Do yourself a favor!!
Written: Dec 18 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: No more frisbee's, accurate burning, does what it claims
Cons: Bundled MP3 player suite might not be very user-friendly for rookies
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| Arrythmia's Full Review: TDK veloCD ReWriter 12/10/32 |
Ah yes, burning cd's; what a lovely thing...provided it WORKS!! Fear not if you buy the TDK VeloCD 12/10/32. Having teethed myself with an HP for about a year I was ready to move on to better (and faster) things. Having gone to Best Buy to look for Christmas presents, naturally I had to get myself one too, right? :) Stumbled into the computer section to browse and drool at all the new gadgets...and there it was, that marvelous beauty. I'd already heard and read good things about the elder VeloCD, so here was my chance. But alas, next to it was a Yamaha with 16 writing speed and supposedly 40X audio rip (the VeloCD has flash upgradeable firmware inside and although the box says 24X audio rip on the front TDK just released a new firmware upgrade that boosts the drive's audio rip to 32X...can't complain there as that's a totally free upgrade to your unit). Hmmm...time to rethink my strategy perhaps? Naaah...I'd had an old Yamaha CD-ROM (the first to have the split laser thing goin' on) and only had problems with it. The decision was made for me as soon as I saw the drive was made by Yamaha. Don't get me wrong, I love their home audio equipment.
Got it home and proceeded to wet myself upon opening the package. Oh, the glory!! Manuals, two cd-r's, one cd-rw, a marker for writing on them and WHAT!?! An installation video on VHS!! I had no reason whatsoever to need this but I give a 10 just for the "cool" factor...kudo's to TDK for providing one for the less knowledgeable. Yes, I still watched it...how could you not? :) Three hundred dollars is a lot of money for a cd burner, I don't care how fast it is...but at least as you're opening it TDK makes you FEEL like they took their time to make it money well spent. The out-of-box experience was top notch.
As with any cd unit, installation was a breeze under Windows (98 in my case). I already knew all about installing one from having done it about 4 times previously but I still took the time to read the directions, just in case there was something special I needed to do for this particular unit. Installation instructions were clear and easy to follow and even if they weren't the video was there to actually SHOW you how it's done, so you're backed up in either case. As with any cd burner unit, you want to install it as the master device in your chain. Installed the unit and booted up.
After booting up I went to install the included software. Alas, problems. Nero doesn't want you using Adaptec's EasyCD Creator, and I mean DOESN'T...to the point of not letting you install the software. I had to go into my registry and actually delete entries for EasyCD creator before Nero would install. That's obviously something a novice might not realise to check but in all fairness it's not actually TDK's fault...that's Adaptec's laziness with their uninstall routine. I only mention in case you read this and have the same problem yourself later on but it's nothing to fault TDK or their included software for.
After figuring out my problem and solving it, everything was fine. The drive does what it says and does it perfectly. The only minor complaint I have is about TDK's Mixmaster software. I found it to be rather archaic as far as user friendliness and I've used enough programs to know how one works without having to read directions, which I found I had to do with this one. It's more to do with poor layout than anything, so that's easily fixable. It could be that I'm just sick of all the fanciness with 'skins' and the like. Save that for the WinAmp's and Sonique's of the world guys, please? :) Maybe it's also that I'm spoiled by the quality of skins the aforementiond programs have as the one's for TDK's Mixmaster right now are very badly designed...not a lot of thought went into them it seems as they come across as rather hastily put together. In the end it's just another nitpick really as the program DOES work, it's just a pain that it was turned into a "hunt and peck" affair for buttons.
I've had the unit for about 2 weeks, in which time I've made about 20 cd's and I've yet to make any frisbee's, even at 12X writing speed...so all is well. Yeah, it's expensive, even with a $50 rebate; but it does what it says, and that's increasingly a problem area anymore when it comes to computer components. Do yourself a favor, if you're looking for a new burner, look no further. This one's for you!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
Arrythmia
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Reviews written: 1
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