Toshiba Europe GmbH claims it will be first to market with a DVD-compatible CD-Read/Write drive when it releases the SD-R1002 in September. Toshiba has until now avoided the CD-RW space, which has been troubled by standards issues. The firm says the combined market for the two media amounts to some 13 million units next year.
Toshiba will aim the device at the consumer market. It will cost less, at around 350 pounds ($560) in the UK, than the combined cost of separate CD-RW and DVD drives. The company hopes that DVD CD-RW will become the Christmas market’s must-have boy’s toy according to disk division marketing manager Tom Frawley. The firm will also offer the drives on an OEM basis to PC manufacturers wishing to add extra functionality to their boxes, but no agreements have yet been signed.
The SD-R1002 has a pick-up head featuring a 650 nanometer diode for reading DVD and a 780 nanometer diode for reading and writing CDs. The drive has a maximum CD-R/RW write speed of 4x, 4x maximum speed playback on DVD-ROM and 24x speed on CD-ROM. It supports 16 CD and DVD standards.
