Would be cool to have some new games for MSX1 on SMD format?

Paragon (1540)

21-01-2008, 22:22

Whats about new media formats?
This is a not expensive alternative to the old Philips CD and Cassette formats.
http://www.portalsmd.com.br/
I was daggering about alternative methods to press games.
Could be nice to have a Semi Metalic Disc with games and music?
The price could be justified, but the minimum quantity to make a press is a thousand units (1000 SMD's) ...

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Van cesco

Champion (453)

22-01-2008, 10:52

From what I can see, printing one SMD would cost about R$ 5,00 = about 2,30 Euro.

I honestly don't know the price for blank CD-Rs in other countries, but in Italy a brand new CD-R usually costs less than 60 Eurocents... and AFAIK Italy have the higher prices of all the european union for that kind of media; we even have to pay a property tax on them because our government thinks that "since you are probably going to use it to store stolen music or videos, you have to pay some rights to SIAE -that is the Italian version of RIAA-.
BTW If you are planning to produce a small amount of copies ( less than 100 ) you can buy a CD/DVD Writer with the "Lightscribe" technology for less than 100,00 Euros. That means that the writer will burn your discs and even print some text on it with a laser diode. For example, take a look at this Lacie portable CDr/DVDr writer with Lightscribe technology (sorry, that page is in Italian but many of the technical specs are written in English)

For more information about the LightScribe technology, take a look at Wikipedia or pay a visit to the official website

Van LeandroCorreia

Paladin (955)

22-01-2008, 13:11

No Cesco, the site does not show the price of SMD printing. It simply states that SMD must be sold at R$ 5,00. Here in Brazil you can get a decent blank CD for about R$ 1,20.

Van LeandroCorreia

Paladin (955)

22-01-2008, 13:44

An update, I just received their information: for the mininum quantity, it´ll cost :

R$ 1,10 (SMD) + R$ 0,30 (4 color package) + R$ 0,22 (Folder) = R$ 1,62

Sounds good to me.

Van Yukio

Paragon (1540)

22-01-2008, 15:47

The problem is that it is forbidden to sell CD-R on eBay and other places, the price factor is not that significantly (even if you consider the Philips CD-Audio license). A person don't need to pay to write a single disc, but for sell music discs their could need a license to use the CD trademark! Even if most legal rights from Philips were expired or expiring at this time...

From what I can see, printing one SMD would cost about R$ 5,00 = about 2,30 Euro.

Final end user cost.
Still seems cheaper than a regular game on Philips Cassette tape. A cassette tape game would be something like 2,50 Euro.
SMD!
The production cost should be around 1 Euro for each unit ...
Maybe the shipping cost would not be that high either, since magazines and SMD could be shipped as (paper?) documents!

Also there is SMD+Magazine+Poster to get ... Maybe someone would like to publish magazines in small quantities for meetings.

Sure.
For $50.000, someone could start to produce true Compact Discs.
There is also normal technology to burn CD, but the SMD still seems to be cheaper to produce ...

Van Yukio

Paragon (1540)

24-01-2008, 04:44

Ok, I made the exchange using XE.COM:
Live rates at 2008.01.24 03:29:36 UTC
5.00 BRL = 1.88123 EUR
Brazil Reais Euro
1 BRL = 0.376247 EUR 1 EUR = 2.65783 BRL

Old Cassette game from U.K.:
Live rates at 2008.01.24 03:32:36 UTC
1.99 GBP = 2.65838 EUR
United Kingdom Pounds Euro
1 GBP = 1.33587 EUR 1 EUR = 0.748575 GBP

SMD+Magazine:

Live rates at 2008.01.24 03:35:36 UTC
6.00 BRL = 2.25732 EUR
Brazil Reais Euro
1 BRL = 0.376219 EUR 1 EUR = 2.65802 BRL

Sure that for today market, the price of Cassettes and Compact Discs could be lower too ...

Van rif

Supporter (4)

25-01-2008, 00:05

What exactly is a SMD?

After Internet searching/reading, I am really not sure. Is it a CD that do not want to call itself a CD, so it does not have to pay CD license fees to Philips/Sony and music taxes, but by "coincidence" plays in normal CD audio player?

Doei RIF

Van Yukio

Paragon (1540)

25-01-2008, 00:32

What exactly is a SMD?

Doei RIF

Yes, much like ... It is a semi (30% + economic) metallic disc (the length of the audio tracks is smaller too) with practically the same physical size and could be used for the same purposes of the general discs .

It seems to be a license valid for 20 years.

There are rumors that this could be used as a cheaper replacement for data storage media (like games and ROM contends) for cheaper computer games and video games ...

'Rumor mill'.
And by "coincidence" (people said that 'coincidence' does not exist!) it would run on DVD-ROM drivers from Matsushita/Panasonic on Nintendo consoles .

And by the way, I trough that the Discs from Sony aren't Compact Discs anymore too ... Their even had some computer contend on the Optical Discs!