Memorex 1622 - Slow, fickle, but cheap.
Written: Jul 20 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Cheap, writes Playstation games and scratch-free audio CDs well.
Cons: Unreliable, fickle, and comes with poorly designed software.
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| cbn458's Full Review: Memorex CD-RW drives |
My first CDRW drive was the Memorex 1622, which came with NTI-CD maker software. Some people may complain about its snail paced 2X write speed, but I feel that the manufacturer could address far more compelling problems than that.
For starters, the 1622 is an incredibly fickle drive. If you are copying a CD with almost any kind of tiny scratch on it, an error message will appear, and you will be forced to either skip that particular track or abort the entire operation. This is extremely annoying given the amount of time it takes (30 - 45 minutes) to copy an audio CD. If anyone reading this already owns a 1622, I would recommend that you repeatedly press the "retry" button. Sometimes the track does write the 2nd or rather 5th time you retry.
In addition to copying audio CDs I have also used the 1622 on playstation games and other types of software. It has always performed well on playstation games, copying an entire game as one individual track. I've had less luck with audio CDs that are copies themselves. Theoretically the surface of any audio CD is composed strictly of zeros and ones. However this burner seems to be particular. About half the time the 1622 handles these copied audio CDs without incident, and the other half of the time it can't even read them at all.
I've also had some problems with the NTI software itself as well as with the actual drive. Although it is very easy to use, the NTI software refuses to recognize CDR media with a storage capacity of more than the standard 650MBs/74 minutes. Although most audio CDs don't require even this much storage, there are those compilation CDs which hold more than 74 minutes of music. For these I bought some 80 minute/700MB CDRs, but was dismayed when the NTI software refused to recognize that more than 650MBs of audio could be copied onto the CDR. That was certainly frustrating. I had enough storage space on my CDRs, but the software kept telling me that I didn't, and that I couldn't copy.
My new CDRW drive is an 8x, and having experienced the difference it's hard to imagine going back to the 1622. However, if you can find one for under $90 I don't think the 1622 is such a terrible purchase. Just bear in mind that you get what you pay for.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
cbn458
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Member: Christopher Nugent
Reviews written: 16
Trusted by: 3 members
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