Editing Acorn Archimedes (section)

=== CD-ROM and related storage ===

[[CD-ROM]] technology was introduced to the Archimedes range in 1990 with the launch of Next Technology's CD-ROM solution for the A3000 and earlier Archimedes models. Combining an [[SCSI]] interface and CD-ROM drive and supplied with a sample disc for a total price of £995, the solution provided a filing system so that standard CD-ROM media could be browsed and read like any other kind of disc. An application was also provided to play audio tracks on [[Compact Disc Digital Audio|CD Audio]] and mixed-format discs through the drive's headphone socket. The drive itself used a caddy to hold the discs inserted into the drive. One limitation experienced on RISC OS was with the content on various CD-ROM titles, this often being designed for MS-DOS and featuring DOS-only software to offer search and database-related functionality. Next Technology aimed to remedy this situation by offering a service to let users create their own CD-ROMs at around £300 per disc, leading to the initial conclusion that schools and institutional users would benefit from the format much more than home users.<ref name="acornuser199011_next">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser100-Nov90/page/n73/mode/2up | title=The Next Generation | magazine=Acorn User | date=November 1990 | access-date=24 October 2021 | last1=Brown | first1=Malcolm | pages=72–73 }}</ref>

Two years on from the introduction of CD-ROM products, adoption of the technology was still at a "tentative state", with £8&nbsp;million having been spent on equipment and an estimated 3,000 drives deployed in UK schools. Drive prices had fallen significantly, from around £1,000 to £300 and with a further decline to £200 anticipated. As a significant technology in the delivery of multimedia content, the focus had shifted from merely using CD-ROM as a cheap storage medium for large amounts of graphics and text to aspirations of providing "high-quality, full-screen graphics coupled with hi-fi stereo sound" on CD media, with the principal challenge identified as being able to deliver compressed video that either a computer or a drive could decompress without compromising video quality or introducing incompatibilities between different manufacturers' products.<ref name="acornuser199211_cdrom">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser124-Nov92/page/n126/mode/1up | title=Tomorrow's World | magazine=Acorn User | date=November 1992 | access-date=24 October 2021 | last1=Davis | first1=Gordon | pages=123–124 }}</ref>

Acorn's video solution for its own computers was the Replay system, introducing compression formats and associated software for playback and authoring. However, laserdisc technology, which had been used several years earlier by Acorn for interactive video applications, notably in the [[BBC Domesday Project]], was still seen as being a "promising rival" to CD-based video formats, having finally "become successful in multimedia training" and by then "being aimed at well-heeled home video enthusiasts". Reservations about the read-only nature of CD-ROM discs was also seen as a "wounding flaw", leaving users to consider alternatives for convenient bulk storage, with [[magneto-optical drive]]s emerging at this time. Nevertheless, CD-ROM adoption was seen as inevitable, particularly given the format's benefits for holding large amounts of text and making the searching of such text convenient, and with government initiatives having helped to make an estimated 100 titles available for both MS-DOS and RISC OS. The dual-function nature of the media and the ability to use drives to play audio also made such products generally attractive purchases, particularly for home users and with [[Photo CD]] also regarded as an attraction, although the introduction of Philips' [[CD-i]] and Commodore's [[Commodore CDTV|CDTV]] risked a level of confusion in this market as well as presenting another challenge in terms of compatibility for Acorn's own products and technologies.<ref name="acornuser199211_cdrom" />

Acorn would go on to announce Photo CD support in its products in early 1993,<ref name="acornuser199303_kodak">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser128-Mar93/page/n11/mode/1up | title=Kodak Makes Deal with Acorn | magazine=Acorn User | date=March 1993 | access-date=6 November 2021 | pages=10 }}</ref> with operating system and application enhancements being delivered by the end of that year. Although the video and memory capabilities of the Archimedes machines were generally unable to take advantage of the higher colour depths or the largest sizes of the scanned images on Photo CD media, the introduction of future hardware from Acorn, featuring the next generation of video controller from ARM and supporting 24-bit colour displays, was anticipated. Support for multi-session CD-ROMs entailed some upgrades to existing SCSI interfaces as well as the use of drives with the appropriate capabilities such as Acorn's own Multimedia Expansion Unit.<ref name="acornuser199311_photocd">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser136-Nov93/page/n33/mode/2up | title=Photo Call | magazine=Acorn User | date=November 1993 | access-date=6 November 2021 | last1=Bell | first1=Graham | pages=30–32 }}</ref>