Mad engineers are (luckily) even rarer than mad scientists, but I knew one back in the '30s who made a profound remark I've never forgotten: "No machine shall contain any moving parts."
We haven't quite reached this stage in computers yet. Meanwhile, the CD-ROM is the best storage device we have - but with a single drive, it's a damn nuisance switching caddies. Because any ecological niche in the computer field is quickly filled, I knew there had to be the equivalent of a jukebox for CD-ROMs.
Well, it didn't take long to discover the Pioneer drive with its six-pack magazine.
I now have a pair of Pioneers so I can switch among 12 CD-ROMs in a matter of seconds.
The unit itself is rather bulky, but it's such a convenience that I can't imagine life without it.
I have one magazine for the Oxford English Dictionary, Shakespeare, The Bible, Durants's Story of Civilisation, the marvelous 1,750-title Library of the Future, and Encarta '95. The other contains astronomical programs like Vistapro, Mars Explorer, Venus Explorer, The Sky for Windows, and Red Shift. This little lot is enough to keep me busy until 2010.
DRM-624X: US$795. Pioneer New Media Inc.: (800) 444 6784, +1 (310) 952 2111.
STREET CRED
Smut BlockerCD Jukebox
