Toshiba Corporation today announced that it has undertaken a thorough review of its overall strategy for HD DVD and has decided it will no longer develop, manufacture and market HD DVD players and recorders. This decision has been made following recent major changes in the market. Toshiba will continue, however, to provide full product support and after-sales service for all owners of Toshiba HD DVD products.

HD DVD was developed to offer consumers access at an affordable price to high-quality, high definition content and prepare them for the digital convergence of tomorrow where the fusion of consumer electronics and IT will continue to progress.

"We carefully assessed the long-term impact of continuing the so-called 'next-generation format war' and concluded that a swift decision will best help the market develop," said Atsutoshi Nishida, President and CEO of Toshiba Corporation. "While we are disappointed for the company and more importantly, for the consumer, the real mass market opportunity for high definition content remains untapped and Toshiba is both able and determined to use our talent, technology and intellectual property to make digital convergence a reality."

Toshiba will continue to lead innovation, in a wide range of technologies that will drive mass market access to high definition content. These include high capacity NAND flash memory, small form factor hard disk drives, next generation CPUs, visual processing, and wireless and encryption technologies. The company expects to make forthcoming announcements around strategic progress in these convergence technologies.

Toshiba will begin to reduce shipments of HD DVD players and recorders to retail channels, aiming for cessation of these businesses by the end of March 2008. Toshiba also plans to end volume production of HD DVD disk drives for such applications as PCs and games in the same timeframe, yet will continue to make efforts to meet customer requirements. The company will continue to assess the position of notebook PCs with integrated HD DVD drives within the overall PC business relative to future market demand.

This decision will not impact on Toshiba's commitment to standard DVD, and the company will continue to market conventional DVD players and recorders. Toshiba intends to continue to contribute to the development of the DVD industry, as a member of the DVD Forum, an international organization with some 200 member companies, committed to the discussion and defining of optimum optical disc formats for the consumer and the related industries.

Toshiba also intends to maintain collaborative relations with the companies who joined with Toshiba in working to build up the HD DVD market, including Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures, and DreamWorks Animation and major Japanese and European content providers on the entertainment side, as well as leaders in the IT industry, including Microsoft, Intel, and HP. Toshiba will study possible collaboration with these companies for future business opportunities, utilizing the many assets generated through the development of HD DVD.

www.toshiba.com

In official circles, Pioneer Electronics’ BDC-2202 ($199) is known as a “BD Combo Drive.” To the rest of the world, it’s an internal computer device that reads Blu-ray Discs (BDs), DVDs, and CDs, as well as writes DVDs and CDs. Offered as a retail kit, the BDC-2202 is available with either a black or beige front bezel and comes with a collection of simple software including Corel’s Ulead VideoStudio 11 SE, WinDVD 8 LE and Burn.Now SE. The drive employs a Serial ATA (SATA) interface so it’s a snap to connect, although the package doesn’t include data, power, and CD audio cables.

Working with DVDs and CDs with the drive shouldn’t be a problem for most PCs. However, playing commercial Blu-ray Disc (BD) movies requires not only significant computing horsepower but Windows Vista to boot (no XP). Specifically, Pioneer insists on at least a Pentium Dual Core or Athlon X2 with 1GB RAM, a 200MB hard drive, an NVIDIA PureVideo HD-compliant graphics card or ATI Radeon HD 2500/2600 (256MB RAM) and an HDCP-compliant digital or D-Sub VGA analog display. Internet access is also necessary so WinDVD can periodically renew its AACS key (used to copy-protect commercial movies). For this evaluation I used Vista Ultimate 32-bit edition, 1GB RAM, and an ATI Radeon HD 2400 Pro (Catalyst version 8.1).

According to Pioneer’s specifications, the BDC-2202 writes CD-R and CD-RW (24x ZCLV), DVD±R (12x ZCLV), DVD±R DL (4x CLV), DVD±RW (6x ZCLV), and DVD-RAM (5x ZCLV). It promises an even wider reading assortment that includes BD-ROM/R/RE SL (5x CAV), BD-ROM/R/RE DL (2x CLV), DVD-ROM/±R SL (12x CAV), DVD-ROM/±R DL (8x CAV), DVD±RW (8x CAV), DVD-RAM (5x ZCLV), CD-ROM/R (32x CAV), and CD-RW (24x CAV).

