LaCie announced today the arrival of their new performance leader CDRW drive: the LaCie 48x12x48x CD-RW. The external device is aimed at users who frequently create custom CDs, such as multimedia or marketing professionals.

With such a groundbreaking write performance, ripping or burning a 60-minute CD-R only takes about two minutes. The drive can also be used to rewrite CD-RW discs at 1.8 MB/s (12x) – the industry's highest validated rewriting speed – and is ideal for individual backup. The 48x read performance speeds up retrieval of very large files and audio extraction.

The built-in Buffer Under-Run Protection lets users confidently burn CDs even when they are using their computer for other tasks. Unlike passive drives, which are still common on the market, the LaCie 48x CD-RW automatically adapts its speed to system throughput to ensure error-free recording even at this breakneck speed.

Adding to the convenience of the drive, both 400 Mbps FireWire and 480 Mbps USB 2.0 interfaces let users connect, remove or swap the drive without having to restart the computer. USB 2.0 is fully compliant and compatible with the industry-standard USB 1.1.

Frederic Albinet, LaCie's Product Manager describes the use of a fast CD burner as a real booster for the productivity of frequent users: "CD is still, by far, the most widespread media. Office professionals use CD-ROMs daily, mainly for data exchange and most recent computers now include internal CD-rewriters. However for frequent users these internal CD-RWs often prove to be too slow and counterproductive. In addition the computer can usually not be used during the burning process. The LaCie 48x CD-RW really helps churn out CDs faster and is a true time-saver for multimedia and marketing professionals".