TDK Recording Media Europe today unveiled its 90 minute High Capacity Recordable Disc, the next generation write-once CD, capable of storing 800 megabytes of data. Manufactured in TDK’s high-tech facilities in Europe this new disc uses a reduced track pitch to extend the amount of data it can hold.

By reducing track pitch and thereby effectively increasing track length, heavy data users can now extend recordings by up to ten minutes or 100 megabytes. Despite its extended length, this new High Capacity Disc still maintains a high-degree of compatibility with playback devices by retaining the ‘lead-in’ and ‘lead-out’ information required by a CD player to recognise discs.

A modern CD Writer and software with over-burning capabilities is required to recognise the extended length of TDK’s new High Capacity Disc. Most CD writing software such as Ahead’s Nero Burning ROM (bundled with TDK’s CyClone CD Writers) now supports ‘overburning’.

Jean-Paul Eekhout, senior marketing manager, TDK Electronics Europe, commented on the new technology: “As better compression technologies come to light more and more people are looking to get the most out of CD-R’s by stretching their recording capabilities to limit. By being the first mainstream manufacturer to develop a 90 minute Recordable Disc, TDK has again proved it is at the forefront of Optical Storage design, providing a product greatly in demand by the digital generation.”

In addition, the High Capacity Recordable Disc uses a specially tuned recording dye to allow high-speed recording up to 40x. The discs also have a longer life due to a new top coating, which increases scratch and humidity resistance.

The 90-minute High Capacity Recordable will be available across Europe from mid December 2002 from the usual stockists. For more info see http://www.tdk-europe.com or call 01737 771212.