A Toshiba insider claims that the company will abandon its HD-DVD format, yielding the next-generation DVD format war to Sony’s competing Blu-ray technology. So now that the war is over you should run out and buy a new Blu-ray player, right? Not so fast.
sony
Walmart: Thanks For Buying All Those HD DVD Players, We're Switching To Blu-Ray
By 2.15.08
“We’ve listened to our customers, who are showing a clear preference toward Blu-ray products and movies with their purchases,” Gary Severson, head of home entertainment for Wal-Mart’s U.S. stores, said in a statement.
By 2.13.08
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Best Buy is going to recommend blu-ray players to its customers. [NYT]
Netflix Goes Blu-Ray Exclusive
By 2.11.08
Another nail in the coffin of the format war: top DVD rental service Netflix has announced that they will be going Blu-Ray exclusive.
What Should I Do About A Lost Receipt?
By 1.24.08
I bought a Playstation 3 last November, wooed by the thought of 5 free Blu Ray movies. However, last night when I went to fill out the rebate form, I found my wife had thrown away the sales receipt! Doh! I purchased this from Shop Ko using a credit card, but Shop Ko has told me they cannot look up or reprint my receipt.
HD DVD Loyalists Start Petition To Save Their Format Of Choice
By 1.24.08
You had an article shortly after the WB exclusivity announcement on the 4th of this month, right? Well, I think this could make for a great follow-up that gives your readers the opportunity to voice their opinion, and hopefully sway the minds of the studio executives who’ve acted prematurely and stuffed words in the mouths of consumers everywhere.
Video Game Industry On Nitro While Music Cries Alone In The Dark With No Friends
By 1.18.08
The video game industry is on fire! Wooo! Sales are up! Times are good!
In December, Nintendo had its biggest month ever with the hot-selling game system. Holiday shoppers bought 1.4 million Wiis, according to sales data released Thursday by the NPD Group. The Wii’s success helped drive the video game industry to a record-setting $17.9 billion in sales, about 43% higher than 2006’s $12.5 billion, which was also a record.
Meanwhile the music industry isn’t having such a fun time. Sales are down. People are getting fired at EMI and the Rolling Stones are all pissed off about it.
By 1.17.08
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Correction: A Panasonic fat cat (and probably also a big wig) wrote in to let us know that Panasonic does indeed make a Blu-ray player that can play 1.1 Blu-ray discs: “The current Panasonic model available (DMP-BD30) is based on version 1.1 (BonusView) and capable of playing Blu-ray discs offering…
Visa Extended Warranty Protection Replaces Infamous "Dusty Playstation"
By 1.17.08
Reid, the guy with the Playstation that Sony said was too dusty to repair, is getting his system replaced through his Visa card’s extended warranty protection.
I'm Writing To You From The Laptop Sony Claimed Was Soaked In "Pink Liquid"
By 1.7.08
I’m composing this email with rather mixed emotions. I am, on the one hand almost lightheaded with relief. I am, on the other hand so incredibly angry I’m almost sick. Let me explain.
Warner Bros. Goes Blu-Ray Exclusive
By 1.4.08
Warner Bros. rolled up its sleeves in the format war today and announced that it was discontinuing support for HD-DVD after May 2008.
Sony BMG Will Drop DRM
By 1.4.08
In a move that would mark the end of a digital music era, Sony BMG Music Entertainment is finalizing plans to sell songs without the copyright protection software that has long restricted the use of music downloaded from the Internet, BusinessWeek.com has learned. Sony BMG, a joint venture of Sony (SNE) and Bertelsmann, will make at least part of its collection available without so-called digital rights management, or DRM, software some time in the first quarter, according to people familiar with the matter.
EB Games Sells You A Phone Book In A PS3 Box For The Low, Low Price Of $500
By 12.27.07
13-year-old Brandon Burns thought he’d received a Playstation 3 for Christmas. Sadly for Brandon, the box contained a local phone book and not a PS3. He wasn’t upset, just amused. His reaction:
Article Recounts Sony's Rootkit Debacle In Detail
By 12.18.07
Remember Sony’s cringe-inducing copy protection scheme a couple of years ago, where they secretly installed rootkits on millions of customers’ PCs and then pretended it was no big deal? (“Most people, I think, don’t even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?” — Thomas Hesse, Sony BMG’s President of Global Digital Business.) There’s a new article (PDF) about to be published in the Berkely Technology Law Journal called “The Magnificence of the Disaster: Reconstructiong the Sony BMG Rootkit Incident.” It’s a very detailed and entertaining read that examines the conditions that led Sony BMG “toward a strategy that in retrospect appears obviously and fundamentally misguided.”
By 12.11.07
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The WSJ Holiday Sales Blog says that sales of the PS3 are picking up while Nintendo struggles to meet the demand for the Wii. Sony’s CEO claims that they’ve been selling 200,000 PS3 units a week in the U.S. since Black Friday. [WSJ Holiday Blog]
Walmart Hates DRM
By 12.3.07
Ars Technica says that Walmart has given an ultimatum to “some of the largest record labels, including Warner Music Group and Sony BMG Music Entertainment, to provide more of their respective music catalogs in MP3 format (that is, without DRM) next year.”
By 11.30.07
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State of the Console Wars: Wii is still winning, Microsoft is second, and Sony is complaining that they’re not as far back as Microsoft says they are. [Seattle P-I]
"Vista Capable" Stickers Causing All Kinds Of Problems For Microsoft
By 11.29.07
Around this time last year, computer manufactures were trying to convince people not to wait until Vista came out to buy a new computer. To that end Microsoft devised what was (and still is) considered to be one of the most confusing marketing campaigns ever.
