Toshiba Joins Blu-Ray Player Market Finally

After many years of backing HD-DVD, Toshiba will now finally throw in the towel and create a Blu-ray Disc player. Toshiba was one of the primary companies that backed the HD DVD format while Sony was the major backer of the Blu-ray format. The winner, mostly because of demand for PS3's and the larger storage format was Blu-ray which ended the battle between the two formats. HD-DVD has since fallen to the waist side like that of Beta Max and other formats that lost in the media wars.

Since Toshiba couldn't win against Blu-Ray with its HD-DVD format, the company is joining what was once its competitors format but is now the industry standard for HD media. They seek to get a piece of the quarter billion dollar business. With growth continuing with Blu-ray and with prices of both media and players coming down to be more consumer friendly Toshiba's timing is spot on for entering the market.

I would look for Toshiba to develop multiple devices with different features and pricing. A Blu-ray player can be bought for around $100 bucks these days, which is getting very close to what DVD player prices were a few years ago. In a few more years, I'm sure we will begin to see some really cheap Blu-ray player in the $40 - $50 price range and media will continue to get cheaper making movies cheaper to purchase and writable media as well.