11.14 Our Picks
Here are the
CD
writers and related products we recommend:
- ATAPI CD-RW drive
-
Plextor ATAPI
PlexWriter. In the past, we preferred SCSI burners
for their greater performance and reliability, and recommended ATAPI
burners only when cost was the top priority. That changed when
Plextor introduced the ATAPI 8/4/32A in early 2000, and followed it
in July 2000 with the 12/10/32A. That drive was the first
we'd used that had BURN-Proof technology. We found
it impossible to burn coasters with that drive, even when we tried
hard to do so. All recent Plextor ATAPI PlexWriters include
BURN-Proof, and all are excellent products. If you want a reliable CD
burner that will run for years, buy a mid- to high-end PlexWriter.
Plextor PlexWriters are inexpensive, fast, robust, and work
flawlessly under Windows 98/98SE/Me, 2000/XP, and NT. You simply
can't buy a better CD writer.
(http://www.plextor.com)
- SCSI CD-RW drive
-
Plextor PX-W1210TS PlexWriter 12/10/32S.
We still have several Plextor SCSI burners around here,
but we haven't installed a new one recently. Plextor
ATAPI burners are simply so good that there's no
longer any point to installing a SCSI unit. Although the 12X SCSI
unit will remain available for the foreseeable future, Plextor
announced in 2001 that they would no longer develop new SCSI models.
The sole remaining bastion of SCSI CD burners is CD-R duplicators,
who burn many identical CDs simultaneously. In that environment SCSI
is a must-have, but for routine CD burning an ATAPI PlexWriter is
actually a better solution. Faster SCSI burners are available from
other makers, but if we needed a SCSI burner, this is what
we'd buy. (http://www.plextor.com)
- USB CD-RW drive
-
Plextor USB 2.0 PlexWriter. If you
need a portable CD burner to carry between machines or use with a
notebook computer, USB is generally a better choice than SCSI or
FireWire, both because it costs less and because computers are more
likely to have a USB port than a SCSI or FireWire port. The USB 2.0
PlexWriter model is the best USB burner on the market. In effect, it
repackages the well-regarded ATAPI PlexWriter in an external
enclosure. USB 2.0 PlexWriters 24/10/40U require a USB 2.0 interface
to achieve their rated performance. They also work properly with the
ubiquitous USB 1.1 interface, although the slower interface limits
writing and rewriting to 4X and reading to 6X. If you need a portable
CD writer, the PlexWriter is the one to get. (http://www.plextor.com)
- FireWire CD-RW drive
-
Yamaha FireWire CD-RW drive.
Yes, we know, it's not
a Plextor. Plextor doesn't make a FireWire CD
writer. Still, Yamaha CD burners have an excellent reputation, and
we've never had a bad experience with one. At $300
or so, this is an expensive burner, but it's the
best option we know of if you need a FireWire CD writer. If your
system has FireWire but not USB 2.0, a FireWire burner may be the
easiest and cheapest way to add external CD burning capability.
However, note that you may be able to buy a Plextor USB 2.0 burner
and a USB 2.0 expansion card for less than the cost of the Yamaha
FireWire burner alone. (http://www.yamaha.com)
- Mastering software
-
Ahead Software Nero Burning
ROM.
Roxio Easy CD Creator is
bundled with most CD writers, including the Plextors, but just
because it comes with a drive doesn't mean
it's the best product to use. We and many others
have experienced numerous problems using Easy CD under Windows 2000
and Windows XP, particularly when we also had DirectCD
(Roxio's packet-writing program) loaded. Looking for
better mastering software, we tried many competing products. The best
we found was Nero, which is so much better than Easy CD that
it's worth paying for separately. After burning a
boatload of CDs with Nero on different systems with different CD
writers under Windows 98, NT, and 2000, we've found
that Nero is faster than Easy CD, much less likely to burn coasters
when using a marginal configuration, and able to copy source discs
that Easy CD chokes on. (http://www.nero.com).
- Packet-writing software
-
Ahead Software
InCD.
Packet-writing software provides drive letter access to a CD burner,
and allows you to move or copy files using drag-and-drop. For a long
time, Adaptec/Roxio DirectCD was the dominant packet-writing
software, but we had so many problems with it that
we'd about given up on packet writing entirely.
Ahead's InCD is a competing packet-writing program
that actually works. Although we still don't use
packet writing much—we prefer to burn CDs in batch mode with
Nero—InCD is the product to use if you want packet-writing
software.
- CD-R discs
-
Taiyo
Yuden. We recognize that despite all
we've said, many people want a simple answer to the
complex question of which CD-R discs to buy. If you
don't have the time or patience to do your own
testing, 24X or 40X CD-R discs made by Taiyo Yuden are the best
choice. They are sold under the Taiyo Yuden name and are relabeled by
others, including Plextor.
- CD-RW discs
-
Ricoh. There are three distinct
types of CD-RW disc, and you should choose the type your CD-RW drive
is designed to accept. Older writers use discs that support 1X to 4X
rewrites. More recent CD-RW drives are designed to use 10X discs. The
latest CD-RW drives use 12X discs. In any case, Ricoh manufactures
the most reliable CD-RW media we know of. Ricoh discs are available
with the Ricoh brand name, and are relabeled by Plextor and
others.
For updated recommendations, visit:
- http://www.hardwareguys.com/picks/cdrw.html
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