Plextor To Get Out of CD/DVD Drive Business

[Ian]

Thank Wes for finding this..

http://wesleytech.com/plextor-exits-cd-dvd-markets/

http://www.shinmai.co.jp/news/20070120/ ... 000022.htm

I can't say I'm surprised by this. It was only a matter of time as its becoming harder and hard to justify spending 3x-4x on a Plextor.

Who's next? Pioneer?

[ruderacer]

Ian, does this mean that we are to expect sub-standard CD/DVD writers? It seems that these companies (Plextor, Pioneer, etc.) could make writers that are good and very affordable in order to compete with other companies.

[Ian]

I think it just means that we have fewer choices. It's sad though as Plextor actually came up with some innovative stuff and not just a slight speed boost here or there.

As far as Plextor making their drives more affordable, they've been making them in China for awhile. I'm not sure if they were tryign to recoup development costs or something, but this didn't seem to have much of an effect on the retail price.

[[buck]]

I agree, it was only a matter of time - but largely Plextor's own fault. It's hard to justify a Plextor when you can get drives of similar quality for 4 times less. Brand recognition will only get you so far.

At the same time, I don't blame them for not joining the ultra-competitive $30 drive market... there's no money there, either. IMO Plextor should sell their drives for a more reasonable $50-60 - something affordable and justifiable, while still profitable.

[Ian]

If they continued to rebadge drives from other manufacturers and charged say a $20 premium, I'd still be interested. The extra money would be worth it for Plextor's tech support alone. This is one area where most of the el-cheapo manufacturers fall down. You're having problem with your drive? Toss it and buy another.

[[buck]]

If tech support costs $20, you might as well just toss out your $30 drive and try again.

[Morpheus]

That's just great. For the last 2 years I have been planning on building a new pc. I bought the case and I'm doing quite the mods for it. After that I was going to order the parts (I have a parts list already) and build the pc. I have chosen the Plextor 755SA for the optical drive of the new pc. Now that Plextor is not manufacturinig them any more, I have to buy it now. I went to plextor North America site and I can order it there (they are in California). I also checked Plextor's retailer's list and found a PC store in my city (I don't know where they are, I have to call them to get their location). This is one of those things that your plate is full and things just keep popping up and making you crazy.

[ruderacer]

Morpheus, have you tried Newegg, Tigerdirect, Fry's, BestBuy, or Circuit City?

[ruderacer]

Morpheus, have you tried Newegg, Tigerdirect, Fry's, BestBuy, or Circuit City?

[yamawho]

Very sad day indeed ...

I remember when Yamaha pulled the plug after the F1 drive.
This was just when dvd burners were coming out and the reasons were the same.

I hope Ian is correct and Plextor will continue in some form to offer support and software (Plextools XL) for rebadged drives.

[Gabe]

Sad, another brand maybe disappear.

The latest drives from Plextor weren´t good like the old ones, but Plextor had many features, I will miss em

[dolphinius_rex]

Dang... I actually really liked Plextor drives. Their extra features were really nifty, and their support 10000x better then any other company. I know a number of corperations that will be royally pissed about this, because they use Plextor exclusively (like Microboards for example).

But it's hard to keep paying $100+ for drives when decent drives can be had for $30+ ...

[LoneWolf]

I'd still be interested in getting twin 755SA's if they were available for a reasonable price. At current pricing though, not worth it for me.

I still have Plextor drives in the system I built for my wife. Plextor UltraPlex 40xMax CD-ROM and Plextor Plexwriter 12/10/32, both SCSI. The fastest Plextor SCSI writers still command quite the premium on Ebay; I got two for a deal on a forum, and sold one (which paid for both of them). They work well, but oddly enough, the CD-ROM won't rip audio CD's to iTunes; only the writer will. It may lead me to swap them out soon and go standard IDE.

Their CD-ROM drives and writers in the SCSI era were the best-built drives in the business, but also the priciest. I think Plextor's first hurt was their interminable wait in coming out with DVD-ROM drives (by the time they did, others had that market), and eventually outsourcing to reduce costs, but not reducing prices. Several of their more recent drives needed firmware updates to work well that were a long time coming, too (compared to older product that "just worked" right out of the box).

I'll be sad to see them go...but I won't say I didn't see it coming.

[SithTracy]

My gut told me this was coming simply because it happened to Yamaha and they made outstanding drives as well. I was happy to see Plextor make the Premium II and add Yamaha's AudioMaster technology, but alas, I guess I will never see it in the states. Sad news on a joyous day for me... The Chicago Bears are going to Miami for Super Bowl XLI!!!

[ItalianJob]

I presume they will stop rebadging TY CD-R/DVDR too ?


Well, I was so shocked by this :
http://cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=19840
that I'm not sad today. They get what they deserve : the 716 begining ( TLA# stuff...) was a total failure, the 760 was late, trying to sell Plextools XL was a no way... Trying to sue alexnoe for free PxScan was a no way. Selling rebadged drives (BenQ 1640...) at an expensive price with less features was a no way...

