I need a good/fast burner, primarily burning music CD's(Probably I burn 30 of the same music CD...). Data/back up is not really a concern now, but will use sometimes.
I researched and my conclusion is to go for the latest Yamaha or Plextor.
One problem is I don't have a desktop and I have a notebook with USB 2.0 PCMCIA card inserted.
I found that both Yamaha and Plextor recently announced latest USB 2.0 burners with lots of features.
Yamaha looks good with Disc T@2 technology, while Plextor is 48x, and the price is pretty much the same.
Which one should I go for?

Hi e5ta
Well I have got the USB2 and the Internal Yamaha F-1 and I have had no problems with it at all since they released the new Firmware and the External Case it comes in is Superb but in the end the Choice is yours !!!

(in reply to e5ta)

I have to agree with Laffin as I have the Plextor 24x & 48x drives, now all I need is the Yamaha F-1! Right, Laffin!

(in reply to e5ta)

The Yamaha is one of the greatest drives I ever worked with.
The most important thing, the write quality is excellent.
The Optimum Writespeed Control works great. It slows down a lot with crappy media but writes high quality media at the highest speed.
The result is always a good error-free copy.

For audio ripping it's great as well, although my LiteOn drives are slightly better at it.

And last but not least the DiscT@2 is really great!
I gave a few DiscT@2 discs as presents and the people I gave it to were very impressed.
The only problem is getting the dark-blue CD-R's which gives best results.

(in reply to e5ta)

Thanks a lot for all of you who replied.
Yesterday I had a chance to test Yamaha F1 USB 2.0 version and I'm very impressed. I have a Boyz II Men CD (with End of the Road in there) which is very old and scratched and keep skipping whenever I put it on a CD player. I tried Yamaha F1 to burn it at 44x on a crappy memorex 24x media (50 for $5) and Wow!!! it works, and it works even in my 7 years old crappy CD player. I think Yamaha will be a better choice for me since I do a lot of ripping and burning music CD's.
As far as the discT@2, It was hard to see the image on the memorex media since it is not dark blue. But I can see how it might look on a Verbatim metal azo.
I haven't tried the Plextor 48/24/48 USB 2.0, but I don't think it can beat Yamaha F1's reliability.
Thanks a lot for help.

(in reply to e5ta)

Hi e5ta
Well I am pleased we could help and I do think you won't have any problems with the F1 as long as you use the latest Firmware v1.0d !!!

(in reply to e5ta)

Both very good drives, very hard to choose just one of 'em.

If you're going external, I reccommend the CRW-F1DX and if your going internal, I recommend PX-W4824A. It has actually better recording quality than the F1 even!

(in reply to e5ta)

hi,
i recommend you choose the F1DX, i have one. it is excellent.
i have no problem with it.

(in reply to e5ta)

quote:

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Originally posted by cdrfreak

For audio ripping it's great as well, although my LiteOn drives are slightly better at it.

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For as far as i know there isn't a lite-on drive that ripps protected audio-cd's. Where the Yamaha CRW-F1 has absolute no problems.

Wish i had a CRW-F1

WNTR

(in reply to e5ta)

quote:

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Originally posted by wntr

quote:

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Originally posted by cdrfreak

For audio ripping it's great as well, although my LiteOn drives are slightly better at it.

---

For as far as i know there isn't a lite-on drive that ripps protected audio-cd's. Where the Yamaha CRW-F1 has absolute no problems.

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Don't know.
It's just the speed and quality I'm mainly interested in.

(in reply to e5ta)

quote:

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Originally posted by cdrfreak

quote:

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Originally posted by wntr

quote:

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Originally posted by cdrfreak

For audio ripping it's great as well, although my LiteOn drives are slightly better at it.

---

For as far as i know there isn't a lite-on drive that ripps protected audio-cd's. Where the Yamaha CRW-F1 has absolute no problems.

---

Don't know.
It's just the speed and quality I'm mainly interested in.

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What's the point of that if you can't rip these audio-cd's?[?][?]

(in reply to e5ta)