Prices doubled as follows:
1982 to 1993
1973 to 1982
1950 to 1973
1993 1.17xxxx
1978 0.573016
1968 0.299207
1946 0.153972
Note fluctuations for WWI, WWII, and Depression:
these come close to these doublings, but not for
a permanent trend.
1916 0.090478
1915 0.075394
1898 0.047620 Was the lowest trend:
which provides for the widest possible span of
1993 1.17xxxx
to
1898 0.047620
with prices being some 25 times higher in 1993 than 1898,
for price increase of 2400% over those 95 years.
THE PROJECT GUTENBERG PRICE INDEX FROM 1875 TO 1989
[With estimates up to and including 2010.]
This part contains a short chart of all the prices paid by the
Project Gutenberg supporters for drives from 1971 to 1993, and
then charts of the Consumer Price Indexes from 1875 to 1989.
The Project Gutenberg Drive Price Chart is about one page long
and is followed by a series of charts for each year from 1875-
1989, with a few additional estimates for 1990-1993.
Many of you have seen the figures I have presented as evidence
of the fact that current trends lead to HOLDING THE LIBRARY OF
CONGRESS IN THE PALM OF YOUR HAND WITHIN THE AVERAGE LIFETIME.
[Of course if they will let you HAVE the Library of Congress].
These figures range from the first 5 megabyte hard drives used
in our very first mainframe, through the first 5M Apple drive,
to the same drive running on an IBM, to our current 1.2G drive
that cost less than ANY of our previous drives and has storage
for twice as much data.
Of course, since I used only the real prices we paid for drive
after drive, it was only a matter of time until the cost/price
index would begin to play an important role, and we now have a
database of drive prices long enough that the $3,000 price for
the Konan 5M External ST506 Apple Hard Drive Kit in 1979 was a
mere half of what it would be in today's 1993 dollars. Thus:
The first 5 1/4 hard drive we got [Seagate-ST506] should be at
$6,000 in today's pricing index, or, conversely, we should see
that the $850 we paid for a Toshiba 1.2G drive is really only:
$425 per 1200 megabytes. . .in 1979 dollars.
The Database of Project Gutenberg Drive Costs:
1971 $50,000 per 5M at $10,000 for the removable 5M drive chassis
each 5M added was about $1500
1979 $3000 per 5M at $600/M [Same ST506 drive as I got in 1983, but
1980 set up as external drive for the Apple]
1981 Prices unstable early on
1982
Prices VERY stable now, falling by about 1/3 per year.
1983 $1500 per 5M at $300/M (Please see footnotes directly below)*
1984 $1950 per 10M at $195/M (only Seagate drive in 1985 Blue Book)*
1985 $1500 per 20M at $75/M (some disagreement about the year here)
1986 $1500 per 40M at $37.50/M
1986 $1595 per 80M at $20/M --> (IBM listed in Blue Book as 1984 price)
1987 $1500 per 80M at $19/M (but I never saw until two years later)
1988 $1500 per 120M at $12.50/M
1989 $1500 per 200M at $7.50/M
1990 $1500 per 300M at $5/M
1992 $1000 per 1000M at $1/M [In Summer 1993 we got a Toshiba 1200 Meg]
1993 $666 per 1000M at $.67/M [Actual cost was $.71/M at $850 per 1200M]
1994 $444 per 1000M at $.44/M [IBM in 1993 was $.50/M @ $4000 per 8000M]
1994 $296 per 1000M at $.30/M
1995 $198 per 1000M at $.20/M
1996 $132 per 1000M at $.13/M
1997 $88 per 1000M at $.08/M
1998 $58 per 1000M at $.06/M
1999 $39 per 1000M at $.04/M
2000 $26 per 1000M at $.03/M
2001 $17 per 1000M at $.02/M
2002 $12 per 1000M at $.01/M
Disclaimer: most of these are personal recollections,
but are close to estimates I have looked up, as below.
[How is it that 1985 and 1990 can seem so LONG ago!?!]
*Suggested resale price was $771 in 1983, still over $150/M
*(by the 1987 edition, resale price was $89, only $9/M)
*Shugart and Tandon were not listed
*IBM DID list a 20M for $1595, only $80/M, couldn't find one
*IBM listed 360K floppies at $425 and 1.2M floppies at $650
*floppies dropping at 33%/yr are now under $100, of course,
*IBM 512K RAM cards were $1125, 256K RAM cards were $295
*IBM 128K RAM cards were $350