Any suggestions on CD burners? What to look for and what to avoid. I'm on a Mac(like anybody here didn't already figure that one out LOL) and can do SCSI and wouldn't be hard to slide a USB card into this beast.
Also, are some CDR blanks more reliable than others?
Posted by Joe House (Member # 3110) on :
Don, I always check with CNet.com before making a hardware purchase. check out CD-RW Reviews Use the filters down at the bottom of the page to select the interface type that you need.
Good Luck,
Joe
Posted by Dave Johnson (Member # 2535) on :
I'm not using Mac but I don't believe it matters as far as CDRW's go. I bought an Artec and am very happy with it. It comes with Nero software.
The most important feature you want is buffer underrun protection. This will save you from trashing cd's.
I'd say to use premium cd's. I've had good luck with Imation. $30.00 for a 100 pack spindle.
Posted by Roger Hoeft (Member # 2864) on :
quote:Also, are some CDR blanks more reliable than others?
Yes, but sometimes it's tough to go by brands since some CD companies use more than one manufacturer to produce their CDs. Fuji and TDK and *most* Memorex CD's come from the Taiyo Yuden plant, which produces some of the best in the world.
Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
i bought a memorex cdr-w from office depot...$49.00 after mail in rebate....so cant complain. its 48x34x48 ide connection. as for a mac, i know scussi will work well, but you still pay for it.. for a scussi connected cdr-w your lookin at $150-200 range. also you can buy an external USB in that ballpark. iam on 3rd cdr-w, 1st was a rhico scussi(back when ide was only 4x)the iomega iam replacing, and now the memeorex. the problem with brand names..is that most of these cdr-w's are made by say mitsumi or sony or some other company...and labled with other names like dell, iomega, creative, or any name brand computer....
Posted by Mike Pipes (Member # 1573) on :
Don,
You should avoid drives that boast high write speeds, like 20X, 24X or even the latest 48X cause much of the media available isn't up to snuff.
My personal recommendation is that you only consider drives that have "BURN-PROOF" technology, especially on your *slightly* older Mac. It basically eliminates making a "coaster" every time you have a buffer underrun (the write buffer runs out of data which puts an empty block on the disc, thus making it useless). Burn Proof allows the drive to start writing data right where it left off when the buffer ran out, thus saving the disc.
The burner on my old desktop (a 133MHz machine) has burn proof and can write at 12X (burns a whole CD in a couple minutes) without any problems. I can watch the buffer meter constantly hit zero but the CD's always work.
I'd also recommend a Plextor drive as they are great drives, real reliable and last a long time. They even have a SCSI version although I'm not sure if it comes bundled with Mac authoring software: http://www.plextor.com/english/products/product_cdrw_drives.html
By the way, on cnet.com in the CDRW section, there's some info about the SCSI Plextor drive, along with a user comment from a Mac user: "installs into my mac with no real problems"
There's also http://www.pricewatch.com where you can find some fair prices on hardware, even for Macs. SCSI drives listed there start at $50 and go up, although the real cheap ones are slow (4X write) which can get tiring if you burn a lot.
You'll want to check out "Toast", the creme de la creme for consumer level CD/DVD authoring software for Mac. You might even find a drive that comes bundled with it (or a limited version of it). If you cant find a bundle, the software itsself is $90-$100.
[ November 06, 2002, 07:42 PM: Message edited by: Mike Pipes ]
Posted by Bob Rochon (Member # 30) on :
I have to agree with Mike on the Plextor drives. I've seen some pretty nice write ups on them.
It seems as if they are the cadillac...or in your case the corvette of cdrws lol.
ps. they aint cheap though, then again nothing about a mac is.
Posted by Chuck Gallagher (Member # 69) on :
Lite-0n 40-12-48 good review and great price!
Good luck,
Posted by Curtis hammond (Member # 2170) on :
An important factor to consider is what you are going to burn..
Ir you are burning simple stuff then any one will do. If you wish to make exact backup copies of CD's you own especially copy protected... you will need a burner that will burn in the RAW DAO.. RAW SAO+SUB and RAW SAO modes. And you may want to have one that will do SUB channels too. Burn proof is a very nice feature that you may like. BUT, many music CD's are best copied at slower speeds anyway..
There are only a few burners that will do the above.
Do a google search on cd copy and you will find lots of sites that will guide you to a great cd burner for reall low prces. Plextor seems to be popular because it will burn in the specific modes you will need to make backup copies.
Posted by John Deaton III (Member # 925) on :
Don, you oughta go ahead and put a usb card in your mac. I did, and it sure makes things easier. Most printers and drives that come out now are usb, and work on macs with system 8.5 and up. Mine cost about 50 bucks, and has four ports. It would free you up from worrying about getting scsi drives and such.
Posted by Amy Brown (Member # 1963) on :
Hey Don! Robert has a SCSI Plextor in his PC and I have a Phillips IDE in mine.
I always make coasters with the Phillips. He never has problems. Also, Easy CD Creator sucks!
When we got the plextor it was around $500 but that was in 1999 I think. They should be a bit cheaper now.
Posted by Del Badry (Member # 114) on :
I recently bought a Liteon 32 and it works great...i saw the liteon brand recommended on the site for Cd-Mate, a good program for copying your game software.... (back up copies only!)The concensus there was that plextor rules, but liteon is just as effective and a lot more reasonable....
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