My next burner will be a Smart and Friendly
Written: Jun 05 '00 (Updated Jul 01 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Very reliable, fast, easy installation, more choice (you can get it without CD-RW)
Cons: The company is out of business, so you can't get any repairs
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| luke8400's Full Review: Smart and Friendly CD Recorders |
I got my Smart and Friendly CD burner last Christmas. I didn't think I would need a CD-RW, just a CD-R, so when I saw the Smart and Friendly CD-R 8020 CD Rocket SE, it seemed like the best buy. It was an 8x20x internal CD-R burner (the fastest I had seen at the time) for only $199! It was perfect. I read up on the brand and found a lot of positive feedback, so I decided to get it.
I bought it at CompUSA, and when I did, it was between a Philips CD Burner, with 4x4x24x speeds, and the CD Rocket SE. It looked really nice, but I just didn't think I would need CD-RW, so I got the CD Rocket SE because it had that 8x read speed. I just couldn't settle for 4x.
Installing it was nothing unexpected. It was my first time installing any hardware in my computer, and I had no idea how to do it before this. So I considered it a learning experience. If I had been more experienced, the installation probably wouldn't have taken more than 10 minutes, but it took me about a half hour. But it was worth the trouble for not having to spend way more on an external drive.
It came with a bunch of software, like Adaptec EZ CD Creator, and a bunch of other stuff that I don't really use, but I guess it's nice to have. After I installed it, everything else was a breeze. It's never burned a coaster, and I've never had any problems with it. It's also very fast...if you are considering getting a burner, I'd go with an 8x, it's not too expensive, and it's plenty fast.
Overall, I've been very pleased with this burner. The only thing is, now I have my Apex DVD player, which plays MP3 CDs, I want to get a portable MP3 CD player, and there were times where it would have been good to back up my hard drive, so now I wish I had gotten one with CD-RW. So I'll probably get the Smart and Friendly CD Racer. I don't want to spend too much, but since it's going to replace my regular CD-ROM drive, I need one with a fast read speed. So I guess my next burner will be a Smart and Friendly too.
[Update: 7/1/00]
It looks as if Smart and Friendly has bit the dust. I got an e-mail from another person who has a Smart and Friendly burner who read this epinion. They e-mailed the company for tech support and in response, got this message:
"Thank you for contacting ECI. Smart and Friendly is no longer in business or providing support for its CD Recorders. ECI has provided 3rd party technical support for Smart and Friendly during the past three years and would gladly assist you in resolving issues or
questions on your CD Recordable or CD ReWritable drive for a fee of $30 per incident. ECI will accept Visa or Mastercard as payment for this service.
Please note that if your drive is defective, ECI cannot replace it.
If you are interested in obtaining support for your CD Recordable drive, please call 1-800-592-9448. Please have your credit card number available.
Thank you again for calling ECI Technical Support"
So while I still stand behind my opinion that this is a great burner, I had to reduce the rating to 4 simply because now that they are out of business, there are no repairs if you have any problems.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
luke8400
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Member: Luke
Location: Fayetteville, GA
Reviews written: 24
Trusted by: 9 members
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