Listening to your favorite custom song mix, capturing baby's first steps, sharing your digital pics of the blue Caribbean — every kind of audio, video, or digital image recording must be captured and stored on some type of media. Blank media comes in many different shapes and sizes, for a wide variety of applications.

Blank discs include recordable and rewritable CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray™ discs. Blank tapes include VHS, S-VHS, Mini DV, and audio cassettes. Digital cameras and portable digital music players generally use some form of removable flash memory to store pictures or audio files; common types of blank memory cards include CompactFlash® cards, Secure Digital® (SD) cards, Memory Sticks®, and more.

For more information about individual types of media, see our Blank Media Glossary.

Some components use built-in memory, so they don't require blank media at all. For instance, hard drive camcorders feature built-in disk drives that hold your images until you can transfer them to your computer. Some portable digital music players also use hard disk drives or permanent, embedded flash memory to store audio files.

Which format is right for you?

One of the most important things to think about when shopping for audio/video gear is what kind of media it uses. Because blank media formats vary enormously, consider the following factors when evaluating your entertainment options:

• Price — Blank media ranges from very inexpensive to considerably higher in cost; keep your budget in mind, yet be aware that you may be giving up durability and portability perks for a lower price.
• Capacity — The amount of storage you need can partially determine your choice of media (subject to compatibility with your gear). Memory cards, for example, come in a variety of sizes, but cards with 2-gigabyte or greater storage only work with certain kinds of cameras. And the same can be true of disc players. CD-Rs and DVD-Rs (which have ten times the storage capacity of CD-Rs) can be read by most DVD players and PCs with DVD drives. Newer high-capacity format discs, such as recordable Blu-ray discs, can store three times or greater the amount a DVD-R can hold, but require a compatible player in order to use them.
• Compatibility — You can save time and money by buying different kinds of devices which use the same media — like an MP3 player and a digital camera that can swap flash memory, or a portable digital music player that uses the same media as your car stereo.
• Availability — If you travel a lot, make sure you carry enough extra blank memory cards or discs to capture all the photos or video you want. It's true that you might be able to find some extra memory while you're traveling, but depending on where you go, there may be a more limited selection or higher prices than you'd find at home. Of course, if you own a device with embedded memory, like a hard drive camcorder, you probably won't have to worry about buying extra media. Just keep in mind that once that embedded memory is full, you'll either have to download your files to a computer you're carrying with you, or delete some to make room. That's part of why many embedded memory devices include memory card slots for emergency shooting.
• Ease of use — Depending on your needs, one type of media may be preferable to another. If you want fast access to video you just shot with your camcorder, for example, then you'll probably want to save your footage to DVD. If you want a media that will more readily lend itself to editing, then you'll probably want to use a tape format.
• Durability — Some types of media are virtually indestructible, like flash memory cards and drives; some require careful handling, like DVDs and CDs; some simply don't have a long lifetime, like audio cassettes. If the longevity of your recordings is important to you, then you'll want to chose gear that stores content to more durable media.
• Rewritable media — Many types of media, like CD-RW, DVD-RW, and flash memory cards can erase existing data and store new info in its place. Other media, like CD-R, offers one-time storage, often at a lower price.

Digital media and PC connectivity

These days, the use of any blank media often involves a computer somewhere in the process. Music libraries for portable music players are normally created and maintained on computers, and then transferred to the players. Videos from camcorders usually get moved to computers for sharing, editing, and storage.

To transfer music, video, or digital pics to and from your computer, you first need to make a connection. There are lots of possibilities.

For one thing, many digital cameras, digital camcorders, and portable digital music players can connect directly to your PC (via USB, IEEE 1394 or some other kind of cable). That way, you can directly transfer audio, video, or picture files. In some other cases, your PC may actually have a slot which accepts the type of media you're using, making file exchange a breeze.

However, sometimes your computer can't make a specific kind of connection. If you're using some kind of memory card, a memory card reader can come into play. These readers can accept a wide variety of memory cards, and connect to your PC via a USB port or other terminal common to computers. Before you buy, think about how you're going to connect your new digital A/V gear to your PC. Making sure you've got everything to make the connection now makes for easy operation later.