Benchmark testing with Nero’s CD-DVD Speed illustrates that the BDC-2202 is indeed a capable, albeit not industry leading, performer with liberal format compatibility (see chart, below). For fun, I even tried out a couple of HD DVD-ROM/DVD-ROM Twin discs (Freedom 1 and 2 from Bandai Visual) and had no problem reading the DVD portion of each. On the burning side, I was impressed by the unit’s extensive support of discs produced by a range of manufacturers (atypical for Pioneer recorders). Specifically, full 12x speed was supported for fourteen out of the fourteen manufacturers of 16x-rated DVD-Rs I tested and seven out of the nine DVD+Rs.

Pioneer BDC-2202: Nero CD-DVD Speed Test Results

Disc Format	Tested Capacity	Recording Time (min:sec)	Reading Time (min:sec)
CD-R	80 min	4:41	3:18
CD-RW	74 min	3:52	4:07
DVD-R	4.7GB	7:04	6:19
DVD+R	4.7GB	7:14	6:20
DVD-R DL	8.5GB	27:45	17:08
DVD+R DL	8.5GB	27:13	17:08
DVD-RW	4.7GB	9:54	9:30
DVD+RW	4.7GB	10:01	9:28
DVD-RAM	4.7GB	11:07 (defect management off)	11:08 (defect management off)
DVD-ROM SL	4.7GB	N/A	6:22
BD-ROM SL	22.38GB	N/A	24:10
BD-ROM DL	46.61GB	N/A	92:19
BD-R SL	22.56GB	N/A	24:04
BD-RE SL	22.56GB	N/A	24:04

The included copy of Corel’s WinDVD 8 LE is a no-nonsense BD and DVD video software player. For the technical crowd, it’s compatible with the BD-ROM AV (HDMV, BD-J) application format and conforms to first generation BD-Video grace period specifications (see The Authoritative Blu-ray Disc (BD) FAQ). In simpler terms, it promises the high-definition magnificence of Blu-ray but lacks its latest bells and whistles.

To get a feel for WinDVD, I tried out a handful of commercial BD movies encoded in MPEG-2, MPEG-4 AVC and VC-1 published on both single and dual-layer discs. After selecting the correct region (oddly, the drive’s disc tray must be open to do so) my viewing experience proved agreeable but mixed. Many titles in my collection, including Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnemise (Bandai Visual), Casino Royale (Sony), Superman Returns (Warner), Rocky Balboa (Sony), Ultraviolet (Sony), and Ratatouille (Disney/Pixar), played without incident or complaint. Others, however, such as Sunshine (Fox) and the Liar’s Dice game in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (Disney/Buena Vista) faltered and either crashed WinDVD or locked-up my system entirely.

I’m told that a fix-it patch is in the works but home theater PC (HTPC) enthusiasts will be better off investing in a full-blown software player. For example, I wasn’t disappointed when I took CyberLink’s latest version of PowerDVD Ultra ($99.95 MSRP) for a spin. It resolved my Liar’s Dice difficulties, basked in Sunshine and, thanks to its new-fangled Final Standard Profile functions, even gave me access to the movie’s (gimmicky) picture-in-picture commentaries. Be aware, however, that compatibility is still a work in progress so be prepared for issues to crop up as new movies are released.

All in all, the BDC-2202 is a solid unit offering a blend of capabilities and formats that should cover most day-to-day business, videography, personal and home theater PC (HTPC) situations. The unit performs well, is a conservative way of getting your feet wet playing Blu-ray movies and should appeal to existing BD recorder owners craving a companion drive for disc to disc work or those wishing to publish or restore large data sets or backups within an office.

Hugh Bennett (hugh_bennett at compuserve.com) is the author of EMedialive's Authoritative Blu-ray Disc (BD) and HD DVD FAQs.

