Apple moves to support DVD+RW format

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After years of backing only one format in the recordable DVD format war, Apple Computer is adding limited support of a rival format into its operating system.

Apple, a longtime supporter of the DVD-R format, confirmed Monday that it is adding support for DVD+R and DVD+RW into the Macintosh operating system with Panther, the new version of Mac OS X that ships next week. Apple is only adding support for backing up data and has not yet added support for the format into its media applications, such as iDVD and iTunes.

Although they are both formats for recording DVDs that can be played on PCs and in many consumer DVD players, DVD+RW drives cannot write to DVD-R or DVD-RW media, just as DVD-RW drives can't write to DVD+R or DVD+RW media. Increasingly popular are drives that are capable of writing both formats.

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.

Read more about the dvd r-rw format on www.dvdrecorders.ws