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Scott Roberts

Seems like this is one of the most common questions I get asked nowadays, both in person and through e-mail. As many of you can attest, CD-R drives are some of the most unreliable, prone-to-break-down pieces of computer hardware that have ever been created. So naturally, people ask me what the best brands are, the prices on many models, what I personally use, etc.So what I would like to hear from everybody (whomever feels like replying) is what brand of burner/writer/player that you use, it's overall reliability, and value; and maybe also the type of luck you've had with other burners, which ones went bad on you, etc. What I'm getting at is if someone "off the street" posed the question at you, what general info and advice would you tell them?For the record, I personally use a Plextor 16x10x40 PlexWriter. I bought it for about $190, have had it for several months, and I've never had a single thing go wrong with it. :)

blu · Joined: 2001-05-02 Posts: 1414

I have a sony. My uncle in law builds computers for a living and he swears by sony. I bought an 8x4x32. It's fine by me. No probs yet at all. (Knocking very hard on wood right now). I did get it at Best Buy for 149 with a $20 rebate. But, I got the 3 year warranty incase of probs. I have had it since March; and burned over 300 discs easy.

Anonymous · Guest

I think I have the same burner Blu has. It's a Sony 8x4Xx2 that I bought from buy.com about 2 months ago. It cost around $110 new, and I'm still waiting for a rebate. So far it's worked great. I would have got something faster, but 8x is pretty fast already, and most of my burning is at 2x for bootlegs.I used to have a Memorex 2x burner that just recently crapped out on me this summer. Paid $250 for it at Best Buy in 1999. Damn, I hate how computer parts are so expensive, only to be useless in 2 years...

Anonymous · Guest

I've got a Matsushita (Panasonic) 8x20 SCSI which I've had since August 99. I've done about 150 discs with it so far. It has also proven handy with discs that my cdrom can't read quite so well (due to me treating some like crap) don't know why though.What are the general opinions on IDE compared to SCSI? I know that SCSI is meant to be faster but is it really worth spending that much more now compared 2 a few years back esp with all these cheaper IDE drive around?Chris

Anonymous · Guest

I have a Hewlett Packard 12x8x32. I recently bought it on sale for $99. No problems so far (knock on wood).

Anonymous · Guest

Sony is a great brand when it comes to CD-R drives. I just bought a brand new Sony Spressa CRX200E/A1 12x8x32 a few weeks ago, and have already burned about 25 CDs and the results have been phenominal. Got mine for $168 plus tax and shipping & handling.In my experience, AOpen is a brand to avoid. Everyone that I know who's owned one has had nothing but problems. I had one a while back and it broke down on me threes times (thank God for the extended service warranty). :( [img]furious.gif" border="0[/img]

Scratch · Guest

I have a Plextor PlexWriter 12/10/32A which I got at a nice price of $140. :DI had an old Toshiba burner that lasted about 9-10 months and then suddenly crapped out on me. :roll:

FullBugAZ

I guess I'm in the same camp as some of the others. Sony 8/4/32. I bought it a few months ago when I built my new system. I still have an acer 2x that I have for a back up but no problems so far.

Anonymous · Guest

I'm using my roommate's burner until I get the scratch for my own. It's a Plexwriter 8/20. I haven't really had many problems, except with no-name Costco CDs.

Big Bad Bill

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by Diver Down NJ: I'm using my roommate's burner until I get the scratch for my own. It's a Plexwriter 8/20. I haven't really had many problems, except with no-name Costco CDs.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>I try to avoid generic "500 discs to a spindle" CD-Rs like the plague. All they're good for is to be used as "clay pigeons" in target practice. ;)

Jerel

my old HP burner is 4x-8x-24x, but I decided to buy a new Yamaha Burner 20x-10x-40x. Rips audio perfectly at 40x.I frown on HP overall...had bad ones in the past. Again people...buy the extra warranties for burners!=)

Scott Roberts

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by Jerel: my old HP burner is 4x-8x-24x, but I decided to buy a new Yamaha Burner 20x-10x-40x. Rips audio perfectly at 40x.I frown on HP overall...had bad ones in the past. Again people...buy the extra warranties for burners!=)<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Amen to that! I've talked to too many people who've had bad burners. There are two things in life that absolutely NEED warranties...automobiles and CD-R drives. :D

uncle ted

i use a HP burner... don't know the model... to burn music files from my hd i use Music Match, and to copy directly from another cd i use the HP tool...i've never had a problem until the last month, when i tried to burn some cds from my hd and they ended up with some clicks (very bad cdrs...) i contacted HP and they advised me to delete some features and try other program (instead of MM), i just deleted the features and my burner is working fine now (with MM).

Anonymous · Guest

I have an HP burner, too...it's probably the same model that benito has: a 12x8x32 for around the same price. It's been working fine so far.

Anonymous · Guest

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by Jerel: I frown on HP overall...had bad ones in the past. Again people...buy the extra warranties for burners!=)<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>my HP burner is 4x-8x-24x too, and I'd like to give huge props to their warranty policy... :p so to say, since last January when I bought my first HP I've gone through two HP's under warranty... got 2 broken HP's... Amen to HP's warranty, it really works!!!

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