Blu-ray is on its way out, and Sony just hammered another nail in the format's coffin.
Sony of Japan published a terse and simple statement this week, saying plainly that it would no longer manufacture recordable Blu-ray discs starting in February. MiniDV cassette tapes, recordable MiniDiscs, and MD-Data discs will also be officially terminated next month.
Keep in mind that Sony will no longer produce recordable Blu-ray discs. Standard Blu-ray discs used by retailers to sell movies, games, and other media will still be produced, so the format isn't dying off quite yet. Rather, Sony will stop making new recordable Blu-rays that consumers could use to store data themselves (i.e., discs on which media or data can be burned).
This move is the latest in a long line of manufacturers that are backing away from physical media. LG announced they would no longer make or sell Blu-ray players in December 2024. Sony still manufactures Blu-ray players (as do a small handful of other OEMs), but physical media seems to in its end-game. Considering the rapid rise of media streaming and consoles like the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S moving steadily toward streaming, the downfall of physical media like Blu-ray shouldn't come as much of a surprise.
Consumers can still buy recordable Blu-ray discs from companies like Verbatim, which sell various storage sizes on Amazon (like a 50-disc spindle of 25 GB discs, curr. $41.90 on Amazon). However, there's no telling how long these will be available; it seems most users opt for external hard drives and similar devices (which aren't prone to scratching or other environmental hazards) over optical media for storing their data.
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