La Cie Goes Blu-ray

La Cie's d2 Blu-Ray drive offers an external Blu-ray disc burning solution via either USB or Firewire for Mac or Windows.

Storage and peripheral vendor La Cie has thrown its hat in the Blu-ray DVd arena, announcing its external d2 Blu-ray Drive, which can read, write, and re-write 25 and 50 GB BD-R and BD-RE Blu-ray DVD discs, as well as standard DVD±RW and CD±RW media. The d2 Blu-ray Drive comes with Roxio burning software and dual USB 2.0/FireWire interfaces.

"LaCie’s d2 Blu-ray Drive is a necessity for video editors who need to distribute HD content while retaining quality of picture and sound. Business users can safely archive large amounts of data or regularly back up individual workstations with the included, easy-to-use software." said LaCie Product Manager Anne Bordet.

Burn speeds are 2× for BD and BD-RE media, 8× for DVD, 4× for dual-layer DVD, and 32 × for CD media. But be prepared to shell out for the writer: when it hits retailers later in January, it’ll carry a suggested price of $1,149. But it comes bundled with a 50 GB Blu-ray disc!