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It'd be nice if the Apple Stores offered this service. I hate the idea of sending my $129 disk through snail mail, and then wait forever.

I'm going to ask my friend with a Powerbook to come over, network the computers, and access his DVD drive from my Mac.

It's crazy that they don't offer a choice, paying extra for CD is nutty. Come on Apple, get with it.

i bought the family pack... why would i send my DVD in to get a cd for just one computer? My other computers have DVD readers but my ibook 500 does not... so lame!

You're pretty cheap if you dont have a DVD-Rom on your Mac. You should get with the program and come into the new millenium, I dont think there is a single PC I have used in the past 4 years that doesn't have a DVD-ROM. They are around $55 dollars it is well worth it. Oh man what am I saying. I would rather have 3 different disks to install so everyone at MDN doesnt get mad at me. $9.95 is the penalty for being behind in the times. I think if you order "American Idiot" on Cassette it will cost you more than the CD. What a fitting title "American Idiot".

I love it. Swapping CDs is such a pain. Thank God Apple has moved on...

The joys of centralisation.

However, honestly, how many people are going to use CD's to load Tiger? Most macs since 1999 had DVD drives... that's over 5 years ago...

Have you people ever heard of "target disk mode"? Find somebody with a DVD drive and just do it.

i would rather go out and buy a cheap dvd drive and have that for a while.

Yeah just connect your computer to any other Mac with a DVD drive -- restart your CD-only mac in target disk mode (holding down T when you restart), and then just use the other computer to install Tiger. It was pretty simple for me.

"My other computers have DVD readers but my ibook 500 does not... so lame!"

I have a ibook 500 with 640MB of RAM and DVD and was not even considering upgrading since I figured the performance of Tiger would suck on such a system. Has anyone with such specs installed Tiger? What kind of results?

Take your $10 (plus P&H;) and put it to a FireWire DVD drive. You can install tonight, you won't have to plug in CD after CD, and you get a DVD drive to boot!

Or you can buy Tiger at the Apple store and have them install it for you.

Or you can complain to Apple that there is no floppy install version. Like Steve has said, "the train has left the station," get a DVD.

You can install from an external drive, can't you?

Well, there is always the Apple store thing.

They actually still sell a low-end, educational only 12" ibook with just a cd drive. I hope that they move to at least a dvd drive if they are going to release the OS on DVD media.

Some silly people actually buy this model which is only $50 cheaper than a combo drive version.

Some silly people actually buy this model which is only $50 cheaper than a combo drive version.

That 50 dollars buys 5 or 6 cases of cheap beer, you know!!

Chris,

They do offer you a choice. Either buy a DVD copy or pay $9.95 + shipping for CD copies.

CD copies would rot and waste space on retailers shelves. This is a much more sensible approach.

Should PC retailers stock 3.5" floppies for Windows XP? Bring a wheelbarrow.

You say "paying extra for a CD copy is nutty"
It costs more in time and materials to produce a CD copy. It would come on more than 1 disk.

You say "come on Apple get with it"
That's funny. It's you who needs to get with it.

My Imac is less than three years old, and still is under Applecare. I didn't get the DVD because I am low income. Get off your high horses, lots of us have cd only Imacs and resent Apple's making us jump through the extra hoop. And buying a firewire DVD for a mac is expensive and hardly worth it for a low income user who is saving for a G5 Imac. It would have cost Apple nothing extra to make a cd version available at its stores or online. Nothing.

Bandit Bill

I'd say you're giving it a little too much thought.

I have a copy if Suse Linux, which includes both for $90. So your "costs more for time and materials" doesn't fly.

You say "waste space on retilers shelves"
That's funny. The Suse box is the same size

As for the personal snark at the end of your message, grow up.

Chris,

I'm not attacking anyone personally.

I worked in retail at Canada's largest computer retailer 1995-2000 PC/Mac. I saw many changes and OS upgrades. I'm going to refer to Windows because I have more experience and memories in that area.

When Windows 95 came out it was available on CD and floppy. The floppy version was not all that popular. It did take up shelf space. It often got mixed in with the CD copies, and people often chose the 3.5" floppy version by mistake. The same thing with MicroSoft Office and many other products. I remember some software being available as much a 50 floppies in size.
Windows was something like 13 floppies.

I've personally waited for DVD "only" copies of software to come out for a long time. If you're a gamer (which I'm not) you can relate. Switch to disk 3 to continue.

Why is it sensible that my HP Laptop with a DVD drive came with 6 restore CD's and I have to sit in front of my machine for an hour changing disks? The last install crapped out on disk 5 and I had to start all over again.

Why should Apple cater to the CD drive owners 5 years after their machines have shipped primarily with DVD drives?

As I said before, Apple does give you a choice. And they are only charging nominal fee. Maybe the iPod tree hugger protestors put a scare into them and they are being more environmentally friendly, by not putting CD's in the box.

If you don't have a DVD drive-
1) Apple Remote Desktop 2 can install Tiger onto a client Mac.
2) Target Disk mode can be used.
3) An iPod can be used to transfer an installed setup from one Mac to another.
4) CD exchange.

You would think that if Apple ships Macs that don't come with a DVD reader that they would release their OS on a CD rom along side the DVD. The extra $10 isn't a real problem though. Here's a good fix for everyone... APPLE!!! Start shipping all your Macs with DVD readers/burners whatever...while your at it, just ship all your Macs with a Superdrive. Problem solved! Talk about getting with the times.

Have Apple OS 3.9 and need Appple OS 4.0 or whatever is next. Can you offer some advice where I might be able to purchase same. I only have a CD drive on this white Apple goose-neck unit. Need help badly.