Multi-speed
Tom,
Multi-speed drives are currently expensive because they are new, which means
that they are still being manufactured in small quantities. When the original
(mono-speed??) CD-ROM units came out, their prices were in the $800-1000 range;
and as you know, they are now more in the $250-500 range.
The problem is not that the hardware to support multi-speed drives is that
much more expensive (although a motor capable of spinning accurately at
multiple speeds is higher than one that will operate at a fixed rpm), but that
to the manufacturers, these drives are a new product with some new parts
required which translates to new tooling which translates to new startup costs
for a production line. In hardware manufacturing, there is somethin called a
"learning curve" which loosely means that the more you make the cheaper you can
make them. Once people begin switching to multi-speed drives and the
manufacturers are turning them out as fast (or faster) than today's CD-ROM
drives, there is no reason the prices cannot come down to be the same or lower
than today's mono-speed drives.