Digital Home Thoughts: 51GB HD-DVD Disc Rivals Blu-Ray Capacity

"Further blurring the line of which format is technically superior, Toshiba has announced that it has successfully created a triple-layer HD DVD disc that holds 51 GB of data. It has begun the process of submitting it for regulatory approval. Blu-ray Disc (BD) has been regarded as the winner in terms of capacity since the beginning of the next-generation format war. However, the 51 GB HD DVD would slightly overpower BD, which currently has a maximum capacity of 50 GB. Previously, HD DVDs were only available in 15 GB and 30 GB capacities. Feasibility is a big question, though. It's unclear if the addition of a third layer on an HD DVD would significantly increase mass production costs or time."

This is more space than my mere 40GB iRiver MP3 player. :) Honestly, I almost wonder what the point is anymore of more space in drives like this. Gaming is one arena that uses large amounts of portable media space, but that will likely be replaced with games being streamed over the network. More and more portable devices (music, general media or computing) are network equipped so the same will happen there. Portable hard drives are getting smaller and have greater capacity. So what else remains? Movies? DVDs already suffice. Sure, Blu-ray or HDDVD allows for more high-definition and extra content but, really, is that the way to go? Flash based storage, IMHO, faster and smaller in size. I feel that I would rather see more research in this arena (and of course in network based data transfers) than fixed media like this. Just a thought.