If I wanted homemade coasters I would go to a craft store
Written: Nov 29 '00
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: The free CD-Stomper
Cons: Flaky hardware, mediocre software, erratic tech support
|
|
|
| CreamChief's Full Review: Sony Spressa CD-RW (4X/2X/24X) |
Problematic from the beginning, I have sent it back to be fixed under warranty twice. The software is functional but not great, and the hardware is flaky. Oh, where do I begin?
The Sony saga
The saga began immediately. I burned one CD, and the burner died, toasting a CD. After that, Windows would not even boot with the CD drive connected; it could not read a CD in DOS with drivers installed, nothing.
I called Sony, and they told me to take it back to the store. Ah, but the place I bought it wouldn't take it back if the box was opened. I called Sony again. They said that their dealers are required to take defective returns. I gave the dealer's information to Sony, and to Sony's credit they called me back a short time later. Apparently the store owner would not give them a straight answer about where he gets his supply of Sony goods. He is evidently not authorized to be selling Sony stuff, hmmm . . .
Anyway, I told Sony that since I bought the retail box, that someone should fix or replace it. I had to go through a series of faxing my proof of purchase, etc. and then talking to their tech support. Oh, what a treat that was.
Perhaps it is because I work with computers for a living, but I really don't enjoy tech support people implying user error on my part or that I don't have something installed properly. Eventually, I got authorization to send the drive back in to get fixed. They paid the shipping.
When I got it back, the same thing happened - one CD, then blah, another coaster and wacky hardware problems. I sent it back to Sony again. Since the third time around, it works "okay."
Using the CD burner
If I cold boot my PC with the drive installed, then Windows will not start up nor work properly. Anything that accesses any drives sludges along like molasses then hangs. It seems to be a problem with the packet writing software that allows a CD/RW disc to be used as a regular drive. A soft reboot, and then the PC works.
The CD writing software, HotBurn, is functional but no-frills. The only real CD mastering problems I have had are with the 80 minute CD's, but that might have been user error there :)
The drive works with other CD writing software like Adaptec Easy-CD Creator. The updates to the Sony software installed fine on the HotBurn software, but the update to the packet writing software, abCD, would not install. It complained that the older version wasn't installed.
The "Bonus" Software
So I get a CD in the mail from Sony, a demo of their music CD mastering software. It compiles music CD's directly from MP3's or WAV's. You can use it for something like three times and then pay if you want to use it more. Okay, why not try it, I figured.
The interface is a nightmare. These days, it seems that everyone wants to make cool-looking WinAmp-like interfaces with wacky skins. The functions and use were baffling. I clicked on something, somewhere, by mistake, and the CD started burning - another coaster for the collection. I thought I was adding clips to a layout but apparently not.
I removed the software immediately after that.
Final Analysis
The CD burner is functional now. I still can't cold boot my PC - I boot and then do a soft reset. When I bought the drive, I compared several different brands of IDE CD burners in the price range. At least I didn't buy a Smart and Friendly drive (they went out of business).
The best part of this drive was that I got a free CD-Stomper with it. The drive came with a coupon to get a free Stomper. It finally arrived long after I had forgotten about it.
I would stick with Yamaha or Plextor. I use the Plextor SCSI drives at work for high volume duplicating and have had no remarkable problems.
Recommended:
No
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
CreamChief
|
|
Location: Maryland
Reviews written: 57
Trusted by: 13 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.