Originals
Conversion Factors
In its most common format, a compact disc (CD) holds about 650 MB.
A digital video disc or digital versatile disc (DVD) holds about 4.38 GB per disk - about 20 times more data than a compact disc (CD). The DVD specifications describe four disk configurations: single-sided (SS) vs. double-sided (DS) and single-layered (SL) vs. double-layered (DL) disks. Total storage capacities for DVDs range from 1.36 GB to 15.90 GB as seen in the following chart, reproduced from JimTaylor's DVD Demystified, an authoritative set of answers to Frequently Asked Questions about DVD:
| Table 1: DVD Storage Capacities | |
 Format |
Capacity |
| DVD-5 (12 cm, SS/SL) | 4.38 GB of data, over 2 hours of video |
| DVD-9 (SS/DL) | 7.95 GB, about 4 hours |
| DVD-10 (12 cm, DS/SL) | 8.75 GB, about 4.5 hours |
| DVD-14 (12 cm, DS/ML) | 12.33 GB, about 6.5 hours |
| DVD-18 (12 cm, DS/DL) | 15.90 GB, over 8 hours |
| DVD-1 (8cm, SS/SL) | 1.36 GB, about .5 hour |
| DVD-2 (8cm, SS/DL) | 2.48 GB, about 1.3 hours |
| DVD-3 (8cm, DS/SL) | 2.72 GB, about 1.4 hours |
| DVD-4 (8cm, DS/DL) | 4.95 GB, about 2.5 hours |
| DVD-R 1.0 (12 cm, SS/SL) | 3.68 GB |
| DVD-R 2.0 (12 cm, SS/SL) | 4.38 GB, 8.75 GB for rare DS discs |
| DVD-RW 2.0 (12 cm, SS/SL) | 4.38 GB, 8.75 GB for rare DS discs |
| DVD-RAM 1.0 (12 cm, SS/SL) | 2.40 GB |
| DVD-RAM 1.0 (12 cm, DS/SL) | 4.80 GB |
| DVD-RAM 2.0 (12 cm, SS/SL) | 4.38 GB |
| DVD-RAM 2.0 (12 cm, DS/SL) | 8.75 GB |
| DVD-RAM 2.0 (8 cm, DS/SL) | 1.36 GB |
| CD-ROM (12 cm, SS/SL) | 0.635 GB |
| CD-ROM (8 cm, SS/SL) | 0.18 GB |
Flow
World
It is a fairly simple matter to obtain information about the world music market value and units shipped; organizations such as the Recording Industry Association of America and the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry report these statistics each year. More difficult to obtain are international statistics on the number of unique titles released each year. To obtain this figure, we used statistics regarding the US market share and US record releases (see below) to estimate the total releases worldwide. The United States holds a 37% share of the world music market and releases about 33,100 items per year. Therefore, the world produces about 90,000 originals per year, equivalent to 58 TB (uncompressed).
United States The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) reports annual figures for new releases and album re-releases. The 1998 releases are equivalent to about 21 TB of data.
| Table 2: Audio Releases | ||||||
1992 |
1993 |
1994 |
1995 |
1996 |
1997 |
1998 |
| 18,400 | 20,300 | 36,600 | 30,200 | 30,200 | 33,700 | 33,100 |
| Source: http://www.riaa.com/MD-US-6.cfm | ||||||
Stock
The All Music Guide (www.allmusic.com), a comprehensive entertainment database for music, videos, DVDs and video games, provides statistics on the number of CD-audio originals in the world. The AMG database is licensed by major music sites such as CDNow, ArtistDirect and Tunes.com. AMG's listings indicate a total of 523,363 albums (445,735 popular music and 77,628 classical music albums). Each CD can hold 650 MB, so the total AMG catalog would equal roughly 340 TB.
According to the 1999 edition of CD-ROM's in Print, there are about 16,200 unique CD-ROM titles. This figure includes business applications (such as word processing and spreadsheet packages), games, reference tools, and instructional programs.
Copies
Flow
World
Replication
Replication statistics include discs for retail as well as discs used for promotions, training, and rental. Some percentage of the replicated discs also turn out badly and are never used. These figures give us an upper bound on the amount of information that could be stored on compact disc each year.
In 1999, there were 4,654 million audio CDs and 3,591 million CD-ROMs replicated worldwide, according to the International Recording Media Association (IRMA). In addition, 194 million DVD-Video units, 12 million DVD-ROM units, and 2 million DVD-Audio units were replicated in 1999.
United States
Replication
For audio CDs, data CD-ROMs, DVD-ROM, and DVD-Audio disks, North America produced roughly 50% of all the disks replicated. In addition, North America replicated about 75% of the DVD videos.
Retail
During 1999, according to the Recording Industry Association of America, 938.9 million CDs were shipped to retail by U.S. producers. The U.S. has a 37% share of the world's sales. The nine next largest markets are Japan, which follows our lead with 16.7%, followed by the United Kingdom (7.6%), Germany (7.4%), France (5.2%), Canada (2.3%), Brazil, Australia and Spain (1.7% each), and Mexico (1.6%). From the US figures and market share, one can extrapolate that CD shipments worldwide are about 2,537 million units. This is equivalent to 1.6 billion TB.
Rate of Change
According to the London-based International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the global music market was worth US $38.5 billion in 1999 - up by 1% in constant dollar terms with total unit sales of US$3.8 billion in 1999. Overall units remained level, with a continued growth of 3% in the CD market offset by a 10% decline in cassette sales and an 11% decline in singles.
Bibliography
- The All Music Guide, www.allmusic.com
- The CD Information Center www.cd-info.com/CDIC/index.html
- CD-ROM Finder: The World of CD-ROM Products for Information Seekers. Medford, NJ: Learned Information, 1993
- CD-ROMs in Print, 13th Edition: An International Guide to CD-ROM, CD-I, 3DO, MMCD, CD32, Multimedia, Laserdisc, and Electronic Products. New York: The Gale Group, 1999.
- DVD Entertainment Group www.dvdinformation.com
- DVD Insider www.dvdinsider.com
- Taylor, Jim. DVD FAQ www.dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html
- DVD Channel News www.dvdchannelnews.com
- International Federation of the Phonographic Industry www.ifpi.org
- International Recording Media Association, Statistics page www.recordingmedia.org/statistics/statistics_idx2.html
- Medialine www.medialinenews.com
- Optical Storage Technology Association www.osta.org/
- SUN CD-ROM FAQ saturn.tlug.org/suncdfaq/