Pioneer Japan sent out a press today, announcing what it claims to be the world's thinnest and lightest slot-loading Blu-ray Disc writer. Thanks to a magnesium alloy case, the BDR-XU02J weighs in at a mere 245g and measures only 133 × 133 × 12 mm. This stylish, USB powered drive is capable of 6x BD-R, 6x BD-R DL, 6x BD-R LTH, 2x BD-RE and 2x BD-RE DL writing speeds and a maximum BD-ROM read speed of 6x. The BDR-XU02J also writes to triple- (100GB) and quad-layer (128GB) BD-R media at 6x and triple-layer (100GB) BD-RE media at 2x.

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The BDR-XU02J includes features like Pioneer's PureRead2+ technology and noise reducing firmware. It also ships with authoring and playback software from CyberLink as well as DiXiM BD Burner 2013, which lets you burn copy-protected digtal content directly from DTCP-IP enabled DLNA devices on your home network. The BDR-S08J is scheduled to ship in late December and is expected to retail for about 22,000 Yen ($266US).