Apple moves to support DVD+RW format

October 14, 2003

Apple has been one of the few companies till now
that only supported the dash/minus (DVD-RW) format, but has now also introduced
DVD+RW support. The company has integrated support for the format
in the latest version of its operating system Mac OS X. The move can
be seen as another blow in the face for DVD-RW, as now all major PC builders
support the DVD+RW format, with HP and Dell exclusively using
DVD+RW. Demand from customers has forced Apple to also support the
DVD+RW in their setups.

Nonetheless, the move is a strategic shift for Apple, which until
now has supported only the -R standard, contending it was used by more DVD
players. The company has shipped some machines with Sony-made drives that
can write to both the +R and -R standards, but in those cases it turned
off the +R capabilities.

An Apple representative said that the
move came at the request of customers, many of whom own third-party DVD
burners. Apple did not say whether it would add DVD+R support into future
versions of its iApps, such as iDVD.

Apple drive supplier Pioneer, which has
been one of the big makers of DVD-R drives, announced in May that it would
support both formats. Microsoft has also added support for both types of
discs.

The DVD-RW camp does not see it as a big loss and said that "It is
just (Apple) doing the right thing for Mac users." Apple has also shipped dual
format drives in the past, where it had disabled the DVD+RW capabilities, the
company did not disclose information if it will release a firmware for these
drives to also write to DVD+RW discs. More information can be found in this
article.

Source: Cnet.com