder why people such as myself are openly skeptical. (Price figures come from www.meritline.com)