Roxio goes Blu
Remember Roxio? You most likely used its Easy CD Creator to burn CDs from your PC before iTunes came out. (Ah, the Napster days.) Well, Roxio makes a lot of other software, too, and now it seems to be getting into the Blu-ray/HD DVD wars.
(Credit:
Roxio)
Roxio released new software on Wednesday that will allow people to organize and burn movies to both DVD and Blu-ray recordable discs. The Roxio DVDit Pro HD is available at Roxio.com for about $500. It does DVD DLT and Blu-ray Disc CMF mastering with the ability to add CSS or AACS protection from unauthorized copying. Other features include slideshows of high-resolution images, a 32-track subtitle editor, and a compositor to build still or motion-filled menus from Adobe Photoshop, or 1080p, 1080i or 720p video. Roxio is also offering upgrade prices for some Roxio and Sonic-brand DVD software owners.
Keep in mind, the software only works with the list of hardware requirements you would expect for working with Blu-ray technology, including things like 512MB of RAM and 75GB of free hard drive space.
Of course, it looks like some manufacturers are planning to make DVD players compatible with both Blu-ray and HD DVDs by 2008, making the "war" meaningless. Then there's also China's push for EVD.
In a software-driven world, it's easy to forget about the nuts and bolts. Whether it's cars, robots, personal gadgetry or industrial machines, Candace Lombardi examines the moving parts that keep our world rotating. A journalist who divides her time between the United States and the United Kingdom, Lombardi has written about technology for the sites of The New York Times, CNET, USA Today, MSN, ZDNet, Silicon.com, and GameSpot. E-mail her at candacelombardi@gmail.com. She is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not a current employee of CNET. 
