LaCie sent out a press release this morning, announcing that they are the first to offer a complete burning and LightScribe Direct Disc Labeling solution for all operating systems, including Linux.
Innovative LightScribe technology enables consumers and businesses to burn silk screen-quality labels on to LightScribe-enabled CDs or DVDs right in the drive­no printing supplies are required. LaCie¹s LightScribe Labeler for Linux offers direct-to-disc label burning for projects burned with K3b. New Mac software is Universal and supports simultaneous printing to multiple drives. Free software downloads for Mac and Linux are available at www.lacie.com/lightscribe for anyone with a LightScribe-enabled drive.

LaCie Product Manager Anne Bordet said, "We're the first company to offer an all-in-one data writing and LightScribe labeling solution for all operating systems. LaCie was first to ship a LightScribe-enabled CD/DVD drive for the Mac, and now our user-friendly LightScribe labeling software is available for free to Mac and Linux users with LightScribe-enabled drives. With LaCie¹s complete burning solution, people can easily and simply create professional looking CDs and DVDs on Mac, Linux or Windows."
This is great news for anyone that owns a LightScribe enabled drive, especially considering LaCie is making the software available for free. If you'd like to check it out, LightScribe Labeler for Linux and the Mac can be downloaded here. Otherwise more information is available on LaCie's website. Add a comment
While PC-based Blu-ray Disc burners have been available for a number of months, HD-DVD burners are still no where to be found. To find out why, PC World has talked to Maciek Brzeski, vice president of marketing for the Toshiba Storage Device Division.
Blu-ray Disc burners have been shipping for months now--why is HD DVD taking so long to catch up? Chalk it up to a philosophical difference, not a technological one, says Brzeski. Toshiba, he says, views HD DVD more as a technology for delivering prepackaged (Hollywood) high-definition video, not for creating your own disc-based content. "I honestly don't believe in these early days that many people will be using HD DVDs and Blu-rays to back up content. If you look at the cost per GB to back up to disc, it's not cost-effective."

The HD DVD specs of the first drive will be limited to recordable, write-once HD DVD-R media at 1X, to both single-layer 15GB and dual layer 30GB discs; the drive won't support any of the HD DVD flavors of rewritable discs. However, the drive will support writing to standard DVD: 4X DVD±R (2X for double- and dual-layer), 4X DVD±RW, 3X DVD-RAM, and 16X CD-R.
These specs aren't exactly impressive. Hopefully, second generation HD DVD burners will be faster and include support for rewritable HD media. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment
With Ritek adopting Philips' Veeza licensing scheme, many people, including myself, expected other Taiwanese media manufacturers to follow suit. According to DigiTimes, this isn't the case, as many are still concerned with unfair competition from manufacturers in China and Hong Kong that have not accepted Veeza.
Royal Philips Electronics has scored no additional points in promoting Veeza, a new licensing system for its CD-R disc patents, in Taiwan since Ritek was the first among Taiwan-based makers of CD-R discs to join the program late last month, according to industry sources.

The Taiwan Office of Philips Intellectual Property & Standards (PIPS) is negotiating with several companies, including CMC Magnetics, Prodisc Technology and Optodisc Technology, to accept Veeza, the sources indicated. These Taiwanese makers are willing to sign up for Veeza, but are asking for favorable conditions, the sources pointed out.
The article also mentions that Philips is barring imports of non-Veeza CD-R discs in some of the world's major markets. While they see this as a way to eliminate the competition from manufacturers in China and Hong Kong, it also forces the remaining Taiwanese manufacturers to get on board. If you want to read more, head on over to DigiTimes. Add a comment
Plextor LLC sent out a press release this morning, announcing the PlexEraser PX-OE100E. Using a laser beam, the PlexEraser destroys the data-logging portion of a CD/DVD disc, making it unreadable and unrecoverable.

Plextor LLC, a leading developer and manufacturer of high-performance digital media equipment, today announced PlexEraser (PX-OE100E), the world's first CD/DVD drive to enable security-conscious organizations to destroy discs using a method that is both environmentally friendly and secure.

PlexEraser is a standalone unit that does not require a personal computer to operate. This high-tech alternative to the disc shredder was designed for organizations in such industries as finance, government/military, and research - as well as any company with commercially sensitive data. PlexEraser enables discs to be destroyed without the organic dye leaking from the disc - something not possible with a disc shredder/manual shattering - and leaves them ready to be recycled without any data being recoverable.
The PlexEraser PX-OE100E is expected to ship in November for a suggested retail price of $249.99. More information can be found here. Add a comment
Everyone's favorite gadget website, Gizmodo, has posted some interesting info on the Xbox 360's HD DVD drive. Apparantly, it can be plugged into a PC and will be recognized as an optical drive.
Some things I found out, and can talk about is the 360 HD-DVD drive can be plugged into a PC and it will be recognized as an optical drive, but will not play HD-DVD movies. I asked what if you have the proper HD-DVD software on the PC, to that [redacted] said that he didn't know, it hadn't been tried yet- maybe there's something there...
I'm guessing the inability to play HD-DVD movies is due to the lack of software. If it is possible, I know I'll be first in line to pick up one of those drives. With a price tag of only $199, they're a cheap way to add HD-DVD playback to an HTPC. If you'd like to read more, the entire report can be found here. Add a comment