Counterfeit entry-level DVD burners under various brand names, including BenQ and Plextor, are being sold in the China market.

Microsoft is developing a music and video device to compete with Apple's iPod and creating its own music service to rival Apple's iTunes, sources familiar with the plans have said.

A version of Apple Computer's iTunes Music Store that will serve up feature film downloads should debut by the end of the year at the latest according to Apple sources.

We finally got the official word that Direct X 10 won't find its way to Windows XP. So anyone who plans to buy Direct X 10 hardware and plans to use its full potential will have to buy Vista as well.

US government officials put pressure on the Swedish government shortly before the raids on the Swedish based bittorrent website Pirate Bay took place.

Police have smashed a top level DVD piracy ring following raids in Walthamstow and Chingford. During the raids last week officers arrested ten people believed to be involved in a large criminal network dealing in counterfeit DVDs.

As we originally reported on the 31st May

CMC Magnetics expects the current global shortage of CD-R discs will persist for while and will raise its OEM prices for next quarter by 5-10%, according to company chairman Robert Wong at a press conference following the company's 2006 shareholder meeting.

Lite-On IT will reportedly start volume production of 18x DVD burners in July and plans to start production of 20x DVD burners in the fourth quarter of this year.

Plextor Europe has announced a new version of its PlexTools software. PTP (Plextools Professional) HDD includes new features that will appeal to many users of the Plextor Portable Harddisk devices including secure password protection and extra diagnostic tools.

An innovative american company has come up with a simple but effective solution for destroying the confidential data stored on optical discs. The makers also claim their 'Disc Eraser' is the greenest product on the market.

The UK tabloid The Mail on Sunday has reported that a Chinese factory that manufactures iPods employs 200,000 workers who live in dormitories where visitors are not permitted. Workers toil for 15-hour days for as little as $50 (£27) per month, according to the article.

The global supply of DVD+R/-R discs currently exceeds global demand, but the oversupply will begin to diminish next quarter and largely decrease or even disappear in the fourth quarter of this year, according to Ritek CEO Gordon Yeh.

Ten companies which had their servers confiscated during the police's raids against file-sharing outfit The Pirate Bay are suing the Swedish government.

The new SDR-S150 is an update of the SDR-S100 camcorder which records to SD card, rather than DV tape, hard disk, or DVD. The SDR-S100 uses conventional SD media which has a maximum capacity of 2GB, while the SDR-S150 supports both SD and the brand new SDHC (SD High-Capacity) card.

Authorities armed with a search warrant hauled away 20,000 DVD recorders from Cyberhome USA, a U.S. affiliate of Cyberhome Taiwan, which is accused of manufacturing them without paying licensing fees, authorities said.

The European Union is ending its antidumping investigation of DVD+R/-R discs imported from Taiwan, China and Hong Kong.

Sony Pictures has announced that it will release its first seven titles on the Blu-ray format on June 20.

Millions may be about to discover what singer Billy Bragg found out recently - that "community" hosting web sites can do as they please with creative material you submit.

The BBC has published advice explaining how to block access to one of its own heavily promoted services - live streaming video of World Cup matches.

CyberHome Entertainment and Mustek Systems, two Taiwan-based makers of DVD recorders, have lowered retail prices by 20-30% for their entry-level models.