Philips Electronics NV said on Wednesday it would launch an audio recorder by end 1997 or early 1998 that would allow consumers to record their own compact discs (CDs).
Philips, the first company in the world to announce it would launch a consumer product of this type, said the machine could be plugged into any existing home audio system and would allow users to record from all analogue or digital audio sources.
It said the Philips CD-Recorder was compatible with CD-Recordable discs.
It can be created just once, and Compact Disc-ReWritable discs, which can be erased and re-recorded.
The CD-ReWritable discs cannot be played on conventional CD players.
The CD-Recorder, which can play CD-Recordable, CD-ReWritable as well as conventional compact discs, is expected to be marketed in Europe at a price of about 1,500 guilders ($774). After the launch in this region, other areas will follow shortly, Philips said.
The CD-Recorder was one of a number of new products unveiled by Philips to the electronics trade media in Amsterdam.
Philips said it expected to have sold about 100 million audio CD players in various forms by the end of 1997.
"We expect that figure to rise by another eight million during 1998," a Philips spokesman told Reuters, adding that would include sales of the new CD-Recorder.
Asked at a news conference about prospective sales for the new CD format, Doug Dunn, chief executive of Philip's largest division, Sound and Vision, said: "I cannot tell you. We have a business plan but I'm not going to reveal that today."
He described the product as a "medium burner".
"We have a time advantage only, other people will come in," said Dunn, acknowledging the market was likely to become very competitive.
While declining to give absolute figures, he said there would be a "flood of people wanting to buy this".
