As Sony exits, Verbatim doubles down on optical media

[zohaibahd]

In context: While cloud storage and streaming have become the preferred way of consuming content for many, there remains a devoted crowd for whom optical media is irreplaceable. Sony used to be a big player in supplying these discs, but the company recently closed its last Japanese factory producing recordable Blu-rays, MiniDiscs, and MiniDV cassettes. It marks the end of an era for the formats pioneered by Sony.

But fear not, data hoarders. Two companies have stepped up to reassure the Japanese market that they'll keep producing high-quality optical media: Verbatim and I-O Data.

In a statement on their Japanese website, Verbatim vowed to meet customer demand through a "stable supply." It recognizes that the market is at a "major turning point" with rivals exiting, but remains committed to these once wildly popular discs.

Also check out: Anatomy of a Storage Drive: How Optical Drives Work

The duo has pledged "thorough quality control" and a "stable production system" to provide "highly reliable" discs. They feel that they can continue supporting the entire recording media market by maintaining the supply chain.

The statement seems to focus on Japan, but Verbatim is a company with a global presence. On its North American website, as pointed out by Tom's Hardware, it's proudly touting itself as "the No. 1 Optical Brand in the World." A quick browse shows it offers a large catalog of burnable CD, DVD, and BD options.

Verbatim is doing more than just keeping the formats on life support – it also unveiled new hardware at CES 2025. Its Slimline Blu-ray Writer lets you back up 4K video to Ultra HD Blu-ray and even comes bundled with antiquated Nero disc burning software. Specs mention compatibility all the way back to Intel Pentium III systems.

For Sony, the reason for pulling out of the optical disc market was that the cold storage market never really took off as it hoped, and the overall storage media business was operating in the red for years.

However, Verbatim and I-O Data clearly appear confident that there will be a loyal base of photographers, videographers, audiophiles, and data archivists who will keep optical media relevant for years to come.

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As Sony exits, Verbatim doubles down on optical media

 

[The Talking Tech]

At least some good news...at least someone still has some sense in the importance of keeping physical media.

 

[mosu]

Kudos to Verbatim.

 

[Skjorn]

M-Disc is still the best for preservation right?

 

[ChipBoundary]

How did I know there would be people in the comments singing their praises? You...do not...own...what is on that disc. Even if you paid money for it at a store from official sources and hold it in your hand. That is not new, not a trend, and not going away. Media is owned by the copyright holders and they CAN legally take the media away from you at any time. The only reason no company has up to this point is because there would be public outcry and a PR nightmare. But legally, they could. Until such time as a piece of media enters public domain, you own a piece of plastic and nothing more. You will likely be long dead before you'd own any sort of modern media.

 

[Godel]

How did I know there would be people in the comments singing their praises? You...do not...own...what is on that disc. Even if you paid money for it at a store from official sources and hold it in your hand.

The copyright owners have to know that you have a copy of their stuff on your disk. I'm not going to tell them, are you?

Considering the number of older programs and movies that suddenly disappear from the streaming services for no obvious reason, local personal storage may be the only way of preserving some of our cultural heritage.

And that's ignoring the storage of more important data or information that may conflict with the propaganda the most recent government is pushing

 

[maxxcool7421]

Another misleading article title .. this only affects recordable media

 

[Fimbulvetr]

How did I know there would be people in the comments singing their praises? You...do not...own...what is on that disc. Even if you paid money for it at a store from official sources and hold it in your hand. That is not new, not a trend, and not going away. Media is owned by the copyright holders and they CAN legally take the media away from you at any time. ...

Then I guess I am using "their property" all the time without "their" permission! Oh no! They have no idea what millions of people have stored away. I think I speak for many when I say to the "rights holders": Ha ha!

 

[captaincranky]

Another misleading article title .. this only affects recordable media

Article misleading? No. You having a mediocre grasp of the obvious? Yes, absolutely

I've never known "Verbatim" to be anything other than a supplier of blank media, have you?

 

[captaincranky]

How did I know there would be people in the comments singing their praises? You...do not...own...what is on that disc. Even if you paid money for it at a store from official sources and hold it in your hand. That is not new, not a trend, and not going away. Media is owned by the copyright holders and they CAN legally take the media away from you at any time. The only reason no company has up to this point is because there would be public outcry and a PR nightmare. But legally, they could. Until such time as a piece of media enters public domain, you own a piece of plastic and nothing more. You will likely be long dead before you'd own any sort of modern media.

Yeah, and maybe trimp will have ICE search everybody's house looking for pirated media, perhaps even legal media to confiscate, while they're out in the wild looking for illegals.

And yes, I'm aware of the "Mickey Mouse / Sonny Bono law", that extends copyright to something on the order of 90 years.

But OTOH, some a**hole, in another thread, says that his AI could double our lifespans. So maybe, just maybe, some of us will live long enough to actually "own" our plastic wheel thingies.

If there's any more paranoia inducing "shock and awe" you'd like to share, let it rip. No wait, is that "rip", or R.I.P.?

 

[captaincranky]

Writer lets you back up 4K video to Ultra HD Blu-ray and even comes bundled with antiquated Nero disc burning software. Specs mention compatibility all the way back to Intel Pentium III systems.

Nero, in addition to being mostly worthless and easily replaced with free programs, tends to stumble quite a bit when it incurs DRM.

