WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

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In today’s world of rapidly developing technology,

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there are an ever-increasing number of technical standards and formats.

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And every time a new format is created, its
creators suddenly find themselves tasked with

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figuring out some way of distinguishing this
format from all the other ones.

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Now, often times you can use simple physical
characteristics, but that doesn’t necessarily

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indicate what the format is.

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For example, compact discs and DVDs look virtually
identical, and while an eagle-eyed person

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obsessed with technological trivia can figure
out the differences soon enough, it helps

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to create some sort of logo.

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This logo isn’t just there for identification
purposes, either.

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In its traditional use, it signifies compatibility
with the technical specifications of the format.

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For example, the venerable VHS cassette.

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This mark isn’t simply descriptive.

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It appears on all videocassette recorders
that use the VHS specifications,

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it appears on all videocassettes that use the VHS specifications,

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and it doesn’t appear on cassettes or recorders

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that don’t use the VHS specifications.

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So, even though a quarter of a century passed
between the manufacture of these two machines,

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because they both have that little logo on
it, we can rest assured that a recording made

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with this machine will play on this machine,
and vice versa.

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And that’s the point to these labels.

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Every format has some sort of mark for compatibility.

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The Compact Disc logo indicates compatibility
with Compact Disc players, and if I might

00:01:20.200 --> 00:01:25.130
add I think that this logo is starting to
dip into the retro-cool category.

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Something about it is just a delightful mix
of futuristic, retro, and wholesome...

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*stares off into distance and gets distracted*

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Anyway,
yes this logo would get little additions underneath

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it to distinguish all the various versions
of CD that eventually came about,

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but you’ll find this Compact Disc 
mark on any player designed to…

00:01:42.800 --> 00:01:43.850
play them.

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Just match up the symbol on the disc with
the symbol on the player and you’ll be sure

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of compatibility.

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Same goes for DVD.

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Does this disc have the DVD logo?

00:01:52.509 --> 00:01:54.359
Well, so does your player.

00:01:54.359 --> 00:01:55.799
Same goes for USB.

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Do you see the pitchfork of knowledge?

00:01:57.640 --> 00:01:59.780
Then that’s a USB device.

00:01:59.789 --> 00:02:04.090
Of course, thunderbolt over USB-C (along with
power delivery) is making this increasingly

00:02:04.090 --> 00:02:07.060
more confusing but let’s hope we get that
sorted soon.

00:02:07.060 --> 00:02:10.610
And while we’re at it, thanks to Pioneer
and their near-complete dominance over the

00:02:10.610 --> 00:02:15.400
format, we call these things Laserdiscs without
realizing that LaserDisc, and in particular

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this logo, is what Pioneer decided to brand
their players and discs following the Laservision

00:02:20.470 --> 00:02:22.360
videodisc standard.

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Guys, I’m trying to demonstrate the usefulness
of these symbols

00:02:25.260 --> 00:02:26.420
and here you are mucking it up.

00:02:26.420 --> 00:02:30.660
The designers (and patent holders) of whatever
system we’re talking about create these

00:02:30.660 --> 00:02:34.660
symbols not only to demonstrate compatibility
for the benefit of consumers,

00:02:34.660 --> 00:02:38.060
but also to enforce it from manufactures

00:02:38.060 --> 00:02:42.340
and collect those sweet, sweet licensing fees in the process.

00:02:42.340 --> 00:02:45.500
[♫ upbeat promotional music ♫] 
Do YOU want to manufacture compact disc players?

00:02:45.500 --> 00:02:46.180
Sweet!

00:02:46.180 --> 00:02:50.000
Just pay us an exorbitant fee, and then we’ll
give you the knowledge you need to build your

00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:51.000
CD player!

00:02:51.000 --> 00:02:54.480
Then, we’ll charge you a few dollars for
each player you make, and then,

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and ONLY then,

00:02:55.580 --> 00:02:58.230
can you put our coveted little logo on it!

00:02:58.230 --> 00:03:00.060
It does protect consumers, I guess,

00:03:00.060 --> 00:03:02.480
but most importantly it makes us MONEY!

00:03:02.480 --> 00:03:03.800
And it wasn’t just players.