Wal-Mart Stores, U.S. today announces that its 4,000 Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores will move forward this year with one hi-definition movie and hardware format: Blu-ray. The change will take place quickly over the next several months whereby the retailer will phase out HD DVD offerings and reorganize shelf space. By June, Wal-Mart stores, Sam’s Clubs, www.walmart.com and www.samsclub.com will offer only Blu-ray movies and hardware machines, as well as standard definition movies and DVD players, and up converts.

"We’ve listened to our customers, who are showing a clear preference toward Blu-ray products and movies with their purchases," said Gary Severson, senior vice president, Home Entertainment, Wal-Mart, U.S. "With the customers best interest in all we do, we wanted to share our decision and timeline with them as soon as possible, knowing it will help simplify their purchase decision, increase selection, and increase adoption long term. We anticipate enhancing our selection with continued great values in hi-definition Blu-ray products, so our customers can further enhance their entertainment experience at home."

Wal-Mart will continue to sell through remaining HD DVD product, but in less than 30 days customers will see a more predominant move toward Blu-ray in stores, clubs and online. As the nation’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart thoughtfully reviewed all areas and impact in making its decision, and is excited to move forward with one format and share its future plans with customers.

www.wal-mart.com

Roxio(R), a division of Sonic Solutions(R) (Nasdaq: SNIC), the leader in digital media software, today launched three new applications that enable consumers to make the most of their digital libraries. MyDVD(R) 10 Premier, Easy DVD Copy(R) 4 Premier and RecordNow(TM) Music Lab 10 Premier easily turn photos, videos and music into impressive digital media creations that can be shared on CD, DVD or enjoyed on a variety of portable devices. MyDVD 10 is a comprehensive video editing and DVD creation suite for the growing number of consumers who want to edit home movies and create slideshows and video compilations to view on widescreen TVs or to share online. To satisfy consumers who wish to enjoy their favorite personal media content and entertainment on the road, Roxio is also releasing Easy DVD Copy 4, the ultimate DVD copy and video conversion application.

Designed for the music enthusiast, RecordNow Music Lab 10 makes collecting, organizing and creating perfect playlists quick and easy. All three applications are Vista certified. MyDVD 10 Premier and RecordNow Music Lab 10 Premier are available now at the Roxio website for $69.99 and $49.99 respectively. Easy DVD Copy 4 Premier will be available later this month for $49.99.

"Continual innovation in digital media and mobile devices enables consumers to experience music, video and photos in new and exciting ways," said Mark Ely, executive vice president of strategy, Sonic Solutions. "With the proliferation of digital content comes the growing need for consumers to enhance, preserve, and share their lives with family and friends. Roxio's new applications expand the scope of digital enjoyment by providing media enthusiasts with all the tools users of any experience level need to easily create, manage, and enjoy photos, music, and videos whenever and wherever they want."

Roxio MyDVD 10 Premier is a feature-rich product that makes it easy for consumers to quickly turn photos and home movies into polished video or professional-quality DVD productions. Beyond the unrivaled editing flexibility offered in the 32-track timeline, batch video segment removal, timeline markers and automatic tools for correcting color and removing background noise, users can now easily add the perfect sound track with SmartSound(R). SmartSound provides a variety of built-in sound tracks to suit any mood. Users simply select the music they like and it is automatically adjusted to fit the length of their production. The new Picture-in-Picture feature enables real-time video overlays creating extraordinary effects often seen on TV.

Roxio MyDVD 10 also includes a range of features to help users optimize their mobile enjoyment of personal digital media content. For example, Mobile Phone Doctor quickly and easily corrects problems common to photos taken with cell phone cameras, while Mobile PhotoFit resizes digital photos for the smaller mobile device displays. In addition, the Media Manager enables users to synchronize media between the desktop and their portable devices such as iPods, BlackBerrys, and PSPs.

