Indeed. Taiyo-Yuden were (still are, until December) one of the very best of the actual manufacturers of optical media: and they explicitly cite that optical me

Indeed. Taiyo-Yuden were (still are, until December) one of the very best of the actual manufacturers of optical media: and they explicitly cite that optical media is losing its relevance as why they're ceasing operations in that market. I think this is of historical significance: it's a sea-change moment, with a leading manufacturer essentially conceding that optical media is no longer relevant and can never catch up, destined to fade into the past. Those of us of a certain vintage will remember a similar thing happening to floppy disks - and there are lessons to be learnt from that. Grab a few of these and carefully hang onto them, in the dark and away from heat sources - while you'll still be able to get them in a decade's time, it'll probably be impossible to find any new good-quality media then: so on the basis that you might want one when you least expect it, have a couple handy just in case. There's a certain melancholy here, having seen this technology through its entire lifecycle - but at least we don't have to worry about scratching USB mass storage devices. I think I have only one PC which still has an optical drive, and it's the one which still has a floppy drive. Maybe we'll replace spinning rust, and flash memory, too, in time.