00:03:03.810 --> 00:03:09.510
As recently as 2001, Sony and Philips were
collecting royalty fees for discs, too.

00:03:09.510 --> 00:03:15.070
At that time, Philips got 1.8 cents per disc,
and Sony got 1.2 cents per disc.

00:03:15.070 --> 00:03:19.570
That might not seem like much, but considering
how many copies of albums were being sold,

00:03:19.570 --> 00:03:21.900
that’s still plenty huge.

00:03:21.900 --> 00:03:27.670
For example, Linkin Park’s debut album Hybrid
Theory sold 27 million copies worldwide, meaning

00:03:27.670 --> 00:03:32.940
that Philips made nearly half a million dollars,
and Sony raked in $324,000.

00:03:32.940 --> 00:03:37.830
So while this little logo may seem like a
simple compatibility mark, it was also a serious

00:03:37.830 --> 00:03:38.920
money maker.

00:03:38.920 --> 00:03:41.940
But now we come to the meat and potatoes of
this video;

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SD cards.

00:03:43.300 --> 00:03:47.880
I think it’s safe to say that SD has come
to prominence in the removable flash media market.

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And just like all the other standards both
flash and otherwise, SD uses a logo to both

00:03:52.220 --> 00:03:55.020
ensure and enforce compatibility.

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SD stands for Secure Digital, although I prefer
to think of it as

00:03:59.080 --> 00:04:00.340
Super Dope

00:04:00.340 --> 00:04:01.791
and the SD Association

00:04:01.791 --> 00:04:03.350
is who makes the rules.

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The SDA is way less in it for the money, as
they are a nonprofit group and only charge

00:04:07.980 --> 00:04:09.920
$2,500 to join.

00:04:09.920 --> 00:04:14.180
As far as I can tell, they don’t assess
a fee to their members on a per-manufactured-card

00:04:14.180 --> 00:04:16.370
basis to use that logo.

00:04:16.370 --> 00:04:19.240
Their self-described function is as follows:

00:04:19.240 --> 00:04:21.400
“The SD Association establishes the technical

00:04:21.400 --> 00:04:26.150
and specification standards for SD memory
card applications, continuously promotes SD

00:04:26.150 --> 00:04:31.630
as the leading industry standard, and encourages
the development of digital A/V, wireless communication,

00:04:31.630 --> 00:04:36.740
and digital networking products that utilize
the many unique benefits of SD standards.”

00:04:36.740 --> 00:04:37.780
Fun stuff.

00:04:37.780 --> 00:04:40.470
But, about that logo.

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Why is the D in SD...

00:04:42.860 --> 00:04:44.080
a disc?

00:04:44.080 --> 00:04:48.850
I’m fairly confident that this isn’t a
disc, but I’ll ask my sources.

00:04:48.850 --> 00:04:49.660
Is this a disc?

00:04:50.200 --> 00:04:51.860
No, it’s not a disc!

00:04:52.820 --> 00:04:53.900
Is this a disc?

00:04:54.440 --> 00:04:57.900
Yes all signs seem to indicate that
this is indeed not a disc.

00:04:58.580 --> 00:04:59.940
Well, that settles it.

00:04:59.950 --> 00:05:02.520
Two out of two sources agree that this is
not a disc.

00:05:02.520 --> 00:05:04.060
So, um,

00:05:04.060 --> 00:05:05.760
why is there a disc in the logo?

00:05:06.780 --> 00:05:10.200
Well, you know how sometimes a company announces
that they’re gonna develop a thing,

00:05:10.200 --> 00:05:12.700
and then they put a lot of R&D effort into developing
the thing,

00:05:12.700 --> 00:05:15.920
but it turns out that another set of companies is ALSO developing a thing,

00:05:15.920 --> 00:05:18.580
and now you’ve got a situation of two competing  things?

00:05:19.020 --> 00:05:20.760
[crickets chirping]

00:05:21.020 --> 00:05:24.180
That happened in the developmental stages
of DVD.

00:05:24.190 --> 00:05:28.860
Philips and Sony were backing an updated version
of their very own Compact Disc, which they

00:05:28.860 --> 00:05:33.300
called the MultiMedia Compact Disc or MMCD.

