Subj : Re: Is a PC optical drive a "player"? To : All From : Nigel Reed Date : Thu Apr 24 2025 12:16 am On Wed, 23 Apr 2025 15:06:39 -0700 "Nightfox" (21:1/137) wrote: > Recently (within the last year or so), I've started to notice people > online referring to a PC optical drive as a "player" (as in, > wondering whether they should add a "DVD player" to their new PC > build). I feel like this is my new pet peeve.. A DVD player is a > stand-alone device meant to play DVD movies on a TV; a PC optical > drive is not a "player". > > But I did a search online, and I saw at least one ad online for an > external USB blu-ray drive with the word "player" in the description.. > > Do you think it's acceptable to call a PC optical drive a "player"? > I feel like that's not even really accurate, because when you're > watching a movie disc on your PC, it's the software that does the > playing of the video. The optical drive is just reading the data, > and you could also be using the optical disc to install software, rip > movies, etc., which are activities that don't count as "playing" > something. If it's DVD-ROM or CD-ROM then yes, it would be a player since you can only play from it. That said, not sure where the term "drive" comes from because hard drives don't really go any where. Then again, where are 3 1/2" disks called floppies because they're not floppy at all. So many conundrums when it comes to computer hardware. -- End Of The Line BBS - Plano, TX telnet endofthelinebbs.com 23 --- SBBSecho 3.24-Linux * Origin: End Of The Line BBS - endofthelinebbs.com (21:2/101) .