Roxio Easy DVD Copy 4 Premier is the ultimate DVD copy and video conversion application. With Easy DVD Copy 4 consumers can easily make high-quality copies of non-encrypted DVDs, automatically shrink dual-layer DVDs to fit on single-layer discs and exclude unwanted content to minimize compression and optimize video quality. For on-the-go enjoyment, the latest edition of Easy DVD Copy quickly and easily converts the most popular audio and video formats for playback on a wide variety of portable devices including the iPhone(R), iPod(R), PSP(TM), mobile phones, and devices that support DivX(R), Windows Media or MPEG playback. Easy DVD Copy 4 offers many unique options such as the ability to copy unprotected videos from the iPod to hard disk, support for TiVo shows, and the Audio/Video Converter Vista sidebar gadget for easily converting video and audio files to portable devices via drag and drop.

Designed to enable consumers to make the most of their digital audio collections, the new RecordNow Music Lab 10 Premier combines a variety of unique features allowing users to collect music from a wide range of sources including CD, DVD, LP, tape, the Internet, or the iPod(R). Consumers can expand their music libraries with tools like Easy Audio Capture which allows them to capture any audio playing on a computer, such as Internet radio programs or streaming music, the new Multi-CD Ripper that quickly transfers tracks from multiple drives concurrently and LP &Tape Assistant, designed for hassle-free capture and clean-up of analog tracks.

Captured music can then be organized using the Audio Tag Editor re-designed to streamline tagging audio tracks with artist or title information. The Media Manager allows consumers to easily organize, preview, rate, and search for desired songs. To save time, RecordNow includes a new Audio Converter for easy batch conversion of music files to preferred digital formats as well as an enhanced AutoMix utility which automatically creates playlists based on one or more preferred songs.

Roxio RecordNow Music Lab 10 Premier, Easy DVD Copy 4 Premier and MyDVD 10 Premier are all part of the Roxio Easy Media Creator(R) 10 family of products. Roxio's complete digital media suite is available in retail stores worldwide and direct from Roxio for $99.99.

www.roxio.com

TitleMatch Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of Protocall Technologies Incorporated (OTCBB:PCLI) and innovator of burn-on-demand services for retailers, today announced a partnership with Verbatim Americas, a business unit of Japan's Mitsubishi Kagaku Media, to utilize newly developed Verbatim AquaAce optical media with the TitleMatch DVD On-Demand service.

The Verbatim optical media is the first recordable DVD disc to be compatible with Qflix copy protection technology, an essential security requirement by most movie studios.

"Our new Qflix DVD media was developed specifically for the emerging burn-on-demand market, which we think has great potential to expand delivery of movies to consumers," said Tim Clatterbuck, Verbatim Optical Storage Manager. "TitleMatch is a leader in the burn-on-demand space and we are delighted to have our AquaAce water resistant media in position at the launch of this very exciting new channel of distribution."

"Verbatim has a trusted reputation for providing the highest quality optical media in the consumer and professional disc-replicator markets," commented Syd Dufton, President of TitleMatch Entertainment Group. "We are very pleased to be able to draw upon the Verbatim expertise in optical media as use of our DVD On-Demand service proliferates with retailers."

TitleMatch provides product ingestion services for content owners along with a technology platform that brings together the numerous hardware and software components for an easy to use on-demand service that retailers can implement at their stores and website distribution centers. In addition to Verbatim, other TitleMatch partners include Primera Technology for robotic DVD duplicators, Pioneer Electronics for specialized disc burners and Sonic Solutions for Qflix copy-protection technology.

www.TitleMatch.com

Zip.ca, Canada's online video service is celebrating four years of delivering unlimited entertainment to Canadians. Launched on February 11, 2004, Zip.ca is the largest online DVD rental service in Canada and is the leader in delivering the films Canadians want to see, in their preferred format.

"We've been watching the hi def war very closely and we're not surprised that Blu-ray is emerging as the winner. From day one, our policy has been to provide our members with DVDs in whatever format they prefer and we'll continue to honour that promise by stocking HD DVD and standard DVDs, as well as Blu-ray," said Rick Anderson, President and CEO of Zip.ca. "We already carry every Blu-ray disc released in Canada and we're purchasing enough new Blu-ray titles to guarantee ready availability to our members at the same price as standard DVDs. We're bringing our members even more Blu-ray in 2008 with contests, giveaways and special weekly door crasher prices on the most popular new release Blu-ray disc that will have people talking."

