It's a bird...It's a plane...No, it's not Superman...
Written: Oct 19 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Reeeeeeally fast, Sony name
Cons: Premium price, inferior software included
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| basilisk4's Full Review: Sony Spressa Professional |
Recently, the internet startup company where I work decided to buy a few new machines. For whatever reason, they settled on a particular Dell model, each of which came with a Sony Spressa Professional CD-RW drive installed. Although at first many of the employees didn't even notice that the new machines contained CD-RWs, we quickly found out and began to take advantage of that fact.
For those of you who aren't familiar with the various speeds of CD-Rewritable drives, I'll provide you with a brief overview here. In the description of a CD-RW drive, there are generally three numbers listed (e.g., 10x4x32, as is the case for this Spressa drive). The first number represents the write speed, the second number is the re-write speed, and the third number is the read speed. Of course, all of these numbers are maximums, and no piece of equipment can ever perform at its peak at all times, but this is a still a fairly good and standard way of classifying the various drives out there.
To put things into perspective, the CD-RW drive I have at home is about a year old and works at speeds of 4x4x32. Obviously, the only speed difference between this drive and the Spressas in question is the write speed, but there's a huge difference there. A ten-speed write drive compares to a four-speed write drive exactly the way one would expect it to -- it's two and a half times faster. So, for example, while my drive takes about 20 minutes to write a full disc, the Sony Spressa Professional takes a mere eight minutes to perform the same task. The bottom line here is that these drives are just really darn fast, at least on the initial write. If you plan to burn a lot of CDs, this is definitely something of which to take note.
There are only two possible downsides that come to mind with respect to the Sony Spressa Professional, neither of which really have much at all to do with the drive physically. The first item of relevance here is price. As many people know, one pays a premium to obtain the latest in Sony technology. While many would argue that Sony's products are top-of-the-line and therefore every bit worth that extra money, the fact remains that they do tend to cost more than comparable products. You'll just have to decide for yourself how much you're willing to pay for name and/or reputation.
Another somewhat annoying aspect of the Spressa Professional is that the standard software with which it comes bundled includes mostly proprietary software packages to which the average new user may not be accustomed. Most people who have used CD-writers in the past are used to some incarnation of Adaptec Easy CD Creator and/or DirectCD, which is basically the standard faire in terms of what is typically included with new CD-R and CD-RW drives. Having to pay extra for this software or be forced to use the stuff Sony includes may prove to be annoying for some people. Fortunately, Dell did bundle the typical Adaptec software with our computers, so that's not a problem I've had to deal with.
Now, call me crazy, but I'm still perfectly happy with my own Hewlett-Packard 8250i CD-RW drive, which is only a four-speed writer. Sure, I've always been pretty technology-savvy, but after so many years of highly inferior types of removable storage solutions, I'm still relatively amazed at being able to burn my own CDs. As a result, I won't be running right out and buying a Sony Spressa for my own personal use anytime soon. Nevertheless, it's certainly a worthy choice for anyone who's in the market for a nice and extremely fast CD-RW drive.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
basilisk4
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Location: Atlanta, GA
Reviews written: 233
Trusted by: 214 members
About Me:
Soon-to-be married 26-year-old lawyer who likes electronics, computers, and cars.
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