Hi Jay. Thanks for your insights on this, and especially thanks for all your work mailing DVDs. Points 1 and 2. agreed. Point 3. Based on what I've read, all drives (including the very oldest) should be able to read dual layer DVDs. The reason is that even though DL burners only became available relatively recently, the dual layer format has existed from the beginning, and in fact many DVDs from the mid to late 90's were dual layer. So, theoretically at least, if a person can read our current DVDs, they should be able to read dual layer discs. I have no way of knowing if this is true in practice however. Point 4. It's a good idea. The decision to send two discs, whether it be two CDs, two DVDs, or one of each is so that the shipping weight for every package will be uniform. That was a decision I made, and the reason I did so was just to make things a little simpler for volunteers. However, once we know what the next generation DVD will look like, we can reevaluate this decision. Points 4 and 4.5 are also quite valid and definitly something that needs to be kept in mind. Thanks again. Aaron On 7/18/09, Christa & Jay Toser <user5013@aol.com> wrote:
Hi, Time for me to put my two cents worth in.
I do a good-sized chunk of the international mailings for the Gutenberg project. These are the physical discs that are sent out, not any of the internet downloads.
Point One: We cannot abandon the legacy of a CD. Most of Africa, and many ex-Soviet satellite nations, do not have personal computers that can read DVD's. For instance, the One Laptop Per Child computer can only read CD's. Perhaps the Gutenberg Project can update their CD to include the 630 most popular books from 2009 (instead of from 2003), but we must maintain a CD.
Point Two: We must update the DVD. Folk in India have noticed that the current DVD holds about 10,000 fewer books than are on-line. They wonder why we are behind the times.
Point Three: On the internet downloads, yes we can have a dual-layer or Blue-Ray disk image. Wonderful. BUT in the physical world, we will have to stick with the standard DVD format. We must understand that much of the world will continue with older legacy formats for at least the next decade. Which means, the next release of the DVD will probably have to be a set of two discs.
Point Four: Mailing of discs. Currently, I mail two copies of the DVD (or CD) for every request. The philosophy has always been: "Keep one copy, and give the other copy to your local school or library." This has worked pretty well at the current postage costs. However, if I have to mail four discs, then costs of mailing will go up.
I propose this change: Any requester may ask for one single personal copy of the two DVD's. _AND_ there should be an additional checkbox for them to ask for a second set of DVD's for them to give away. That way, I would normally send out only the two DVD's (for the single personal copy) -- unless the requester wants more -- and then I would spend the greater postage to send the extra discs.
Critics may ask: "If I send a second set of discs, will that extra set be personally delivered to the other destination?" I say, Oh yes, I GUARANTEE IT. Americans simply do not realize just how much the rest of the wold values books. If someone says they will deliver the duplicates -- then they WILL. It would be worth it to the Gutenberg Project to pay the extra postage for the duplicate DVD's.
Point Four-and-a-Half: No, DVD BURNERS are not as common as you think. Lots of folk across the world can READ a DVD, but not so many can BURN a DVD. As much as these requesters would want to make copies -- they just can't.
Point Five: Download time. The debate I have read in the last couple days, does not seem to take into account internet access. They seem to think just anyone can download the DVD (or Blue-Ray) images easily. That is not the case in most of the world.
I currently have 56K dial-up. If I were to download a (hypothetical) 2-DVD set, that download would complete, oh, about October. And yet, I do not experience the incredible delays seen in the Palestinian Territories, or some of the emerging Communist nations, or much of Africa -- there the best speed can be as low as 9600 baud (2.4K).
Whenever Project Gutenberg creates the be-all-end-all Blue-Ray DVD disk which contains everything in the project -- then about 2/3rds of the world will not have the bandwidth to access any of it.
So, I recommend moderation in whatever you create. Please keep in mind the legacy DVD & CD standards that are already in place; that the world currently can read; and try to create the new discs so that (almost) anyone can read them.
Hope this helps, Jay Toser
P.S. Should any of these new discs be created, will someone remember to mail to me, a hard copy? As I've said, I'm not going to be able to download a copy. That's why I do the international mailings.