00:05:33.300 --> 00:05:37.880
Meanwhile, all of these other manufacturers
were backing a different kind of disc.

00:05:37.880 --> 00:05:40.820
That disc had a different name from MultiMedia Compact Disc.

00:05:40.820 --> 00:05:47.050
See, what makes DVDs able to store more data
than a CD is that the pits are packed more densely.

00:05:47.050 --> 00:05:50.440
This new disc had a greater pit density than
a CD.

00:05:50.440 --> 00:05:54.230
In fact, you might say its density was kinda
super.

00:05:54.230 --> 00:05:56.360
It was a super density disc.

00:05:56.860 --> 00:05:57.860
SD!

00:05:58.340 --> 00:06:02.980
Toshiba designed this logo for use in the
never realized Super Density disc.

00:06:02.980 --> 00:06:08.010
I’ve mentioned this before in my video introducing
the DVD and its murder of Laserdisc, but the

00:06:08.010 --> 00:06:12.540
creation of the DVD standard hinged on the
aforementioned companies coming to an agreement

00:06:12.540 --> 00:06:14.670
on which format to use.

00:06:14.670 --> 00:06:18.860
This agreement was in large part forced by
computer companies, who envisioned using this

00:06:18.860 --> 00:06:21.780
standard for data storage, and who didn’t
want to pick sides

00:06:21.780 --> 00:06:23.460
and wind up on the wrong one.

00:06:23.820 --> 00:06:26.060
[crickets chirping]

00:06:26.520 --> 00:06:29.820
When the companies agreed and morphed the
competing standards into the one,

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the only,

00:06:30.640 --> 00:06:32.320
the glorious DVD,

00:06:32.320 --> 00:06:36.080
suddenly Toshiba had this
useless logo that they designed sitting around.

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And, rather than be wasteful about it, they
slapped it onto a new flash memory standard.

00:06:41.070 --> 00:06:46.330
Sandisk and Matsushita partnered with Toshiba,
and the Secure Digital format was born.

00:06:46.330 --> 00:06:49.780
Just to add to the trivia, SD was essentially
just a modification

00:06:49.780 --> 00:06:51.920
of the earlier MultiMediaCard (MMC),

00:06:51.920 --> 00:06:55.620
but support for DRM was added
as part of its specifications.

00:06:55.620 --> 00:06:59.520
It is likely (though I have not confirmed
it) that its name was chosen because it was

00:06:59.530 --> 00:07:03.690
designed to fit within the Secure Digital
Music Initiative, which was essentially the

00:07:03.690 --> 00:07:08.610
record industry’s last ditch effort to try
and get tech companies to move away from MP3s

00:07:08.610 --> 00:07:11.100
and into a more locked down standard.

00:07:11.100 --> 00:07:13.699
It didn’t work, but the name stuck anyway.

00:07:13.699 --> 00:07:18.500
From my perspective, it looks very much like
Toshiba, having created this logo, set out

00:07:18.500 --> 00:07:22.960
to make a new memory card standard, and the
Secure Digital Music Initiative just sort

00:07:22.960 --> 00:07:25.000
of fell into their laps.

00:07:25.000 --> 00:07:30.240
They designed it to work within that initiative,
and if music were to be distributed on cards,

00:07:30.240 --> 00:07:32.540
it might be helpful to put a disc in the logo

00:07:32.540 --> 00:07:34.300
because, you know,

00:07:34.300 --> 00:07:36.200
that’s what music used to go on.

00:07:36.200 --> 00:07:42.940
Anyway, regardless of what exactly transpired,
we do know for sure that this logo is a leftover.

00:07:42.940 --> 00:07:46.310
Perhaps you’ve never even noticed that the
D is an optical disc.

00:07:46.310 --> 00:07:48.550
I didn’t until I first read about it.

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And to be fair, many designs don’t put the
little lines through the D

00:07:51.800 --> 00:07:53.680
so it’s harder to make the connection.

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[Ding]

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But now that we all know, we can laugh
at the follies of the past, and be thankful

00:07:58.880 --> 00:08:02.160
that the standard endures, with one unifying
logo

00:08:02.160 --> 00:08:04.000
letting us know everything we need to….

