Sony Electronics has been in the news a lot lately for its PS3 and PSP gaming consoles. Engadget reports that Sony's 200 disc VGP-XL1B2 is finally on sale and shipping in retail channels.  The VGP-XL1B2 has half the media capacity of Sony's other high capacity DVD changers, 200 discs opposed to 400, but does feature both playing and recording to CD/DVD±R and DL media.

The VGP-XL1B2 used to be just an add-on for Sony's VAIO XL1 and XL2 Media Center PCs, but Sony is now offering the component as a stand-alone option to compliment any Windows Media Center 2005 PCs that have the Update Rollout 2 patch. By doing this Sony hopes to expand its target market for this particular product.

The VGP-XL1B2 is more than just a stand-alone player/recorder, though. The is very easy to connect with only 2 FireWire ports on the back and UPnP compatibility and all operations are performed through the Media Center PC the device is connected to. With two FireWire ports, the unit can be daisy changed to up to 4 more units, bringing the total possible storage capacity to 1000 discs or 8.5TB (1000 DVD±R DL discs) which can be played and written to.

Many have commented that the unit, selling for around $800, is a bit pricey for what it offers and playing CD/DVDs directly off of hard drives or networked file servers seems to be a better way to organize and play audio/videos. However, for those who have large collections of physical media and want them accessible at a few clicks of the mouse may have better use for the VGP-XL1B2.