Pioneer has announced it will cease production of Blu-ray drives for PCs by the end of this month. Another one bites the dust…
Pioneer’s decision to end the production of Blu-ray drives is another blow to the already declining Blu-ray format, making it increasingly less accessible as more manufacturers exit the market—Sony being a recent example.
It’s all particularly unfortunate as internal and external Blu-ray drives may soon be the only way to safely access and back up Blu-ray content, for instance to a NAS. With Pioneer pulling out, the already shrinking market for such devices is likely to shrink further.
Think about the future
If you’re looking to keep a backup option for reading your Blu-ray collection in the future, now may be a good time to grab a drive while they’re still available—because once they’re gone, they’re gone. It also remains uncertain whether Pioneer will ever release another standalone Blu-ray player, as their last model was launched over six years ago.