[DrageMester]

Plextor may not be exiting from but only downsizing their ODD business according to this post at CDFreaks that mentions this source (in Japanese).

[Ian]

From that, it sounds like they're going to keep selling drives, but they're going to stop developing their own.

[Morpheus]

Great. I just ordered two 755SA drives from Plextor North America for future use. Then I came here and read the updated news. I don't know if I just made a mistake or not. Is Plextor going to continue to make new DVD drives like the 755SA or just rebadge them from someone else?

Yesterday I managed to find the computer store that was listed on Plextor's retailer list (the only one in my city) and there was a note on the door that they closed down on January 02, 2007. They're now only a website to order products from (orders processed in Toronto). So, I decided to order directly from Plextor and I found they were $7 cheaper. While finishing the order, and it was verifying my cc there was a statement about TigerDirect. I got confused - was my order coming from TigerDirect instead of Plextor? Weird. I also checked Best Buy Canada and they don't have any Plextors. I did find a Philips DVD burner that I have seen about 2 years ago and I really like the front bezel design. At the time I thought about buying it, but I don't know how good is Philips quality.

[Wesociety]

Great. I just ordered two 755SA drives from Plextor North America for future use. Then I came here and read the updated news. I don't know if I just made a mistake or not. Is Plextor going to continue to make new DVD drives like the 755SA or just rebadge them from someone else?

It is sounding like it will be very unlikely that they will produce their own unique drives in the future. Plextor-direct website in Japan sold out of most of their Plextor drives today.

[Ian]

I'm trying to get an answer from Plextor LLC (America). Haven't heard anything back yet. I'm sure they're all going "oh shit.."

[Wesociety]

Hahaha! I was thinking the same thing (oh-shit response).

Since Plextor Japan/Europe/America don't seem to communicate very well to one another, this will probably be the first time that Plextor America has heard about this news.

[Morpheus]

I just logged on to Plextor's website to view my order status. It's listed as "In Process - Your order is in process at our warehouse". However under the Return/Exchange column, it states: "Returns NOT Accepted". This has me VERY worried.

My current computer is about 4 years old and does not have SATA. I'm planning on building a new one hopefully this year so I can use one of the drives for that pc. Much later, when I upgrade my current pc, then I'll use the second 755SA with that. Once I'll get the 2 PX-755SAs, they'll just get put on the self for a few months before they'll get used. So, what happens, if one or both has a problem? I would like to have the ability to return/exchange if there's a problem with the drives. I don't know if I should try to find somelse to order the drives from and cancel the Plextor order.

[Morpheus]

Well this has become a big mess. When I goto www.plextor.com, I tried to find the page to login and can't find it. I went through my history and the only place is www.productshippingcenter.com and I still can't find where to login in. I'm worried because I don't now who I'm dealing with. At the end of the order I saw "TigerDirect" and when I got ordering email info it was from a company called D-Link Shop (whoever they are).

So, just before going to bed I emailed Plextor that I want to cancel the order. Immediately after the email (at 1:50AM) I called the toll number to talk to someone to cancel the number. I was told the order had already been shipped. The person told me that I need to call the same number in the morning where they would transfer me to another division where they would set up the return process. I told him fine, but if the order arrives, I won't accept it and I'm not paying anything. He responded that I would have to pay for the shipping. I told him no, I tried to find the login page and couldn't, so I couldn't cancel the order. I have no idea what's going to happen next.

I have made several orders on the net, and each time I knew who I was dealing with (were the order was coming from). I have had only one problem before and that was resolved. This has been a nightmare.

[Ian]

Good news..

http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=164323

[Morpheus]

I called UPS and they told me that the order has gone through customs and is in Canada. Delivery date is tomorrow. I then called Plextor and found out Plextor uses 3rd parties to get stock and ship orders. This was not stated anywhere that I could see. I asked if they were shipping the retail version (with box and all parts) or just the drive (oem), and was told retail version. I was givng a return number, a phone number and an address to mail the order to when I receive it (address was in Markham, Ontario).

I called the number and found out it was for TigerDirect.ca. I went to their website and sure enough their address matched the Markham address that Plextor gave me. I checked out the PX-755SA on TigerDirect's website and they offer 1-year and 2-year extended warranties of the 755SA which start after Plextor's 1-year warranty ends.

I called TigerDirect.ca (and after a 40-45 minutes on hold) I talked to someone and explained the situation. He checked my order number and my order is coming from both Plextor and TigerDirect.ca. I asked if I could order the 2-year extended warranties for the 2 drives and was told yes. (if they had said no, I would cancel the order). The cost for two 2-year extended warranties is $100. At that point I felt relieved - the problem had been fixed.

Now I read that Plextor is not going out of the Optical drive business. No news weather they are going to continue to make their own drives or rebadge other manufactuerer's drives. So I don't know if Plextor is going to manufacture successor models to the PX-755SA. So now I'm back to square one - should I keep the order or send it back? Great, just Great.