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Re: [ARSCLIST] CD burner
Steven Smolian wrote:
I suddenly have to replace my internal CD burner (computer internal, not human). I expect to burn CDs and MP3s, as the latter is what folks are asking me for who are posting what I give them to the net. What is the consensus?
And what, sir, makes you think there will be a consensus?
<VBG>
I'm not at all sure that quality drives without DVD write capability are
still being produced. I am told by knowledgable people - those who
measure performance - that the Plextor 8x writers delivered the highest
quality most consistently. The falloff to the Plextor 12x was slight and
in the real world buffer underrun protection, unavailable on the 8x
machines, is on the 12x. If my workhorse 1210s ever fails, another is
waiting - and I have an 8x tucked away just in case.
Most combination units are optimized to write DVDs and while many are
competent to write CDs they do not deliver the low error rates of drives
without DVD capability. Limiting write speed to 12x or 16x is
recommended in any case to keep error rates low. All quality media I've
tested seem optimized in that range and produce excellent results at
12x. Drives rated to write at 32x and above are unlikely to write well
at such slow speeds.
Plextor has had refurbished drives available from their site, but often
you'll find one eBay store better stocked than they are. I'm afraid that
the odds on finding an unused drive rated for less than 24x max speed
are not very good.
Mike
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mrichter@xxxxxxx
http://www.mrichter.com/