Sony ships Blu-ray discs

Park Ridge (NJ) - Following a wave of delays surrounding its next generation media format, Sony today sprinkled some positive news and said that it has begun shipping recordable Blu-ray discs for PC.

The announcement arrives not quite four weeks after TDK claimed it was first to send 25 GB and 50 GB versions of BD-Rs (write-once) and BD-RWs (rewriteable) into the retail channel. Second out of the gate, Sony offers the same capacities and basic features, but promotes some unique features of its media, which listen to the names BD-R in write-once and BD-RE in rewriteable format.

"Sony knows Blu-ray technology like no other company," said Mike Lucas, director of marketing for Sony Electronics' Media and Application Solutions Division. "Coupled with our unique Accucore technology, we expect our Blu-ray recording media to take the high-definition experience to a new level of performance."