Blu-ray drives to drop below $100 by winter says Sony
Blu-ray? Who needs that nowadays? Well, if you’re into physical media, we have great news for you. Blu-ray drives should drop past $100 by the Holiday Season, though, we’re not sure if it matters anymore.
Here’s Blu-ray’s problem: though it has already defeated HD-DVD, it still faces two worthy competitors. Traditional DVD players have saturated the world over, and it’s much easier for companies to manufacture and sell DVDs. Furthermore, digital downloads may make it difficult for for Blu-ray to find a home amongst tech geeks, a group of people who often affect the success of various tech products.
Either way, Sony is still going to push Blu-ray, and much of the country doesn’t like change. Since a Blu-ray disk is much more familiar than an Apple TV to "common folk", Blu-ray has this advantage (plus the PS3)… and one more.
SonyNEC Optiarc, a joint venture between Sony and NEC to become the leader in the optical drive market, speculates that Blu-ray combo drives should drop to $100 or less by this Holiday Season, and slim-line notebook drives should reach about $150. Blu-ray burners will likely go for $150-200 by then, and, of course, the bittorrent network is and will (likely) always be free.
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June 6th, 2008
When the Blu-ray recorder drive drops below $50 and I can fully use it with my Linux setup to record and play…maybe I’ll be interested. otherwise i will stick with my VCR and DVDs.
June 8th, 2008
Blu-ray on Linux? Not unless somebody cracks the Blu-ray disc protection scheme.
June 27th, 2008
Sure they will.
When burners (not ROM drives) hit $100 and the media is affordable and reliable maybe I’ll give it a look.
Right now HDDs and regular DVD is by far the best and most cost-effective storage option.
Blu-ray most certainly is not.