TDK announced that it is to begin shipping 25GB recordable and rewritable Blu-ray Disc (BD) media across Europe and will follow with 50GB media in April. TDK is the first to market with bare Blu-ray Disc media. Recommended Retail Pricing is set at 15 Euro for a 25GB BD-R (write once), 20 Euro for a 25GB BD-RE (rewritable), 35 Euro for a 50GB BD-R (write once) and 45 Euro for a 50GB BD-RE (rewritable).

The revolutionary single-sided discs are bare, cartridge-free media. The 25GB products are single layer whereas the 50GB products have a dual layer recording material structure. TDK first shipped mass production samples in December 2005, and with the subsequent issuance of the relevant licenses, the company immediately commenced full force manufacturing.

“TDK is pleased to be the first to market with bare Blu-ray Disc media, which can be counted among the most significant product introductions in the company’s distinguished 70 year history,” said Jean-Paul Eekhout, European Director of Corporate Strategy. “TDK has been involved in the development of blue laser recording technology since 1998, and TDK innovations such as hard coating and our inorganic recording material have played an essential role in making this revolutionary new format a reality. From backing up today’s large capacity hard drives and servers to authoring and recording high definition video and sharing high resolution digital image collections, TDK Blu-ray Discs set new standards in recording and playback by offering unprecedented capacities, fast transfer rates and revolutionary durability.”

Source: Press Release