Problems With CD Business Cards
Q: My company is considering purchasing some CD business cards but have concerns about the percent of customers not being able to access because of size/shape. Do you know the percent of businesses or consumers computers that do not have horizontal tray and spindle-type CD-ROM drives?
A: Well my company got a few Gateways all-in-one machines. The closest image I have on the web is a different model: http://www.gateway.com/prod/hm_prf2_Matrix.shtml It was a flat panel display with the CPU and drives mounted to the back of the display (kind of like a demented laptop), The CDROM drive popped out the side and was almost verticle. I do think it used a hub that the disc snap onto rather than those cheesy flip out tabs most tray loading schemes use for sideways mounting. I think a non standard shaped CD would work just fine with that unit. There is also a Compaq Ipaq or whatever, kind of a warped toaster with a verticle CDROM http://www.compaq.com/products/internetdevices/ I do not know anything about them except for pictures. There are also slot load drives (something like what you would find in a in dashboard car CD). I bet they would hate non standard sized CDs Overall I think the percentage of drives that would not read a business card CD is very small but unfortunately growing.