Not only that, but it wants to hijack your PC. If you let it run wild and agree to letting it be a default media manager, it will change all the file extensions, so that it, will be the only program able to find it.

So, the Greeks thought that horse was a gift from Troy. It, as we now know, wasn't..

 

[varno]

Verbatim hasn't manufactured their own media for a few years now. They sold off their manufacturing to a Taiwanese company CMC whose whole business is making optical media.

 

[TheBigFatClown]

Verbatim hasn't manufactured their own media for a few years now. They sold off their manufacturing to a Taiwanese company CMC whose whole business is making optical media.

I guess this is the norm in the world today. Brand recognition. As long as the product they are selling remains at a level of quality that is equal or superior to the past, it's fine by me.
Yes, I would sing the praises of this news. But at the same time, I would still like to see technological advances in the optical media so that we get higher capacities per platter for less money. I'm still waiting on 1 TB BD-R discs to make it feel "comfortable" for a few years anyways..

Getting a free software product that hasn't been updated in years is not really an incentive to purchase said hardware.

 

[Godel]

Now on the on the subject of data sets suddenly disappearing on the orders of the government currently in charge:

Internet Archive played crucial role in tracking shady CDC data removals

Internet Archive makes it easier to track changes in CDC data online.

arstechnica.com

 

[Watzupken]

But when there is little to no producer of reader/writer, keeping the disc supply is quite meaningless.

 

[jeffbert]

Also this, with the recordable discs made by only a few manufacturers, would not the price rise? And if only 2 make the things, it might rise significantly.

 

[ZedRM]

Kudos to Verbatim.

Agreed. They have always made very good quality recordable media.

M-Disc is still the best for preservation right?

You bet it is. Bit of advice, burn data at the slowest speed your drive can allow. You'd get the most reliable recording possible.

 

[Skjorn]

How did I know there would be people in the comments singing their praises? You...do not...own...what is on that disc. Even if you paid money for it at a store from official sources and hold it in your hand. That is not new, not a trend, and not going away. Media is owned by the copyright holders and they CAN legally take the media away from you at any time. The only reason no company has up to this point is because there would be public outcry and a PR nightmare. But legally, they could. Until such time as a piece of media enters public domain, you own a piece of plastic and nothing more. You will likely be long dead before you'd own any sort of modern media.

Ima just go ahead and guess and say they don't go take back sold property because they can't. They sold it. We know we don't own the rights to redistribute what's on the disc but you absolutely own that disc copy of copyrighted media. What you said just sounds dumb, tiny short men from Sony gonna come to my house and take my movies away cause the law says I don't own the full distribution rights harharharhar lolol get real with that scare tactic, yOu doNT oWN tHe gAMe, no fkn ****, you dont say? Well damn I thought I was going to get the rights to GTA VI for cheap, shucks man.

 

[Revolution 11]

Nero, in addition to being mostly worthless and easily replaced with free programs, tends to stumble quite a bit when it incurs DRM.

Not only that, but it wants to hijack your PC. If you let it run wild and agree to letting it be a default media manager, it will change all the file extensions, so that it, will be the only program able to find it.

So, the Greeks thought that horse was a gift from Troy. It, as we now know, wasn't..

Are there any alternatives you would recommend or personally use? I am never sure what is the best program for disc burning, too much contradicting advice.

 

[Revolution 11]

Agreed. They have always made very good quality recordable media.


You bet it is. Bit of advice, burn data at the slowest speed your drive can allow. You'd get the most reliable recording possible.

Is that just for M-Discs or all discs in general? Are there any drives you recommend for burning? Are USB drives ok?

 

[ZedRM]

Is that just for M-Discs or all discs in general?

All optical recordable media in general. For making a solid and very stable recording, the slower the better.

Are there any drives you recommend for burning? Are USB drives ok?

Any good name brand drive is likely going to be fine.

 

[varno]

I guess this is the norm in the world today. Brand recognition. As long as the product they are selling remains at a level of quality that is equal or superior to the past, it's fine by me.
Yes, I would sing the praises of this news. But at the same time, I would still like to see technological advances in the optical media so that we get higher capacities per platter for less money. I'm still waiting on 1 TB BD-R discs to make it feel "comfortable" for a few years anyways..

Getting a free software product that hasn't been updated in years is not really an incentive to purchase said hardware.

Sadly the quality went down markedly with this change. Specifically they changed from an inorganic material for BD-R to an organic Dye as far as I can gather.

 

[TheBigFatClown]

@varno
I don't think you gathered very far. I did a Google search on whether or not Verbatim still uses the MABL method of manufacturing their BD-R disc and the AI says Yes...so....yeah....

 

[varno]

@varno
I don't think you gathered very far. I did a Google search on whether or not Verbatim still uses the MABL method of manufacturing their BD-R disc and the AI says Yes...so....yeah....

Honestly, I was wrong on the specifics. The difference seems to have been a collapse between the verbatim m-disc line-up and the standard MABL disks. However you can't just say the "I asked an ai and it said yes" when all current AI and gemini especially is known for hallucinating terribly.

 

[ZedRM]

@varno
I don't think you gathered very far. I did a Google search on whether or not Verbatim still uses the MABL method of manufacturing their BD-R disc and the AI says Yes...so....yeah....

The AI is wrong.