Can Microsoft be trusted? How music labels, Hollywood studios and consumers answer that question could determine whether the software giant dominates digital media the way it does Web browsers or desktop productivity applications, say analysts. The Redmond, Wash.-based company is engaged in a tried-and-true tactic of giving away highly valuable technology as a means of getting a foothold in an emerging market. The strategy, which was instrumental in Microsoft's victory in the so-called browser wars, is being replayed in the digital media market.

Thanks to our regular contributor Flash we have a brand spanking new review of a 7 Drive DVD+R Duplicater.

Take a moment to consider that next CD or DVD-ROM drive upgrade. If you thought it could damage your PC - or even your person - would you go slow? Consumers like to buy the latest, swiftest devices, but research from Sweden and the experiences of Australian PC users show that speed can inconvenience and possibly kill. At revolutions of about 200 metres per second, today's state-of-the-art lead-foot drives approach the speed of sound - 340 metres per second through air at room temperature - subjecting the spinning disc to a force 1500 times that of gravity, researchers have found.

Toshiba Storage Device Division improves the performance of its popular desktop CD-RW/DVD-ROM combination drive. Toshiba's new SD-R1312 CD recordable combination drive is also available as a desktop PC upgrade kit.

A company called ClearPlay currently offers a service that allows (paranoid...) DVD consumers the ability to "sanitize" their DVD movies when they play their DVDs on their PCs. Now their plan to enter the stand-alone player market is threatened by the movie industry.

If you think your prized collection of DVD movies will last a lifetime, think again - some are already starting to rot while others are falling apart. Unofficial estimates put the number of affected discs at between one and 10 per cent. Yet some of the largest distributors for Hollywood Studios are accused of refusing to accept the problem exists and replace faulty products.

Prassi - one of the originators of CD and DVD duplication softwares have recently announced their '3rd coming' as the software company starts up afresh.

The easyInternetcafé chain has been found quilty of copyright infringement by the High Court. The chain allowed users to access music download sources on the Internet, and burn the downloaded files on CD for a fee of £5 (about $8 USD).

'Would you use software to cut out objectionable parts of movies?' More than 60% of the nearly 8,900 people to answer that question posted on USATODAY.com last week answered no; nearly 30% said they would, and 9% said it depended on the flick.

Lindows.com announces shipment of the first low cost multi-purpose computer called the Lindows Media Computer. This unique device combines a DVD player, CD player and personal computer into one compact affordable package.

After eight months since the last official update, DivXNetworks has released a new, updated version of the mega-popular video codec, DivX. New version, v5.03, includes various improvements over the previous version. Most notable change is probably the Nth Pass technology; allowing more than one pass in VBR multi-pass encoding. In an unfortunate side, DivXNetworks has opted to remove the support for MP4 wrapper in this version, although they promise in the changelog that this will be restored in upcoming versions. As usual, you can download the DivX v5.03 from <a href=http://www.dvd-recordable.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=Downloads&file=index&req=viewdownload&cid=5" target="_blank">here.

Pirate DVDs of the new Lord of the Rings film have been copied from a disc sent to Oscar judges. More than 10,000 illegal copies of The Two Towers have been seized in Britain according to the Federation Against Copyright Theft.

Nintendo have announced plans to launch a next-generation home game console in 2005 or 2006 in a move to restore its clout in the lucrative home video game market. "We are developing a new home video game console with a plan to release the new system around the same time as rival makers do," President Satoru Iwata told Reuters in an interview.

Professionals or creative consumers searching for a fast and easy-to-use DVD drive that enhances productivity and extends their entertainment options should look no further than the DRU-500AX and DRX-500ULX. These latest additions to Sony’s award-winning range of Dual RW drives for PCs are the only devices on the market that support most of the existing DVD standards. What’s more, they deliver some of the fastest recording times available, going up to 4x speed. With the help of the supplied software, the internal 500AX (ATAPI interface) and external 500ULX (i.LINK and USB 2.0 interfaces) allow users to record high quality digital music, movies and data and to playback the files across virtually all DVD players and DVD-ROM drives.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., maker of Panasonic products, said it planned to boost its market share in the potentially lucrative global DVD recorder market to 50 percent by 2004/05.

Plextor, one of the leading companies for the development and production of CD-ROM drives, CD-Recorders and CD-ReWriters is expanding its range with the PX-504A, which writes DVD's at 4-speed, rewrites at 2.4-speed and reads at 12-speed.

Ritek has warned that the quoted price for CD-R discs may rise again in March. Gordon Yeh, CEO of Ritek, admitted that a price rise is possible but said it would depend on demand. Ritek has reached full utilization of its CD-R disc production capacity, he added. CMC Magnetics has also been rumored to plan to raise CD-R disc prices.

When it comes to home entertainment, the consumer electronics industry has never had a clearer success story than the DVD. More than 35 percent of all U.S. homes have a DVD player, according to the Consumer Electronics Association, an industry trade group. Last year, more than 17 million DVD players were sold in the United States, and this year sales are expected to increase another 14 percent.

Suppose someone was handing out $20 bills and no one wanted one? That's what's happening in a massive price-fixing settlement paid for by the recording industry.

'DVD Jon' could be back in court if Norwegian prosecutors go ahead with their plan to appeal against the verdict that cleared him of any wrongdoing for distributing DVD encryption-cracking software.