Sony Releases Blank Blu-Rays in Europe

by Jack Kabza
Published on Mar 9, 2006 5:00 AM



March 7, 2006 - According to Sony, European availability has begun for blank single-layered Blu-ray rewriteable discs (BD-RE), with recordable discs (BD-R) scheduled to appear later in April. The single-layer discs have a storage capacity of 25 GB and offer a transfer rate of 72 Mbps.

“We are committed to becoming a dominant player in the Blu-ray Disc media market in 2006,” said Marketing and Operations Director Fritz Handtke of Sony Europe's Recording Media & Energy (RME) division, in a recent press release. “Given our technological expertise, our focus is on providing thrilling new High Definition entertainment experiences and the highest capacity PC data storage of any optical format.”

Sony has thus far only revealed pricing in Germany. BD-RE discs are slated to sell for under $36 each, and BD-R discs for under $30 each. The US availability of blank Blu-ray discs has yet to be announced. They have, however, announced plans for a May 23 release in the US of eight movie titles onto the new format.