The influx of 16x DVD burners into the market is expected to push down retail prices of 8x and 12x DVD burners, according to Taiwan sales agents for international optical drive brands.

The UK High Court has judged that the sale, advertisement, possession for commercial purposes and use of PlayStation 2 modification chips is illegal in this country.

Ritek have announced it has acquired a technology transfer concerning near-field recording (NFR) for DVDs from the Center for Nanostorage Research (CNR) of the National Taiwan University (NTU) that could lead to red-laser NFR DVD discs with a storage capacity as large as 100GB.

CMC Magnetics and Ritek have begun to deliver blank 16x DVD+R discs in small volumes this month, according to the two companies.

Ultima Electronics, a manufacturer of optical disc drives in Taiwan, has launched a digital TV box (receiver) for use with notebook computers, according to company general manager KB Wang.

Lead Data, a second-tier manufacturer of optical discs in Taiwan, expects to cease reducing its CD-R stock volume by the end of this month and hopes to raise its OEM quotation next month, according to the company.

Veteran Podsters understand that at least once a year Apple performs a feat that at once infuses them with dread and delight: an iPod upgrade. The delight comes from a new look and new capabilities. The dread comes from the realization that you're a step behind the cutting edge and must consider whether to buy your way back on it.

Pioneer have announced a double-layer DVD burner that uses technology that competes with a format normally championed by the company. The drive also is designed to record single-layer DVDs at speeds of up to 16 times (16x) the normal playback speed. Pioneer said the new drive, which comes bundled with recording and editing software, should be available in August, priced at $179.99 (£97).

Britain's black market trade in pirated DVDs is expected to top £1 billion by 2007 as organised crime moves into the increasingly profitable racket of bootlegged movies, anti-piracy campaigners said on Monday.

Leading Taiwanese optical drive manufacturers, including Lite-On IT, BenQ and Quanta Storage, are aiming to begin volume production of slim-type portable DVD players this quarter, according to the makers.

Lite-On IT, Taiwan's largest manufacturer of optical disc drivers, will start volume production of 16x DVD Dual (+RW & -RW) burners for ODM/OEM clients by the end of this month, according to general manager of the company's Optical Disc Drive Business Unit, Michael Gong.

Around one in four Internet users have downloaded a movie, according to a new survey of 3,600 Internet users. When peer-to-peer (P2P) services are taken into account, more than 2.6 billion files are copied each month, according to the Internet piracy study.

Sony have announced plans to debut the successor to its market-leading PlayStation 2 game system by April of next year. The company also plans to show off a demonstration version of the new machine at next May's Electronic Entertainment Exposition (also called E3), the video game industry's giant annual confab.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has endorsed a plan to distribute about 6,000 special DVD players to members. Specially encrypted discs, known as screeners, would be earmarked for a specific academy voter and would play only on that person's machine. The player also would imprint an invisible watermark on the disc each time it is viewed.

Press Release: Ridisc has begun shipment of the Ridisc Brand Double Layer DVD+R media. This exciting new advancement in DVD technology is one of the first to the market offering a single-sided disc with an amazing 8.5GB of storage capacity. This incredible capacity is enough for up to 4 hours of DVD quality video, 16 hours of VHS quality video or over 120 hours of MP3 audio. Compatible with all current DVD video players and DVD-ROM drives as well as new DVD+R DL drives, the disc is ideal for virtually any business or household application.

Bulkpaq has issued a press release about their new 8x DVD-R which is apparently manufactured by Fuji. No doubt our resident DVD guru flash will be testing their claim that they offer "the fastest burn time and the highest performance available" sometime soon.

More than one third of the software installed on the world's computers is pirated according to a survey by the Business Software Alliance. The annual survey of global software piracy shows that 36% of software was being used illegally in 2003 according to figures prepared for the BSA.

An Essex man has secured the title of the world's thickest DVD pirate after walking into a Chelmsford Trading Standards office and offering his illicit wares to the gobsmacked staff. Priceless.

Press release: Memorex have announced their new D2 drive which burns single layer discs at 16x and double layer DVD+R 2.4x. They also write to DVD-R discs at 8X and CD-R discs at 48X; rewrite DVD+RW discs at 4X, DVD-RW discs at 4X and CD-RW discs at 24X; and read DVD-ROM at 16X and CD-ROM at 48X speeds.

Taiwanese DVD drive manufacturers, including Lite-On IT, BenQ and Quanta Storage, intend to increase production of car-use DVD players by next year, according to the companies.