CDRLabs has taken an in depth look at Lite-On's new external USB 2.0 BD-ROM drive, the DX-4O1S. Affordably priced, this read-only drive gives consumers the ability to watch Blu-ray movies on their computers. Along with 4x BD read speeds, the DX-4O1S is capable of reading DVD's at 12x and CD's at 32x.

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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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Nero, creators of liquid media technology, today announced the release of Nero 9, the next generation of one of the world's most trusted and best-selling integrated digital media and home entertainment software solutions. Developed in direct response to customer feedback, Nero 9 gives consumers ONE solution to easily create, edit, rip, copy, backup, convert and share their music, videos and photos within their connected digital home, on online communities or on portable devices. This latest release builds on Nero's established technology leadership while delivering on the company's commitment to liquid media, allowing content to be created and distributed anytime, anywhere and on any device.

"In developing Nero 9, we polled more than 3,000 of our worldwide customers to determine the functionality that they really wanted from the suite," noted Jürgen Kurz, senior vice president, Business Line PC and Consumer Electronics, Nero AG. "This type of feedback has been invaluable to us over the last decade and has shown us that our consumers are increasingly living digital lives where the PC is the center of the home. They require cutting-edge multimedia capabilities which allow them to enjoy and share their content online and across devices with unparalleled ease of use."

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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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