More and more is being written in industry publications and online sources about the various issues associated with storing video and music files on computers. The increased scrutiny is understandable, as the use of these files has exploded. With the ever-popular iPod (and other MP3 players) continuing to broaden its appeal by encompassing more and more video in addition to music, the effects on our PCs' performance and storage will become more pronounced.
Jon Grieg runs a small video company called 3D Partners. In Jon's case, he does a lot of broadcast-quality video editing, and he understands the importance of defragmentation and free space consolidation. He told us that "good defragmentation is CRUCIAL to being able to upload rendered material to digital tape - a process that requires transferring huge amounts of information in real time. Free space consolidation is also important, to prevent the large video files from fragmenting in the first place."
While Jon works with video for a living, more and more of us are working with video and music files as part of our life's enjoyment. And we agree that enjoyment increases and frustrations decrease with regular defragmenting of our music and video files.
Another aspect of video and music files involves using them in a networked environment. And the latest edition of Business Week has an interesting article on this, including the challenges posed by copy protection schemes. The article, "Media Storage's Growing Pains," can be found at http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_45/b4008030.htm?chan=search.
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