Thanks for buying Blu-ray... you're screwed!

Sony discontinues support for Blu-ray discs on Sony Blu-ray players.

I’ve always been an opponent of propriety media formats because of the control it gives one company over an industry. As such I stayed away from Blu-ray in the Hi-Def war as Sony has repeatedly bungled their media formats with too many content constraints, distribution restrictions, and profit. In the past this has spelled failure or poor adoption for Sony’s Betamax, CRVdisc, Memory Stick, and the MiniDisc.

With Blu-ray however, Sony has been able to buy a victory to this format war by lining the pockets of movie studio executives who are much quicker to jump at a big payout than take the time to look out for the best interest of their customers. As of recent Warner has pulled their support for HD DVD according to a Time Warner press release. In the wake of this blow, Paramount being one of the only supporters of HD DVD, is getting ready to cut them as well, reports the Financial Times.

Now that Sony has cornered the market on high definition media they are back to their old tricks. Taking advantage of their new position Sony dawns its latex gloves in preparation punish the very customers who helped them get there. An article from Beta News has informed us that Blu-ray will release Blu-ray Disc Profile 2.0 in the third quarter of 2008. This new format version will not be playable on any current production Blu-ray players from Pioneer, Samsung, Panasonic, and get this… SONY! That’s right, Sony isn’t even planning to support their Blu-ray discs on their own Blu-ray players. Their suggestion you ask... go buy a PlayStation 3. It’s the only player that will support Sony's updated format. Thanks a lot Sony. You suck.

With this kind of practice from Sony, what do we have to look forward to next in a Sony controlled media world? Sony’s disc to device locking patent could mean then end of used movie sales and video rentals should Sony, the all mighty decider of everything digital and movies, make it so. What alternative do we have at this point? When are you going Blu-ray?