I bought a refurbished external Philips CDRW400 series CD burner off of Ebay. (USB) A few days later, and after paying, I read the reviews here on Epinions. The terrible reviews made me believe that the product was useless, which was terrible for me since I couldn’t return it. The major problems I found with the drive were things I thought CD-RW drives were capable of but are not. Basically, I thought CD burners could be used like floppy disks as far as being able to delete from My Computer, and save directly to the disk from programs or when downloading.

As stated in other reviews, there are several problems with the drive being detected. On my PC, Windows will recognize the drive, but shows in device manager that there is something wrong. The Adaptec software, which is included in the package, simply does not work. For some reason the drive doesn’t even show up in the list of choices for a CD-RW drive. Downloading another program, such as the free trial of Nero, can solve this problem, but only temporarily. (after the free trials over you're without a program) I tried Stomp RecordNow DLA Max and that worked great. However, that trial ended and I was without a program. I must have tried 30 popular programs, and not ONE other will recognize this drive! I called Philips, and they didn't seem too surprised about this problem. He said they'd send an updated version of Adaptec which should be compatable. I said that that didn't explain why no other programs would work, and the guy didn't really have an answer... his reply was, "uh...umm...we don't give any suport to other software" or something like that. Translation: Our product sucks. You will only be able to use one company's software, and that's because we worked with them so it will be compatable. We didn't include the required software in the box, so expect a week wait after purchasing your product to get it running while we ship you the new program. Don't like the Adaptec software... too bad!

The instruction booklet is very small, and gives absolutely no advice on how to troubleshoot problems. If the drive works like it’s supposed to, it should be as easy as plugging in the USB cable and inserting the driver disk. (It was a problem with drives manufactured a while ago, now the cable comes with a driver. I think there are so many refurbished drives now because of that problem which it seems every drive had.) As with any piece of computer equipment, be ready for it to take much longer than expected to get running.

Once you get past that, the Philips 400 Series burner does what it’s supposed to do. I’ve made various types of disks, and almost each has been flawless. The 4x4x6 speed is pretty good for an external burner, and is the standard in this price range. A full CD can be burned in about 19-20 minutes. (depends on recording options and many other factors, however.)

One more thing: For the best performance with all CD burners, close all other running programs, and even turn the screensaver off. If you don’t, an error can occur while writing data, which makes CD-R disks useless, and CD-RW’s need to be erased and you’ll need to start over. I’ve been surfing the net with no problems while making a CD, but then again I’ve had small things cause those errors.




Recommended: No