Sony Leaving PC Optical Drive Business

btarunr · Aug 27, 2012

Sony is reportedly shutting down Optiarc Inc., its subsidiary which deals with PC optical drives. The move could mark the company's exit from PC optical drive business, including its PC Blu-ray drive business. It is reported that officials at Sony find "fierce competition" responsible for lower than viable pricing, forcing the business to operate at a loss. Sony plans to wind up Optiarc by March 2013, and give some of its 400 employees early retirement, while transferring some to other divisions of Sony.

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Jetster · Aug 27, 2012

If Sony had there way no one would be able to burn disks

eidairaman1 · Aug 27, 2012

I had a few sony ODDs go bad on me so I moved to Samsung and never looked back

sc · Aug 27, 2012

eidairaman1 said:
I had a few sony ODDs go bad on me so I moved to Samsung and never looked back

I had a few ODDs go bad on me, so I moved on flash drives and never looked back.

TheDeeGee · Aug 27, 2012

Removed my Optical Drive a couple of years ago. All i have in my 5.25 bay is a Sytche Kaze Master Pro.

I got a Samsung USB DVD Writer for my CD/DVD needs, which happens once a year.

repman244 · Aug 27, 2012

sc said:
I had a few ODDs go bad on me, so I moved on flash drives and never looked back.

I had a few flash drives go bad on me, so I moved to tape drives and never looked back :laugh:

pigulici · Aug 27, 2012

I had hdd drive, ODD, flash drive, external hdd drive go bad on me(even a network server), so I allways look back ...with backup...

Aquinus · Aug 27, 2012

The only optical drive to fail me in a tower was a Sony. I won't shed any tears over this.

babdi · Aug 27, 2012

Yeah same here.My 2 Sonys bombed. Never Sony again. No wonder Sony is winding up Optical drives.

adrianx · Aug 27, 2012

so .... you will burn the optical drive... in the clouds

FreedomEclipse · Aug 27, 2012

babdi said:
No wonder Sony is winding up Optical drives.

Not really.... Theres no money in it. there are lots of people out there that dont even run with optical drives anymore (me being one of them) a small external slimline drive bought mainly for use with my netbook sits on my shelf collecting dust most of the time as i rarely even use it twice a year.

There are still quite a few players in the optical drive market but I dont think sony leaving will make their situations that much different apart from the possible 0.01 to 0.03% increase in optical drive sales.

apart from having a blueray player connected upto your tv at home...Nobody really cares for optical much anymore

1c3d0g · Aug 27, 2012

Smart move. The optical drive business is winding down anyways, so the quicker they leave this shrinking market, the better.

Roph · Aug 27, 2012

Weren't a number of optical drive manufacturers burned for price fixing a while ago? And sony is leaving because prices are too low?

FreedomEclipse · Aug 27, 2012

Roph said:
And sony is leaving because prices are too low?

Optical drives (for PCs) are obsolete and no longer a standard requirement as software or anything that needs to be installed can be downloaded. platforms like STEAM is a prime example.

TheMailMan78 · Aug 27, 2012

I still use my optical for some things. So I won't be ditching it anytime soon. I like to install my OS from DVD's as thats the format they come in. Plus downloading 20Gb of BF3 anytime I do a reinstall sucks. Plus I like to burn MP3 CD's for my car once in a while. Never owned a Sony DVD. Been using LG for a while now.

newtekie1 · Aug 27, 2012

babdi said:
Yeah same here.My 2 Sonys bombed. Never Sony again. No wonder Sony is winding up Optical drives.

Older Sony drives sucked, but once they partnered with NEC the drives they produced started to get close to Plexter level of quality.

Though in the past year and a half, with optical drive prices tanking, they all put out the same level of generic crap.

babdi · Aug 27, 2012

I agree with all the posts above. However in this part of world,India,Optical drives is a part of the PC still

mtosev · Aug 27, 2012

sony's optics are shit anyways.
bought an optiarc drive and it died in 2 weeks. bravo SONY
never had problems with LG or ASUS

alucasa · Aug 27, 2012

Hm, I haven't inserted a DVD into my PC for...

Shit, I can't even remember for how many years. I have a USB slimline DVD but I haven't also used it for years. No PC I've built in recent years has an optical drive anyhow.

Melvis · Aug 27, 2012

That sux! Sony drives are the only drives i buy with none of the ones ive owned and sold failing in the last 7 yrs. Unlike samsung that some havent even lasted 30 seconds before dieing.

Off to pioneer i go i guess.

AsRock · Aug 27, 2012

FreedomEclipse said:
Not really.... Theres no money in it. there are lots of people out there that dont even run with optical drives anymore (me being one of them) a small external slimline drive bought mainly for use with my netbook sits on my shelf collecting dust most of the time as i rarely even use it twice a year.

There are still quite a few players in the optical drive market but I dont think sony leaving will make their situations that much different apart from the possible 0.01 to 0.03% increase in optical drive sales.

apart from having a blueray player connected upto your tv at home...Nobody really cares for optical much anymore

Same here i use a external too and is only used for some games that i want on disk and not some downloaded version.

D007 · Aug 27, 2012

I go Asus anyway... Sony drives? No thanks..

MadMan007 · Aug 27, 2012

Roph said:
Weren't a number of optical drive manufacturers burned for price fixing a while ago? And sony is leaving because prices are too low?

Yeah, the point of price fixing is to make prices higher, so if price fixing (on $20 components, oh no!) goes away so might profits.

On a personal note, two things:

1) I still buy music (craziness!) on CD (double craziness!) I refuse to pay for inferior compressed formats. I rip to lossless FLAC for home use and convert to mp3 for portable. Naturally this requires an optical drive, so I really hope someone keeps making them.

2) Japanese companies respect toward employees: They offered early retirement or a move elsewhere within the company. In the US, it would have been 'You're fired!'

FreedomEclipse · Aug 27, 2012

MadMan007 said:
2) Japanese companies respect toward employees: They offered early retirement or a move elsewhere within the company. In the US, it would have been 'You're fired!'

early retirement was a nice touch... Obviously you cant transfer EVERYONE.

as far as respect for employee's go, you obviously havent heard of how foxconn and apple treat their factory staff.

TheMailMan78 · Aug 27, 2012

MadMan007 said:
Japanese companies respect toward employees: They offered early retirement or a move elsewhere within the company. In the US, it would have been 'You're fired!'

Yes because all US companies are the same. Just like all Asian men have small peckers........oh wait that's a stereotype? Naaaaaa

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Sony Leaving PC Optical Drive Business

btarunr

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Jetster

eidairaman1

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sc

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