Toshiba sent out a press release this morning, announcing its new line of high-performance 1.8-inch hard drives. Available in 120GB, 160GB and 250GB capacities, these new drives feature a 15msec seek time, 5,400 RPM rotation speed and a SATA 3.0Gb/s interface.

Toshiba Corporation, the industry pioneer in small form factor hard disk drives (HDDs), today announced expansion of its market-leading 1.8-inch lineup with three new high-capacity, high-performance Serial ATA HDDs for mobile PC applications, including the industry's first 250GB¹⁾ 1.8-inch HDD.

Toshiba's third-generation 5,400 RPM SATA 1.8 HDD family also features 120GB and 160GB capacities, along with the throughput power of the SATA 3.0Gb/s interface. In addition, the new series includes Toshiba's state-of-the-art free fall sensor option, which enhances protection from external shock and vibration events by responding to drops as low as five inches in height.

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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.

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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