Philips PCRW404K: just say NO unless you love migraine headaches
Written: Jan 12 '00 (Updated Jan 16 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: cool looking, good software format
Cons: Mine was broken straight out of the box, NO help in installation, crappy instructions
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| lawgirl's Full Review: Philips PC Internal CDRW 400 Series |
I received this product Christmas '99 as a gift. I was so excited- it has a really cool look and I trusted philips products. I should have known better. I had to take my computer apart because this is an internal CD rewriter. I know a lot about computers, but software, not hardware. Needless to say, I was very nervous. I should have been- the accompanying documentation totally sucked. It showed where everything plugged into the cd-rw, but NO suggestion even where everything plugged into the computer. It said that every computer is different, and that you would just have to figure it out. I was like ?!?!?!?!? Well, I finally compared how the CD Rom was hooked up and tried to copy that- that is a good technique because it worked. I finally had it set up correctly and I was very excited when I turned my computer on and the LED light came on! (This took about an hour.) Success! or so I thought.
I went to install the software. That's when it started.
First, I downloaded the program and when it asked me if it came with a
driver disk. I said No, because it only came with one software CD ROM- nothing that said Driver Disk on it. Well, after 2 hours on the phone with Philips tech support, I learned I had been wrong. I was supposed to say yes and then search around until I found the driver folder on the CD ROM. OK, how stupid is that to send a product out that asks if you have a driver disk and it doesn't in the typical meaning of the phrase. OK, so I finally got it all installed and started playing. Nope. It didn't work. I actually liked the format of the software- it was pretty user friendly format- you would just drag and click the songs from the loaded CD that you wanted to write onto the CD-RW. Anyway. So, I load my Police CD, I choose the songs I want and start it going. First song, no problem. Then it died. Absolutely froze my computer. And it kept freezing my computer when I restarted it, even if I had not been going to use the CDRW. I could not even open My Computer without my computer freezing up.
Then the cd tray popped open without me asking it to. OK, I thought, I must have done something wrong. I spend the next WEEK trying to get this stupid thing to work. I got to the website, which is 100% WORTHLESS. From what I saw there, it looks like most people are having big time trouble with this CD-RW. Finally, out of desperation, I call the philips tech support, fixed my software like I mentioned above, and about half an hour later, the CD tray pops open again and the guy finally tells me that they must've shipped me a broken one, and to take it back to Circuit City. I almost screamed I was so mad.
So, back to Circuit City. They are no longer carrying it, so I have to choose another model and take store credit. I chose the HP 8250I, which is now on order for me. I am just so disappointed in the whole thing that I doubt I will ever buy another Philips product.
I BIG TIME WARN AGAINST WASTING YOUR TIME AND MONEY ON THIS PRODUCT. Circuit City is no longer carrying it, and neither is ANY OTHER STORE I COULD FIND. It is like no one has ever heard of this thing- Best Buy and Comp USA are a couple of places I have tried to find it (I liked the software and look and I wanted to try another one.) Even online giants like egghead weren't carrying it! Don't waste your time- no one is even carrying this model anymore because it is so plagued with problems. If you don't believe me, try their website and look at the message boards. People are furious about this crappy product. www.pcstuff.philips.com.
Also, the software comes with NO documentation, so if you can't figure it out yourself, you are screwed.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
lawgirl
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Location: Milwaukee, WI
Reviews written: 80
Trusted by: 198 members
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