Sony sent out a press release this morning, announcing its third generation Blu-ray Disc writer, the BWU-300S. The new drive can write to both single and dual layer BD-R media at 8x and, according to Sony's claims, can burn an entire 50GB disc in as little as 30 minutes. To showcase the capabilities of Blu-ray, the BWU-300S also comes bundled with a  copy of “Men in Black”.

Sony Electronics today announced its third generation internal Blu-ray Disc™ (BD) writer for the computer aftermarket, which at about $400 achieves a new level of affordability for BD enthusiasts.

The new BWU-300S model burns single and dual layer BD-R media at up to 8X speed, recording a full 25GB disc in about 15 minutes and a full 50GB disc in about 30 minutes.  The 8X recording speed is achieved using 6X compatible BD-R media.  The drive also records DVDs at up to 16X, CDs up to 48X, and supports DVD-RAM recording, with an eye towards data backup, making it an excellent replacement burner for a standard DVD drive while offering all the benefits of Blu-ray Disc technology.

To provide consumers with the opportunity to experience high-definition movie playback first-hand, the new drive comes bundled with a “Men in Black” Blu-ray Disc from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.  “Men In Black” stars Will Smith (“Hancock”) and Oscar®-winner Tommy Lee Jones (“The Fugitive”) saving the world from a total intergalactic disaster in Barry Sonnenfeld’s smash-hit sci-fi action comedy.  The “Men In Black” high-definition Blu-ray Disc boasts advanced BD-Live enabled bonus features, including a multiplayer trivia game, an interactive Frank the Pug advice generator, an alien subtitle track and much more.

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SanDisk announced today that it has partnered with leaders in the retail and music industries to bring consumers a new physical music format. slotMusic microSD cards will come preloaded with high quality (320kbps), DRM-free MP3 music of artists from EMI Music, SONY BMG, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group. With 1GB of capacity, slotMusic cards can also hold liner notes, album art, videos, and other creative content that an artist may choose.

Leaders in music, retail and flash memory technology today announced they’re bringing consumers an innovative, new physical music format, dubbed “slotMusic™.” microSD™ cards will soon be made available with pre-loaded, high quality, DRM-free MP3 music of top artists from EMI Music, SONY BMG, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group. A selection of slotMusic cards will first be available at brick-and-mortar and online stores throughout the U.S., including Best Buy and Wal-Mart, with Europe to follow. A complete list of slotMusic albums, availability and pricing will be announced in time for the coming holiday season. SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK), inventor of the ubiquitous microSD format, is leading the technology development behind slotMusic.

slotMusic cards enable consumers to instantly and easily enjoy music from their favorite artists without being dependent on a PC or internet connection. Users simply insert the slotMusic card into their microSD-enabled mobile phone or MP3 player to hear the music – without passwords, downloading or digital-rights-management interfering with their personal use.

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As we reported last week, Plextor has partnered with Lite-On for one of their upcoming DVD writers. Plextor China has released some details on this new drive on their website. While it looks like they simply copied and pasted the specs from PX-810SA, the picture on the page gives us another clue to the PX-806SA's capabilities. If you look closely, you can see a logo for Qflix below the drive's tray. Developed by Sonic, Qflix gives consumers the ability to download and burn movies to DVD with Content Scramble System (CSS) encryption.

There has been a lot of speculation regarding the price of the PX-806SA. Plextor is known for charging a premium for their drives, including those based on otherwise affordable designs from other companies. With its support for Qflix, I wouldn't be surprised if the PX-806SA was priced at $70 or more.

Buffalo Technology sent out a press release today, announcing its new MediaStation 8x Blu-ray Drives. The external BR-816SU2 and internal BR-816FBS feature 8x BD-R and 2x BD-RE writing speeds as well as a maximum BD-ROM read speed of 8x.

Buffalo Technology, a global leader in the design, development and manufacturing of wired and wireless networking, storage and memory solutions today announced its new Blu-ray DVD Combo drives, the MediaStation 8x External Blu-ray Drive and MediaStation 8x Internal Blu-ray Drive. Offering unsurpassed 8x Read/Write speeds, these new MediaStation drives are the fastest on the market. They are ideal for "power PC" users who want optimal playback performance of Blu-ray discs, DVDs, or CDs on their PCs or notebooks or for those who want to archive content to optical discs.

The external MediaStation connects conveniently via USB 2.0 or eSATA, and the internal drive can be easily installed into your PC via SATA. Both devices also include CyberLink software suite for Windows with DVD Up-Sampling, which allows you to view DVDs in near HD quality. The MediaStation is a great solution to periodically backup and archive your data, preventing content from being altered or erased in the event your system is attacked by a virus or other malware.

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