After the rumours here is the official press release :)

"...Sony Core Technology & Network Company Europe (CNCE) has announced the introduction of the "Double Density CD-R/RW" products with 1.3GB capacity, which is double the capacity of conventional CD-R/RW media , from April 2001. The World's first Double Density CD-R/RW drive (CRX200E-RP), as well as the corresponding high speed CD-Recordable (CDQ-13G1: 12x write speed) and CD-ReWritable (CD-RW13G1: 8x write speed) media, offer state of the art optical recording technology and maintain the same features that have made conventional CD-Rs and CD-RWs so popular in the past. The target market of CRX-200E-RP is 5% of high-end CD-R/RW after market, which is estimated approximately 17 million units world wide at the initial stage.

In order to double the capacity, physical track pitch and minimum pit length are miniaturized. By strengthening the error correction scheme (CIRC7), the effect of scratches and dust is minimized. The remaining areas inherit the basic specifications of the conventional CD-ROM/R/RW formats to make use of the existing CD-ROM/R/RW infrastructure.

The DDCD writer (CRX200E-RP) offers 12x (1,800KB/s) recording for DD-R/CD-R, 8x (1,200KB/s) re-writing DD-RW/CD-RW and 32x (4,800KB/s) reading speed and an 8 MB buffer memory for secure writing at high speeds. The CRX200E-RP can also record the conventional CD-R/-RW, and playback CD-ROM/-R/-RW. An end user can take advantage of doubling personal filing by utilizing WinOnCD & DirectCD, HDD back up by DataKeeper & DriveImage, and personal picture and video contents creation and editing through PhotoBase/Studio and VideoImpression which are in the comprehensive software suite.

DDCD drive: Sony CRX200E (internal DDCD drive kit)
- Interface: Ultra DMA/33 ATAPI
- Media capacity: 1.3 GB (DDCD), 650 / 700 Mbyte (conventional CD)
- Write speed: 12x DD-R/CD-R (1.8 Mbyte/s), 8x DD-RW/CD-RW (1.2 Mbyte/s)
- Read speed: 32x max DD-ROM/CD-ROM
- Buffer memory: 8 Mbyte
- Average access time: 125 ms
- Formats supported: DDCD (defined by the purple book CD standard), CD Digital Audio, CD Extra, CD Text, CD-ROM, CD-ROM XA, CD-I, CD-I Ready, Video CD, Photo CD (single- and multisession)
- Write methods supported: Disc at once, session at once, track at once, fixed/variable-packet recording, multisession
- Retail kit contents: DDCD drive, DDCD media, CeQuadrat WinOnCD, Adaptec DirectCD, PowerQuest DataKeeper and DriveImage, ArcSoft Photobase, PhotoStudio and VideoImpression, installation kit.." NULL