00:08:05.120 --> 00:08:05.620
[sigh]

00:08:05.620 --> 00:08:08.360
Jeez guys, how many more revisions are you
gonna go through?

00:08:08.370 --> 00:08:10.100
Won’t you ever be satisfied!

00:08:10.100 --> 00:08:12.710
Isn’t half a terabyte on your fingernail
enough!?

00:08:12.710 --> 00:08:17.310
I mean really, we’ve got 4K TV now, how
much more data are we gonna need?

00:08:17.310 --> 00:08:18.520
Why don’t you just--

00:08:18.520 --> 00:08:22.009
Thanks for watching, and I hope you enjoyed
this little explanation of the mysterious

00:08:22.009 --> 00:08:24.400
disc in the discless format.

00:08:24.400 --> 00:08:28.340
It’s not so much mysterious as much as it is
a hand me down.

00:08:28.340 --> 00:08:33.600
The remains of a project long ago abandoned,
but which ended up being useful after all.

00:08:33.600 --> 00:08:35.920
If a little thematically inconsistent.

00:08:35.920 --> 00:08:39.640
As always, thank you to everyone who supports
the channel on Patreon, especially the fine

00:08:39.640 --> 00:08:42.020
folks you see scrolling up your screen.

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With the generous support of people like you,
Technology Connections has changed from my

00:08:46.750 --> 00:08:48.950
weird little hobby to my actual job!

00:08:48.950 --> 00:08:51.150
And I’m very grateful for your support.

00:08:51.150 --> 00:08:54.810
If you would like to support the channel with
a pledge of your own, and get perks like early

00:08:54.810 --> 00:08:59.000
video access, occasional behind-the-scenes
footage, as well as the inside scoop on the

00:08:59.000 --> 00:09:02.200
latest projects, please check out my Patreon
page.

00:09:02.200 --> 00:09:04.820
Thank you for your consideration, and I’ll
see you next time!

00:09:05.580 --> 00:09:09.340
♫ incomprehensibly smooth jazz ♫

00:09:09.680 --> 00:09:10.420
[Sigh]

00:09:11.680 --> 00:09:15.720
I got about half-way through the script
before I realized that the camera wasn’t recording...

00:09:15.980 --> 00:09:18.790
and it’s a shame because there
were some great bloopers in there.

00:09:18.790 --> 00:09:23.610
To my surprise, while going through DVDs to
show the logo, I discovered that Disney DVDs

00:09:23.610 --> 00:09:26.210
don’t actually use the official DVD logo.

00:09:26.210 --> 00:09:31.560
They use their own “Disney DVD” thing,
which makes me wonder just how they made/make

00:09:31.560 --> 00:09:32.920
their DVDs.

00:09:32.920 --> 00:09:37.940
Are they correctly licensed and the DVD association
(now One-red) just lets them use their own

00:09:37.950 --> 00:09:38.950
logo?

00:09:38.950 --> 00:09:43.560
I can’t imagine Disney isn’t being above
board, but I wonder just how their own logo

00:09:43.560 --> 00:09:45.620
fits into the whole DVD ecosystem.

00:09:47.100 --> 00:09:47.860
Ya know?

00:09:47.920 --> 00:09:51.540
That’s prolly not a good use of that tense,
and I didn’t even write it so, like…

00:09:51.540 --> 00:09:53.280
where did that come from?

00:09:53.280 --> 00:09:54.780
That’s a great question, Bertie.

00:09:54.780 --> 00:09:59.060
Pioneer decided to call these things Laserdiscs
without realizing…

00:09:59.700 --> 00:10:01.300
[really long pause]

00:10:02.340 --> 00:10:02.900
no.

00:10:03.260 --> 00:10:04.360
No (more ominously).

00:10:04.360 --> 00:10:08.620
And just like all the other standards, both
flash and otherwise, SD--

00:10:11.860 --> 00:10:14.880
people and their road rage, and interrupting my videos,

00:10:14.880 --> 00:10:16.260
just calm down people.

00:10:16.260 --> 00:10:18.460
The SDA is way-- eugh.

00:10:18.460 --> 00:10:19.200
The SDA--

00:10:19.400 --> 00:10:21.800
Distinguising this formblabelleughth