Good CDR media company, GREAT CDRW drive!
Written: Jul 22 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: FAST, large internal buffer, good software suite, easy installation
Cons: Doesn't include Adaptec VideoCD creator, price is high in some stores
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| boden11's Full Review: TDK veloCD ReWriter 12/10/32 |
I was on a mission! My girlfriend's mom handed me a fistful of cash and asked me to go down to a local computer store and get her a good CD-R drive for her system. Off I went, and I was given 3 options when I arrived: the TDK veloCD-RW drive (approx. 219$ for an 8x/4x/32x drive), the HP 9300i (299$ for a 10x) or the RICOH 6x which also was DVD compatibly (read only, not a RAM drive, for about 269$).
The RICOH wasn't very practical for the computer I was installing to (plus she already had a DVD-Video player connected to their television) so I passed on that, the HP 9300i seemed very drool-worthy- 10x CD recording speed. I've been watching CD-Rs since the very beginning, and up until VERY recently, the fastest you could go was the 8x CDR DRIVE ROCKET which was about 699$. However, in the past 10-12 months the CDR market really took off and advanced.
Anyways, the 10x seemed pretty excessive for what she needed (and 80$ more expensive than the TDK 8x) so I picked up the TDK veloCDRW. The drive itself is quite nice, here are some specifications:
Specifications for the TDK velo-CDRW
* 8x CD Record speed (meaning a whole 650MB takes about 9 minutes at 8x speed)
* 4x CD ReWrite speed
* 32x CD read speed
* 20x CD Audio rip speed (when reading a music CD, this is much faster than most drives)
* large 4MB buffer (bigger than most 8x drives so you don't have to worry about buffer underruns which = coaster)
* Supports all CDR types (Red book, Video-CD (White book), Mode1, Mode2, CD-I (old Phillips type), CD Extra, Enhanced CD, Photo CD, etc. etc.)
* EIDE bus
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Installation was a breeze, the drive fits into an empty 5.25" bay and is the same size as any other CD-ROM drive. Plug in the power cable, plug in the EIDE cable and make sure the drive is going to be the master (see my review on "Buying a CD-RW drive" which explains the whole master/slave scenario if you need further explanation: http://www.epinions.com/cmd-review-3857-111AFD28-3956BB05-prod5 )
Included in the box where a whole myriad of goodies; EIDE cable, screws, installation manual, software (including Adaptec EZ-CD creator, TDK's Audio Blender, and a few other types of software), manuals for the software, a VIDEO instruction guide on VHS(!), and 2 blank CD-Rs and a blank CD-RW. Quite thorough in my opinion.
Once installed, the drive is detected by Windows 9x and a generic CD-ROM driver is initialized. Then to use the drive you simply install the TDK software included on the CDs and get ready to burn!
What I really love...
What I truly enjoy about the TDK veloCD drive is that the software included with the drive is perfect. For example, TDK installs a media player type of application which can play audio and video (.wav, .mp3, .avi, etc.). But what's REALLY COOL is that you can create a nice play list of songs you like (MP3) and then stick in a blank CD and click burn, and it decodes the MP3 into RAW WAV files on the fly and burns it to CD. No more decoding into big 50-100 MB files/song before you want to burn, just create a playlist and go.
The TDK veloCD RW also supports the new 80 minute CDs on the market (740 MB I believe vs 650). Even my 4-5 year old CD changer in my car was able to read one of these 80 minute CDs without a problem.
Also, for future expandability/unforseen problems, TDK created the drive with flashable ROM inside. New firmware? Simply visit the TDK webpage, download and then run. It will upgrade the flash ROM inside the veloCDRW drive and you're ready to roll.
What kinda drags
There are really only 2 downsides to this drive. The first is that the Adaptec EZ-CD creator included with the drive doesn't come with the Video CD creator software that DOES come with the retail version of Adaptec EZ-CD creator. This isn't a BIG deal (not many people burn VCD's), but it still is a minor setback.
The other problem is that the drive has a high MSRP (349$ on the webpage) and isn't available everywhere at the low price I got it. Shop around, you should be able to get it at a good price (hint hint: COSTCO!) so you don't burn too much money on the purchase.
Other than those 2 minor problems, the drive is a masterpiece, which is what I would suspect from the number one supplier of blank CD media! (I mean if you couldn't make a good CD-R drive when you produce high quality CD-R media...that would just be too weird).
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
boden11
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 in Personal Finance |
 - Top 500 |
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Location: California
Reviews written: 126
Trusted by: 112 members
About Me:
boden11 loves gambling...errr investing in the stock market and and doing his own taxes
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