IO Data preps pricey Blu-ray Disc writers

Drives support all CD, DVD, BD formats, though

Storage specialist IO Data has said it will ship internal and external Blu-ray Disc writers in just over a month's time. The company said it will launch the two products in Japan and the US simultaneously.

The internal drive is dubbed the BRD-AM2B, an ATAPI unit capable of reading BD, DVD and CD media, and of writing all their various recordable and rewriteable versions too: BD-R, BD-RE, DVD±R/RW (single- and dual-layer), DVD-RAM and CD-R/RW.

The external model, the BRD-UM2, offers the same specification, this time in a more stylish casing and with a USB 2.0 port to hook it up to the host computer.

The tray-loading drives both operate at 2x speed.

They don't come cheap, mind. IO Data's forecast Japanese pricing is ¥105,000 ($894/£501/€724) for the internal drive and ¥116,000 ($987/£553/€800) for the external version. ®

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