An optical information media, system, and method for providing ubiquitous reading and selective writing is disclosed. By placing data structures representing a nonstandard book type in byte “0” of the media, the media is made universally bootable and universally readable in substantially any DVD drive. On the other hand, data structure representing a version code or disc category is placed in byte “0” or another byte of the control data zone in order to identify the media and enable writing in select drives. The version code and/or disc category identifies the media and calls for one or more write strategies configured for writing to the particular media. When the media is a permanent storage media, loss of data can be avoided, ubiquitous read can be achieved, and selective write in predetermined drives can be achieved resulting in a robust system and method of storing and retrieving data.