Recently CDs and DVDs have become very cheap, both in respect to the disposable media and the burning hardware. Buying a CD or DVD burner has become an affordable solution to making back-ups and a lot more.
CD media and burners have been around for a very long time. They have become very affordable for many. CDs have a capacity of 750mb and re-writable ones can be bought. CD burners have dropped dramatically in price. So much so that they have become an absolute standard for any new computer. Some computers have multiple CD burners to make burning multiple copies of data a lot easier.
DVD media and burners were released a while after CDs. They cost more than CDs but also offer better features such as 4.7gb of storage space and compatibility with DVD players. DVD burners and media cost more than CDs but the price gap is slowly closing. Most new computer will have DVD burners or at the very least DVD readers.
Using removable media for task such as back-ups, movies or music has become very popular with consumers. Its simple, can be taken anywhere and is very affordable. In the case of back-ups its a viable solution to making off-site back-ups of important data...