Press release: Plextor, one of the leading companies for the development and production of CD-ROM drives, CD-Recorders and CD-ReWriters is expanding its range with its first Dual Format drive: PX-708A, which writes to DVD+R at 8-speed, DVD-R and DVD+RW at 4-speed and DVD-RW at 2-speed. The drive also writes to CD-R at 40-speed and CD-RW at 24-speed.

Ahead Software have released the latest major upgrade to the world's most popular - and many would say best - burning software. In addition to the very successful and now further improved Nero Burning ROM 6 and Nero Express 6, you now have complete audio and video processing functions as well as a complete backup function. NeroVision Express 2, Nero Wave Editor 2 and Nero SoundTrax are used for processing and generating video and audio contents on CD and DVDs. Nero BackItUp saves data (either on command or as a regular task). All these programs and functions can be reached via the new Nero StartSmart command center. You simply choose the task you would like to carry out and Nero StartSmart launches the appropriate application. You can download the demo version here. Nero website is here.

Microsoft's chairman Bill Gates says a digital music store should be offered by the company, which would not aim for significant profit from the feature. Microsoft are currently exploring ways to develop a music download service similar to Apple Computer's iTunes that would tie into the software giant's multimedia applications.

Sony will have to face up to falling demand for its PlayStation 2 games console in the future, say analysts. Figures from the Japanese electronics giant showed a rough three months for the console, with shipments of the PS2 down by almost two million, compared to the same time last year.

Napster, the file-sharing program that ignited an Internet revolution and sent the recording industry into convulsions, will be reincarnated by Christmas as a legal online song seller and subscription service.

A US site has put together a list of email names on the Recording Industry Association of America's (RIAA) subpoena list as it tracks down people it alleges are infringers of music copyright. The RIAA has now issued more than 911 subpoenas to Internet service providers across the United States, trying to get the names of people still offering music on file-sharing networks such as KaZaA and Grokster. The list of email names on Tech Live reveals that apart from the aforementioned "MunkeySpanker", the RIAA is chasing Ghettobootybabe, Ladypimp8669, Playgirlmama, Freckles82587 and Dimples0530. Are you on the list?

With new capacity expansion targets, Taiwan-based CMC Magnetics chairman Bob Wong is talking up CMC's chances of challenging for the lead among worldwide recordable blank DVD disc makers by year-end. CMC plans to expand its monthly blank recordable DVD disc capacity to 16 million units in July and 30 million units by year-end, Wong said.

321 Studios have released a major update to their "one-click transcoding tool", DVD X Copy XPRESS that allows backing up any DVD-Video disc to a single DVD-R (or DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW) disc. The new version, XPRESS v3.0, finally adds an option to backup a full DVD-Video disc -- not just the movie -- to a single blank recordable disc, including the menus and extras.

A file-swapping technology offering faster downloads has become a victim of its own popularity. The new technology, anointed by many tech-savvy computer users as an answer to file swapping's network traffic jams, is running into legal and practical problems as it breaks into the mainstream.

Software giant Microsoft has now released version 9.0b of DirectX, which includes bug fixes but doesn't include any new or modified APIs. DirectX is a Windows technology that enables higher performance in graphics and sound when you’re playing games or watching video on your PC. Direct X9.0b includes both the debug and retail versions of the runtime, as well as the software reference rasteriser. You can download it here.

Online retailer Buy.com has launched a music-download service, offering a catalogue of 300,000 songs from the five major labels. BuyMusic founder Scott Blum called Apple CEO Steve Jobs "a visionary", but added: "He's on the wrong platform. If you don't support Windows, you cut off 97 per cent of the market."

CyberLink, a leading developer of digital video software and e-learning solutions, introduced today a unique utility, disc defragmentation, which moves all of the content on a DVD to one location so that the total free space on the disc is available for burning video. This utility is currently available only in PowerProducer 2.

The movie industry have announced a broad new anti-piracy public education campaign, with commercials set to appear on all Americas big six broadcast television networks, more than two dozen cable channels and in 5,000 movie theaters across the States.

Pioneer have claimed it's ahead of the plasma TV pack and will release two slimline models in August and September, initially in Japan. The Pure Vision range include a 43-inch model costing ¥850,000 (£4,450) and a 50-inch model costing ¥1,100,000 (around £5,760). When it starts production of the units, Pioneer will pump out 3,500 units a month for each TV.

Although Gigabyte Technology was the last among first-tier motherboard makers to enter the optical storage arena, it will be the first to release a DVD-Dual drive, supporting 4x burning for both the DVD+R/RW and DVD-R/RW formats, according to the company.

Iomega has unveiled details of a small, detachable storage drive it is developing for portable electronics gadgets. The 1.5GB device, dubbed Digital Capture Technology, or DCT, uses a combination of hard drive technology created by Iomega and technology licensed from partner Fuji Photo Film, a digital camera maker.

Peer-to-peer file-sharing software developers say user privacy-protection concerns are behind the introduction of features designed to foil scanning by organisations representing owners of copyright-protected material. The modifications to popular file-sharing programs like Kazaa will block attempts to identify copyright material.

A Colorado startup, Interact-TV, has released a hacker-friendly digital entertainment center that plays, records and archives TV shows, DVDs, music and even digital photo albums. The Telly MC1000 Digital Entertainment Center, available now from the company's website for $900 (£561), can also surf the Web and act as a home media server. And -- if the company successfully courts the open-source programming community -- it may soon play computer games, turn the lights on and off, or automatically fetch music lyrics from the Net.

Sanyo have announced that by year-end, they will start selling a key component for DVD recorders to outside companies. Sanyo will sell its loader, which combines the disc tray with the optical pick-up needed for recording and playback, to manufacturers in China and Taiwan. This part is expected to enable producers with no special technological expertise to make DVD recorders. The firm's loader is compatible with both the DVD-RW standard that Sony Corp. is using and the DVD+RW standard that has made headway in Europe. Sanyo will also sell some of the recorder loaders to Japanese manufacturers. In fiscal 2004, it will aim to sell about 450,000 of the units to outside companies.

Toshiba is making it easier to play video and music on its big-screen Satellite P25 notebook. They have introduced a new Satellite P25 model with Microsoft's Windows XP Media Center Edition software, a new combination DVD/CD burner drive and additional video memory..