Sony Corp has announced the drive DVD enthusiasts have been waiting for, a DVD-R that can burn dual layer discs. The new discs labled DVD-R DL can hold up to 8.5 Gb of data. The drive will cost less than their single layer counterparts debuted at, with a $230.00 price for internal drives and $330.00 for external drives. The drive will currently support only PCs and will support existing DVD-R formats when it arrives in June.

As with all disc advances, there is a media conflict. Phillips is also planning a similar drive set for release several months down the road that supports a format labled DVD+R DL. Hopefully, this format war will settle quickly.