HIT>CD-ROM towers vs. standalones

[Sue Yahng <syahng@TDL.COM>]

Thanks to all who wrote. I have a better idea of the differences. Following
are the responses:

I am in a high school. I do not have a tower but I simply stack external
CD's and diasy chain them together. I use NEC brand and right now run
Infotrac TOM, SIRS, Facts on File. I will be eliminating Facts on File and
replacing it with Newsbank. I believe that I will be able to "stack" at
least seven CD's under our current Optinet software. We are changing to
Disport, but I do not thing there will be any problem switching. Stacking
has worked very good for us and it is much cheaper than a tower.

Susan Webb
---------------------------------
Some companies make different cd-roms for networking than for stand alones.
Many companies charge extra for the networking license (often a one-time
fee.)  In my experience it is very difficult to network multimedia
cd-roms.  The ones I have networked are all plain DOS, not even windows.  We
really use our network for straight reference and we now have
workstations in each social studies class (for team access) and two in
the library.  For middle school I think it is worth the expense even if
the workstations must be supplemented with stand-alone multimedia drives.

Since elementary cd-roms are usually full of graphics, I think I would
recommend stand-alones for them.
This is a very involved question.  Does the software allow use through a
network?  Do you have a program in your network to limit the user to only
the allowed one person?  Would you be better off purchasing software that
will allow you to share your present CDROMS?

Presently my only one station software is used on one station. Not networked
and my tower networked programs are the ones that are for networks.
 tower is a great solution for commonly used CD's.  At an average of $800+
a pop, this becomes prohibitive.  I use the tower for magazine,
enycyclopedia, and political data base activities.  The workstations have
stand alone CD-ROM capability for non-networked CDs.  I believe this is the
best solution, although I will be accessing the magazine and encyclopedia
data bases via Internet on the library LAN soon.  It's a complex world.
Jim

James L. Collins, District Librarian
Wheatland School District
P.O. Box 818
711 W. Olive
Wheatland, CA  95692
Phone:  (916)788-2275
Fax:    (916)633-3109
E-mail:  jcollins@yuba1.yubacoe.k12.ca.us
Semper Altius Semper Melius Pro Deo et Proximo
------------------------------------
This is a very involved question.  Does the software allow use through a
network?  Do you have a program in your network to limit the user to only
the allowed one person?  Would you be better off purchasing software that
will allow you to share your present CDROMS?

Presently my only one station software is used on one station. Not networked
and my tower networked programs are the ones that are for networks.

Sincerely,
Janet Johns
jjohns@twd.net

-------------------------

Some companies make different cd-roms for networking than for stand alones.
Many companies charge extra for the networking license (often a one-time
fee.)  In my experience it is very difficult to network multimedia
cd-roms.  The ones I have networked are all plain DOS, not even windows.  We
really use our network for straight reference and we now have
workstations in each social studies class (for team access) and two in
the library.  For middle school I think it is worth the expense even if
the workstations must be supplemented with stand-alone multimedia drives.

Since elementary cd-roms are usually full of graphics, I think I would
recommend stand-alones for them.


Lynn McCree, Librarian
Martin Junior High
Austin, Texas
Lmcc@tenet.edu

-------------------------------------
Sue, A tower is definitely worth the money. I have two of them. However, you
must buy the networkable version of the CDROM. This is usually expensive but
worth it. You must also have your standalone computers networked. I have 26
computers on a network. They are networked using netware software from Novell.
If I were starting today, I would network them with Win 95 NT. I also have 2
standalone computers. On the two standalone computers I use CDROMs that are
not networkable. I hope this helps. Candy Valvano, Morris Hills HS Library,
Rockaway, NJ.

From: Garrie Jantzen <GarrieJ@marshfield.coosbay.k12.or.us>
To: "'smtp:syahng@tdl.com'" <syahng@tdl.com>
Subject: cd towers
Date: Wed, 13 Nov 96 09:30:00 PST
Encoding: 16 TEXT
--------------------------------

some opinions on cd-towers:

"pre-packaged" towers are frequently over-priced -- get a local tech to
build one from individual cd-rom players, if you must have a tower.

yes -- many cd-roms are not networkable -- both for copyright reasons and
technical -- they require client software on each computer which could be a
horrendous task depending on how many computers you must install the
software on to.

hard drives are now really cheap. i just bought a Quantum Fireball 2.1 gb
(gigabyte) drive for $274 (incl. shipping). you could load three FULL
cd-roms onto one large drive that size. last time I checked cd-rom towers
they cost quite a bit more than $300. large hard drives are also about 20
times faster than cd-rom drives!

Sue Yahng
syahng@tdl.com
Piedmont High School Library
Piedmont, California