Thanks to its portability and easy IEEE 1394 (FireWire) and USB interfacing, the new ‘JackRabbit’ CD-RW drive is ideal for use with notebook computers, as well as with desktop computers at different locations. The ‘JackRabbit’ drive will be compatible with all major operating systems supporting IEEE 1394. The kit will include interactive installation software CD, Roxio Easy CD Creator 5 and Toast software, FireWire and USB interface cable, blank CD-R and CD-RW discs and a universal power supply. Shipments will start in September 2001.

Together with the high read/write speeds of up to 12x for CD recording, 8x for rewriting and 36x for reading, this drive is one of the first to overcome the usual speed penalty compared with internal drives. The high 24x digital audio extraction speed ensures fast and reliable CD Audio ‘ripping’. The drive interface is a USB 1.1 for convenient connection to any notebook or desktop computer that does not have a FireWire port.

In addition to reading, writing and rewriting data and music CDs, ‘JackRabbit’ plays MP3 music discs directly from CD - even when not connected to a host computer. Equipped with a headphone connection and handy trackball to control volume and next and previous track functions. ‘JackRabbit’ uses Philips’ latest “intelligent drive” technologies, to ensure high-performance, error-free CD writing and rewriting. This includes Thermo Balanced Writing, to minimize write errors and optimize write speed by automatically matching data writing parameters to the quality of individual discs. A new addition to the “intelligent drive” technology is Seamless Link, an on board solution for “buffer-underruns.”..."