Verbatim Corporation and Peripherals Group, Inc., the exclusive licensor of Verbatim® optical hardware products and subsidiary of CenDyne, Inc., today together announced that two new high-performance 48X CD-RW drives are now shipping to technology and consumer electronics retailers.

The new Verbatim 48X CD-RW drives deliver an unbeatable value to business and home users needing reliability and speed for today's data- and graphic-intense applications. The Verbatim 48x12x48 Internal EIDE drive can easily replace an older drive within a PC, while the Verbatim 48x12x48 External USB 2.0 drive can be used for those PCs that don't have a bay or simply need additional storage. Both drives are easy to install, especially the external drive which features USB 2.0 technology making it plug-and-play ready.

"These drives are a perfect option for computer users who may still be using slower 4X drives designed only a few short years ago," said Jim Hill, optical products manager, Peripherals Group, Inc. "And computer users know that buying Verbatim equals a no-hassle purchase -- the speed and reliability of the products is rivaled only by how easy it is to install and use them."

Both drives offer a great storage solution for home and small business users alike. At home, the kids can burn music, mom can save photos and create scrapbooks, and dad can archive personal financial information. At the office, the drives can be used for multimedia presentations, as well as storing important data.

Both the Verbatim Internal 48X EIDE drive and Verbatim External 48X USB 2.0 drive come complete with everything a computer user needs to start recording, managing and storing their data, photos or video, including high-quality Verbatim CD-R media. The suite of award-winning software includes Nero Express, NeroVision Express and InCD for CD burning and creation, as well as MusicMatch Jukebox for unlimited MP3 encoding. Plus, the new burner comes with a 30 day trial version of NTI Backup NOW®! software and a $20 discount off the purchase of Backup Now! Deluxe.

Each Verbatim CD-RW burner is backed by a one-year warranty and toll-free technical phone support. The Verbatim CD-RW drives are shipping now to leading computer and consumer electronics retailers. The drives will be offered at a suggested manufacturers retail price of $99 for the 48x12x48 internal drive and $129 for the 48x12x48 external USB 2.0 drive.