Is this a sweet-looking doodad or what? Blu-Ray recording just got a lot sexier. I don’t think it’s, well, real yet, but it’s real enough that it has a price ($289 for a player, $389 for a recorder) and a weight (360g). I’m surprised they can make it so compact, but then again I’m completely ignorant of the engineering — and of course there’s no size referent in the picture so it could be as big as a man.
It’ll read everything and write CDs, DVDs, and BD-Rs at 24x, 8x, and 2x respectively (along with all their subsets, RWs and so on at lower speeds). It’s bus-powered via USB, which is nice – this would be a good option for a travelling musician or videographer who needs to back up footage or what have you but can’t be lugging around their backup array. Compact and multi-talented — kind of like your mom.
The loading slot is usually a good reference for size. But that little aluminum part underneath – coupled with the reflective surface – does a good job of masking some of the size.
This bears a striking resemblance to Apple’s standalone disc drive they sell for the MacBook Air. I’m not alleging anything, just saying a disc drive in this shape/size is not unheard of.