Sony and Panasonic have joined hands to develop 300GB capacity optical discs for personal / professional use by 2015. The two companies have signed an agreement for jointly developing this next generation standard for long-term digital data storage. Both companies will improve the development efficiency by utilising the technologies both companies have developed independently. Both companies will continue to hold discussions in coming months on the specifications for the new standard. It looks like both Sony & Panasonic differ with Apple - which is trying to put an end to optical media through their products.


Through a press release, Sony informed that Optical Discs have excellent data protection capabilities with resistance to dust and water. The optical discs can also withstand changes in temperature and humidity when when stored for a longer period. The discs also allow inter-generational compatibility between various formats.

Sony and Panasonic have previously developed products based on the Blu-Ray format - which had made its way into home theatre systems and future gaming consoles like PS4 and XBOX ONE. The BDs can store from 25 GB (single-layer) to about 100 GB (BDXL). The new format being developed however will be able to store about 300 GB.

We'd like to ask our readers whether a 300GB optical disc is something they'd consider using?