"...TDK is now shipping the first external CD burner in its product line, the veloCD 16/10/40. The drive is compatible with both Macs and PCs and uses FireWire as its interface. TDK indicates that the veloCD 16/10/40 utilizes a "Light Pipe," which glows blue every time the unit is turned on and pulses when the drive is writing or reading. It also features Roxio's Toast 4 Standard -- the OEM version of Roxio's popular Macintosh (news - web sites) CD mastering software. At 16x write speed, TDK said the new veloCD model can burn a full CD in 5 minutes, and at 40x read speed, can rip a 3-minute music track in less than five seconds.

System requirements call for any Mac with built-in native FireWire support; 64MB RAM; 100MB available HD space; Mac OS 9.x; and Apple FireWire 2.5 software. The veloCD 16/10/40 retails for US$399 and can be purchased online direct from the TDK e-store..."