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I really wonder if the future is in optical media or is it just the death throes of old guard's profit for a physical object business model. For example not only is HDD storage getting bigger and cheaper, but it is becoming more transparent to the user. The ideas that Intel and others are kicking around about the digital home is that you just bring a unit and plug it in and it will automatically integrate to your home network and extend the storage without any effort from the user.
As networks get quicker and if the big media monsters don't cripple it in an attempt to control the market I think optical media will go the way of the dodo. Not only could media be easily transferred to the viewer (JP to USA in minutes instead of days), but virtual online storage is already being made available.
Optical media is kinda wasteful when it comes down to it. Stamp once, and then its only good for that. The re-writeable ones have not been shown to be good for long term storage (yet). The only thing it really satisfies is the need to own something. I personally love my collectors edition of 5CM.
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