Classic Computer Magazine Archive COMPUTE! ISSUE 20 / JANUARY 1982 / PAGE 189

Commodore Enters Into Memory Disc And Tape Drive Manufacturing

Mr. Irving Gould, Chairman of the Board of Commodore International Limited (NYSE:CBU) announced Commodore's entry into the microcomputer memory disc and tape drive manufacturing business with the introduction of four new multi-megabyte storage devices.

Mr. Gould stated that the "first two storage devices will be 5'/4-inch Winchester 6.4 megabyte and 9.6 megabyte magnetic rigid disc drives capable of storing, respectively, up to 6.4 million and 9.6 million bytes of information. These two memory storage devices, which will be built and packaged to Commodore specifications, will be introduced at COMDEX '81. The exact price of these two microcomputer memory storage devices will be announced at that time," noted Mr. Gould, "but they will be priced considerably lower than any comparable products now available."

The first storage device to be manufactured by Commodore will be a 5'/i-inch Winchester 5 megabyte magnetic rigid disc drive capable of storing up to 5 million bytes of information. This device is scheduled for introduction in April. It too, will be priced considerably below any comparable product now available.

The fourth and final microcomputer memory storage device is based upon Commodore technology and is a state-of-the-art development. It is a 'A'-inch wide magnetic tape multi-megabyte drive capable of storing up to 43 million bytes of information.

The 5 megabyte and 43 megabyte Commodore manufactured microcomputer memory storage devices are in a 2.2-inch low profile format, meaning they are only 2.2 inches tall, or approximately two-thirds the size of a box of cigarettes.