Member loyalty and contributions to the content of Zip sets the company apart from others in the Canada market says Anderson. "Our members have made us what we are. They are extremely loyal and have very high service and delivery expectations that we meet each and every day. Member requests have helped us build Canada's largest selection of films in every category and genre from anime to westerns and everything in between."

Zip is introducing new plans and more features in 2008, including a new 1-DVD Unlimited Plan, the second unlimited plan. Zip will also celebrate its largest milestone to date with the delivery of its 10 millionth DVD.

www.zip.ca

Advanced Media, Inc., is a manufacturer and marketer of the popular Ridata brand of recordable CD and DVD media, electronic storage products, and digital media accessories. The company announced today that its Ridata Solid State Turbo Drives (SSD) will be available for purchase at all 34 Fry's Electronics stores and online at www.frys.com in February.

"We are pleased to be the first to partner with the popular Fry's Electronics to provide early adopters, gamers and savvy consumers a Solid State Drive alternative to Hard Disk Drives. SSD drives offer a host of benefits over traditional hard disk drives especially for notebooks. Cool and silent running; fast data access times; dependability and resistance to harsh environments make SSD drives a serious contender for eventually replacing Hard Disc Drives," remarked Harvey Liu, Advanced Media President.

The Ridata SSD drive is inherently resistant to vibration, shock, and temperature extremes. It is very reliable with more than 4,000,000 hours Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF). Data integrity is further supported by static wearing leveling and Reed-Solomon ECC (RS-ECC 6/8/10 symbols). With SMART features and write endurance cycle (P/E) of more than 2,000,000 times, the Ridata SSD drive is built to securely write and store critical data.

The Ridata 2.5" Turbo SATA SSD drive is a cutting-edge solid-state flash disk, based on NAND flash technology. It has no moving parts, which allows it to be virtually silent, run cooler, and use less power than a traditional hard disk drive.

Using single-level-chip technology, the Ridata SSD drive provides consistent performance and has extremely low-power consumption in comparison to a traditional hard drive. The Ridata SSD is among the lightest-weight storage drives available. It is excellent for performance-driven and rugged environments, such as laptops, and industrial, professional, and military applications.

The drive requires only a five-volt power supply. Because of its low-power consumption, user time on a laptop or other mobile computing application is dramatically extended. Having no mechanical parts, low power consumption, and minimal heat generation, the Ridata SSD drive is a natural alternative for a greener environment. Meeting bus interface industry standard Serial ATA (SATA) ensures there are no host compatibility or upgrading issues. The Ridata drive offers reliable temperature (0 to 70C) and humidity resistance, assuring long-lasting data storage. The 2.5" drive weighs 64.5 grams with dimensions of 101.85 x 69.85 x 9mm.

The Ridata 2.5" SATA based Turbo SSD cards will be available at Fry's stores and Frys.com in February. Visit www.ritekusa.com for more information.

Vmedia Research, Inc. today unveiled its mobile entertainment media technology at the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in conjunction with the announcement of the world’s first Vmedia movie phone by Spice Corp. Ltd. Vmedia™ is an innovative miniature optical disc format designed to bring the quality of a big screen experience and the simplicity of home entertainment to mobile consumer electronics.

"Consumers today are mobile and people want the same entertainment choices they have at home available for their mobile phones and portable media players" said Steve Volk, CEO and founder of Vmedia Research. "Vmedia gives consumers what they want – the hottest new movies and TV shows on a mobile entertainment media that is easy to use, easy to buy and delivers a quality personal entertainment experience."

