{{Short description|Obsolete optical disc-based storage medium}} {{Infobox company | name = DataPlay Inc. | type = Incorporation | founder = Steve Volk | foundation = 1998<ref name="auto1">{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/2002/04/14/dataplay-discs-put-a-new-spin-on-digital-music/faf55276-12a9-40f6-9698-71bf4e6c0491/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200416162005/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/2002/04/14/dataplay-discs-put-a-new-spin-on-digital-music/faf55276-12a9-40f6-9698-71bf4e6c0491/ |archive-date=2020-04-16 |title=DataPlay Discs Put a New Spin on Digital Music - The Washington Post|newspaper=The Washington Post }}</ref> | location = 20px Longmont, Colorado, USA | key_people = Bill Almon, Jr., CEO and President<br>Jeff Roberts, CFO | products = DataPlay Engine<br>DataPlay 500MB Optical Media | num_employees = ~30 (2006) | parent = | homepage = [https://web.archive.org/web/20060101091617/http://www.dataplay.com/ www.DataPlay.com] (defunct) | footnotes = }} {{Optical disc authoring}} '''DataPlay''' is an optical disc system developed by '''DataPlay Inc.''' and released to the consumer market in 2002. Using tiny (32mm-diameter) disks enclosed in a protective cartridge, it stored 250MB per side and was intended primarily for portable music playback. However, it could also store other types of data using pre-recorded disks and user-recorded disks (and disks that combined pre-recorded content with a writable area).<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,37844,00.asp|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010608150545/https://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,37844,00.asp|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 8, 2001|title=PCWorld.com - DataPlay Shows Breakthrough in Storage Media|date=June 8, 2001}}</ref> It supported multisession recording.<ref name="auto1"/> DataPlay Inc. was founded in 1998 by Steve Volk. The company's namesake optical disc won the CES Best of Show award in 2001.<ref name="auto2">{{Cite web|url=https://electronics.howstuffworks.com/ces2001.htm|title=Consumer Electronics Show 2001|date=January 11, 2001|website=HowStuffWorks|access-date=April 16, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161028081209/http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/ces2001.htm|archive-date=October 28, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>
DataPlay also included an elaborate digital rights management system designed to allow consumers to "unlock" extra pre-recorded content on the disk at any time, through the internet, following the initial purchase. It was based on the Secure Digital Music Initiative's DRM system.<ref name="auto"/> DataPlay's DRM system was one of the reasons behind its attractiveness to the music industry.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www2.ljworld.com/news/2002/apr/22/new_disc_format/|title=New disc format enters crowded market|access-date=2020-04-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200413011826/https://www2.ljworld.com/news/2002/apr/22/new_disc_format/|archive-date=2020-04-13|url-status=live}}</ref> It also included a proprietary file system, DataPlay File System (DFS) which natively supported DRM. By default, it would allow up to 3 copies to other DataPlay discs, without allowing any copies to CDs.<ref name="auto3">{{Cite web |url=https://www.hotchips.org/wp-content/uploads/hc_archives/hc13/3_Tue/19dataplay.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2020-04-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624100846/http://www.hotchips.org/wp-content/uploads/hc_archives/hc13/3_Tue/19dataplay.pdf |archive-date=2016-06-24 |url-status=live }}</ref>
==History== DataPlay Inc. was founded by Steve Volk in 1998.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Chediak | first=Mark | date=September 15, 2001 | url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A82393920/GPS?sid=wikipedia | title=A cross section of privately held storage companies | journal=Red Herring | publisher=RHC Media | page=88 | via=Gale}}</ref> Volk had founded DataPlay in the aftermath of his second company Intégral Peripherals going bankrupt in 1998. Intégral was the first to manufacture 1.8-inch hard drives—at the time the smallest form factor for hard drives—for laptops and other mobile computing devices, starting in 1992. Volk intended for Intégral to supplant the industry-standard 2.5-inch hard drive form factor introduced by PrairieTek—the first company that Volk had co-founded. After the failure of Intégral, Volk decided to focus on the optical media sector.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Forgrieve | first=Jane | date=December 30, 2002 | url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A95964227/GPS?sid=wikipedia | title=Downsizing DataPlay | journal=Rocky Mountain News | publisher=Tribune Publishing | page=1B | via=Gale}}</ref>
The recorded music industry was initially generally supportive of DataPlay, and a small number of pre-recorded DataPlay disks were released, including the Britney Spears album ''Britney''. Graphics on press releases show that Sting and Garth Brooks were also set to have DataPlay releases.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2001-06-12|title=|url=http://www.dataplay.com/pdf/en/DataPlay_Overview.pdf|access-date=2021-04-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010612221719/http://www.dataplay.com/pdf/en/DataPlay_Overview.pdf|archive-date=2001-06-12}}</ref> In 2021, the first DIY DataPlay album was released by the experimental rave producer Backmasker.<ref>{{Citation|title=Backmasker -The Anti Clutter Weapon ( DataPlay )Breakbeat Hardcore on worlds rarest music format|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiNl1ZvFTmY |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/aiNl1ZvFTmY |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|language=en|access-date=2021-04-26}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=admin |date=2024-08-24 |title=DataPlay: The rise and fall of a Forgotten Optical Disc Technology |url=https://backmasker.co.uk/dataplay-the-rarest-music-format-in-history/ |access-date=2024-09-14 |website=Backmasker |language=en |archive-date=2024-09-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240914101318/https://backmasker.co.uk/dataplay-the-rarest-music-format-in-history/ |url-status=live }}</ref> However, as a pre-recorded format, DataPlay was a failure. In 2002, DataPlay Inc. closed due to a lack of funding.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.geek.com/news/dataplay-shuts-down-operations-550505/|title=DataPlay shuts down operations|date=October 3, 2002|access-date=April 16, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180812114423/https://www.geek.com/news/dataplay-shuts-down-operations-550505/|archive-date=August 12, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://news.com.com/2100-1040-960514.