Ricoh will enter the 32x recording race with the "MP7320A" series. The drive will support 32x writing, based upon Z-CLV writing technology, 10x re-writing (CLV) and 48x (CAV) reading. The "JustLink" and "JustSpeed" technologies are also present in order to avoid buffer under runs and ensure the best writing quality. The drive is expected to hit the market at January of 2002 at an unknown price, for now. The early information says that the drive is expected to reach 32x by using 4 zones (20x-24x-28x-32x).

The MP7320 drive has been developed with co-operation from Funai Electric as was announced earlier this year: "...Funai Electric and Personal MultiMedia Products Company, an internal company of Ricoh, have agreed to jointly develop and produce CD-RW drives and DVD+RW drives. Accordingly, Funai Electric will start full-scale production and marketing in this area. By combining Ricoh's design and development capabilities with Funai Electric's low-cost mass production systems, the two aim to offer high-performance, affordable machines that take advantage of rocketing demand..."

Product features:
Writing Speeds: 4x, 8x, 12x, 16x, 20x (CLV), 20-32x (Z-CLV)
Re-writing speeds: 2x, 4x, 10x (CLV)
Reading: 48x (CAV)
2MB buffer
ATAPI interface
JustLink anti-buffer underrun technology
JustSpeed quality monitor system
Writing mathods: Disc At Once, Session At Once, Track At Once, Multi-Session, Packet Writing
Writing format: CD-DA, CD-ROM, CD-ROM XA, CD Extra, CD-I, Mixed-Mode CD, VideoCD, PhotoCD, CD TEXT, Bootable CD
Average access time: 90msec