A Vmedia disc is a new removable optical media for mobile devices that puts the latest movies and TV series into consumers’ pockets for personal viewing any time, anywhere. Entertainment on Vmedia is equivalent in quality to DVD, it sells for the same price and has the same release dates, but Vmedia gives consumers the advantage of a single media that will play on both mobile and home entertainment systems. Vmedia discs are played in Vmedia optical drives – the world’s smallest blue laser optical drives. Consumers everywhere are familiar with the benefits and use of optical discs. Vmedia discs are simple to use – just insert the disc and click "play." There are no restrictions on the number of devices or screens on which Vmedia discs can be viewed. And with 576p image quality consumers can enjoy Vmedia entertainment on every screen in the house from mobile phones to the big screen TVs in their living rooms.

How Vmedia Works
A Vmedia optical disc is only 32mm in diameter and is protected from the mobile environment by a slim cartridge. Despite their tiny size, Vmedia discs are able to hold complete feature-length movies at 576p resolution by combining blue laser technology with advanced video (H.264) and audio codecs (AAC).

Vmedia is a molded polycarbonate optical disc designed for economical high volume manufacturing using processes similar to DVD replication. The first generation single-layer Vmedia disc has 1GB of capacity which will hold the typical feature-length film plus extra features such as out-takes, mobile phone wallpapers and ringtones. Vmedia disc capacity will increase to 2GB on dual layer discs which the company expects to ship in 2009. A recordable Vmedia disc is under development for future release.

Playback of Vmedia discs in mobile devices is possible due to the advanced blue laser optical technology and miniaturization in the design of the Vmedia optical drive. In order to speed integration for mobile device OEMs and ODMs, the Vmedia optical drive is packaged as a complete, easy-to-integrate component. Designed to withstand the rigors of today’s mobile applications, Vmedia optical drives are resistant to shock and vibration, and feature low power consumption. The first generation Vmedia optical drive is currently shipping to mobile device manufacturers. A second generation slim drive with a reduced height of 9.5mm will be shipping in the latter half of 2008.

www.vmedia.net

Catering to users who require high quality multimedia experiences, ASUS, producer of top-notch optical drives, has today released the ASUS DVD-E818A2/A2T. This series of optical drives is the world’s first ODD that supports 5X DVD-RW DL, and provides users with cutting-edge multimedia experiences backed with superior playback capabilities and high-speed data transfers; while built-in advanced ASUS exclusive technologies will provide a quieter, more stable and higher performance multimedia environment.

New Industry Format 5X DVD-RW (DL) Support
The ASUS DVD-E818A2 and ASUS DVD-E818A2T provide leading-edge multimedia experiences with the ability to read 5X DVD-RW DL – the brand new industry format. With this support, users will be able to view high quality videos directly burnt into DVDs from camcorders and obtain fabulous playback capacities. It also allows users to access all CDs, DVD-ROM/DVD±R/ DVD±RW/DVD-RAM and DVD-Video discs.

Multi-functional and Fast Data Transfers
The ASUS DVD-E818A2/A2T optical drives are designed to provide users with versatile and fast data transfer speeds with DVD-ROM max data transfer rates of 24930 KB/s (18X), and CD-ROM max data transfer rates of 7200 KB/s (48X). Access times are also shortened with fast random access times for DVD access at 105 ms versus typical 95 ms CD access times.

QuieTrack – Quiet and Stable Operations
The innovative ASUS exclusive QuieTrack technology is developed to dampen drive noise in every conceivable fashion while improving stability, and consists of two revolutionary features:

• Airflow Field Modification (AFFM): Noise and vibration are two major headaches users encounter when using a high-speed drive. AFFM is designed to change the uneven airflow field inside the drive to a balanced pressure distribution that leads to a quiet and stable operation.
• Auto Vibration Reducing System (AVRS): The AVRS technology is designed to minimize the vibration caused by the spindle motor and resonance between components as well as the drive and PC cases. AVRS is designed to reduce vibration and noise induced by unbalanced mass of rotating machinery. With AVRS, ASUS DVD-E818A2 and ASUS DVD-E818A2T provides high readability and playability.