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021017222530/http://news.com.com/2100-1040-960514.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 17, 2002|title=Cash crunch puts media format on hold - Tech News - CNET.com|date=October 17, 2002}}</ref> In 2003, a company called DPHI bought DataPlay's intellectual property and reintroduced it at CES 2004. The company swapped DataPlay's DFS file system for the FAT file system. Again, they were marketed as a cheaper alternative to memory cards, with a device being designed that would allow users to transfer data from an SD card to a cheaper DataPlay disc. Each disc would hold 500 megabytes of data and be sold at just US$4.50. DPHI also prototyped 750 megabyte DataPlay discs and announced plans for 2 and 7 gigabyte discs, the latter of which would use a blue-violet semiconductor laser, just like Blu-ray.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pcworld.com/article/118108/article.html|title=DataPlay Discs Stage a Comeback|date=October 8, 2004|website=PCWorld|access-date=April 16, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331213038/https://www.pcworld.com/article/118108/article.html|archive-date=March 31, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>
Very few products were seen on the market that could write data to these discs. Most notable was the Topy Mini Writer, which retailed for $130 (USD) and housed an optical pickup unit (image No.4) with a USB interface board, allowing the use of DataPlay discs much like other end-user writable optical media (e.g., CD-Rs). Other products were the iriver IDP-100<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/article/29109/iriver_idp-100_mp3_player/|title=iRiver iDP-100 MP3 player|website=PC World|access-date=2020-04-16|archive-date=2021-07-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709221452/https://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/article/29109/iriver_idp-100_mp3_player/|url-status=dead}}</ref> and the MTV Video Device "MTV FLIP", which both housed the prototype-based model (image No.2).{{citation needed|date=January 2012}}
DataPlay discs were first proposed as a low-cost alternative to memory cards, which used to cost US$3 per megabyte. Blank DataPlay discs, by comparison, would hold 500 megabytes of data at US$10 per disc. They are also expected to have a 100-year lifespan.<ref name="auto"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,71264,00.asp|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011116084100/https://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,71264,00.asp|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 16, 2001|title=PCWorld.com - DataPlay's Tiny Media to Ship Next Quarter|date=November 16, 2001}}</ref><ref name="auto1"/> The discs would be made out of polycarbonate, just like CDs, but would be just 0.6mm thick, just like one half of a DVD (DVDs are made up of two halves that are bonded using glue; usually only one (side) contains data).<ref name="auto3"/> Rewritable DataPlay discs would be similar to CDs, using a phase change alloy protected by a silicon oxide layer.<ref name="auto3"/> Mastered (replicated) DataPlay discs would combine both pits and lands to store mastered data and grooves containing a wobble frequency to store rewritable data. Like on CDs, the wobble frequency would store time data to position the laser on the disc precisely.<ref name="auto3"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200-6314016.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010912201937/http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200-6314016.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 12, 2001|title=DataPlay signs distribution deal with Imation - Tech News - CNET.com|date=September 12, 2001}}</ref>
It has two rewritable areas: one for user data and the other for encrypted data. The latter of which would hold the decryption keys necessary to unlock the extra content.<ref name="auto3"/> They also have a burst cutting area to uniquely identify each disc.<ref name="auto3"/> DataPlays can transfer data at 1 megabyte per second.<ref name="auto2"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.geek.com/mobile/dataplay-imation-play-with-tiny-cdrs-545433/|title=DataPlay, Imation play with tiny CDRs|date=June 19, 2001|access-date=April 16, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180812114418/https://www.geek.com/mobile/dataplay-imation-play-with-tiny-cdrs-545433/|archive-date=August 12, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>
Other trademark names:{{citation needed|date=January 2012}} * DaTARIUS * DPHI * DataPlay
== Gallery == <gallery heights="150" widths="200"> File:DataPlayDev.jpg|DataPlay optical drive engine development photo of a development platform for testing and demo File:DataPlayProto.jpg|DataPlay optical drive engine internals viewed from above a unit produced without any top cover; above the circular piece is the laser pickup. The laser pickup is built on a piece of silicon.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.hotchips.org/wp-content/uploads/hc_archives/hc13/3_Tue/19dataplay.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2020-04-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624100846/http://www.hotchips.org/wp-content/uploads/hc_archives/hc13/3_Tue/19dataplay.pdf |archive-date=2016-06-24 |url-status=live }}</ref> File:Drive unit with its case as if it were sent to dataplay.jpg|DataPlay optical drive engine with its case (a never-used piece from a private collection) File:DataplayDrive.jpg|DataPlay optical drive engine top (same as No.3) File:DataplayDrive2.jpg|DataPlay optical drive engine bottom (same as No.3) The large coin-like object is a motor for spinning the disc, and the metal piece at its left is a magnet; the laser pickup of the drive is mounted on an arm that is moved using a mechanism, the latter two of which are reminiscent of that of modern hard disks. </gallery>
==References== {{reflist}}
== External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20060101091617/http://www.dataplay.com/ Official Site] (defunct) * Techmoan: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEISYaWgCRg DataPlay: The futuristic optical disc format that time forgot], YouTube, 8 November 2018 {{Audio formats}} {{Music technology}} {{Optical storage media}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dataplay}} Category:Digital audio storage Category:Audiovisual introductions in 2002 Category:Privately held companies based in Colorado Category:Optical computer storage Category:Defunct computer companies of the United States Category:Defunct computer hardware companies Category:Computer storage companies