Enhanced Features for Improved Usage
The ASUS DVD-E818A2 and ASUS DVD-E818A2T also provide users with many other features to allow users ease and convenience during usage. Some of these features include the support for Speed Auto-Switch Function, High Speed CD-Audio Playback, High Speed Digital Audio Extraction, the choice to mount the drives vertically or horizontally, the unique dust resistance design, as well as support for changeable panels.

ASUS is a leading provider of 3C total solutions. With a global staff of more than 100 thousand and a world-class R&D design team, the turnover for 2006 was 17.4 billion U.S. Dollars. ASUS has been ranked in Business Week InfoTech 100 for 10 consecutive years, and has been ranked No.1 by the Wall Street Journal Asia for best quality products in Taiwan.

Imation Corp. (NYSE: IMN), a worldwide leader in removable data storage media, today introduced two optical media duplicators enabling simple CD and DVD duplication anytime. The Imation CD Duplicator and Imation CD/DVD Duplicator deliver high performance disc duplication without software, cables or a PC.

Ideal for broad office applications from Fortune 500 to small office / home office (SOHO) environments, these portable, standalone disc-to-disc systems create copies of marketing and sales materials, music, video, catalogs and other important data quickly and accurately with the touch of a button. Compatible with 12cm or 8cm discs, the Imation CD Duplicator operates on a 52X CD-RW drive, while the CD/DVD Duplicator features a 16X DVD+/-R/RW drive. These high-performance duplicators deliver continuous copying without the need to cool the system in-between duplications, and a user-friendly LCD display menu offers numerous options for maximum system functionality.

"Building on Imation's leadership in optical storage, these two new disc duplicators deliver an easy way for office users to duplicate CDs and DVDs no matter where they are," said Keith Schwartz, director, North America Commercial Division of Imation Corp. "We're extending our optical media accessories beyond publishing to also include duplication, a need our customers have been demanding from a source they can trust."

Small enough to fit on a desk or transport to client meetings, Imation's new disc duplicators offer the ideal combination of price and performance. The Imation CD Duplicator duplicates one master 700MB CD to CD-R media at up to 52X speeds in about two and a half minutes, and also duplicates CD discs to CD-RW media at up to 32X speeds. The Imation CD/DVD Duplicator duplicates a single master 4.7GB DVD at up to 16X speeds in about 11 minutes. It also can duplicate discs to CD-R/RW, DVD+/-RW and DVD+/-R DL media.

Imation's CD Duplicator is now available in the Americas region for a manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) of $279.99. Imation's CD/DVD Duplicator is now available for a MSRP of $329.99. Each duplicator also includes a 5-pack of Imation brand media.

For additional information about Imation disc duplicators, please visit http://www.imation.com.

Other World Computing (OWC), a leading Mac and PC technology company, announced today new Superdrive optical drives for all Mac computers, including Mac Pro; PowerBook G4 Titanium 15", 12/15/17" Aluminum; iBook G4; PowerMac G3, G4, G5; iMac G4; and eMac.

Whether upgrading from a read-only drive, replacing an older Superdrive or adding additional optical drive, OWC’s Superdrives are priced right and are Plug & Play easy to install. OWC offers the newest, fastest, and quietest SuperDrive technology from Pioneer, including 20X DL SuperDrive DVR-115D to read and write DVDs, CDs, and dual-layer DVDs. Capacity for dual layer DVDs is 8.5GB at speeds of 10X; regular DVDs for 4.7GB capacity at 20X; and CDs for 700MB at 40X.

"Replacing an existing optical drive or even adding an additional drive lets you enjoy the latest DVD and CD authoring performance and reliability," said Larry O’Connor, President, Other World Computing . "For most Macs, this is an incredibly easy upgrade and one of great return for anyone who’s currently making or planning to make their own DVDs or CDs."

OWC makes it easy to upgrade to fast DVD/CD burners compatible with the latest software, such as Apple iLife, Apple Discburner, Roxio Toast, NTI Dragonburn, and other CD/DVD authoring applications. Superdrives are available immediately from OWC priced starting at $29.99. Online installation guides and videos show users how to quickly install. For more information, see: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/optical-drives/superdrives/.