Drives > CD ROM Drives

Advantages: Fast Data Transfer, Plays CDs, CDROM, VCD, PhotoCD, CDRs. CDWRs, Headphone Jack, Track Skip, Volume.
Disadvantages: None

.../ FEATURES ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ · Model: Philips PCCD048R · · Plug-N-Play Under Windows · · Drive Speed: 48 x · Maximum Data Transfer Rate: 7200 kb/s · · Access Time At 1/3 Stroke: 75 milliseconds · · Buffer Size: 128 kb · · Dive Interface: E-IDE / ATAPI · Supports: Ultra-DMA 33 · · Supports: 8 cm or 12 cm Physical Discs · · Supports All Major CD Formats: Audio CD · CD-ROM · CD-ROM / XA · Photo CD · Karaoke CD & VideoCD · CD-i ...
...thus reinforcing my trust in Philips being able to produce quality electronics. My previous 36 speed drive was not a well known brand. It performed well for it's first year, then seemed to develop fault after fault. When it finally gave up, I turned to the use of my old CD writer, which only read at 16 speed (pretty slow these days). With this Philips 48 speed CD-ROM, I've had literally hundreds of hours (virtually problem free) use. One little ... Read review

Advantages: Aztech and Delta drives, as an example, are much cheaper than bigger names
Disadvantages: If you buy cheaper CD ROM drives expect lower performance

I have mixed feelings about Aztech CD-ROM Drives – and other cheap makes. Everything seemed fine until the speed's started to increase to 24x and beyond. I was used to slower drives and wonder quite why anyone would need a CD-ROM to go so fast – but who am I to know? I have never had any problems with CD-ROM running at around 10 to 16 speed. Anyway, I found on a 32x Aztech drive that it couldn’t get up to full speed without cutting off before ...
...stopping and starting, making installation of any program a long drawn out affair. Eventually I had the unit replaced with a Delta CD ROM. It’s better, but still seems to suffer from its high speed at times. I would recommend, and it’s only my opinion, that you spend a bit more and purchase a Yamaha, Philips, Teac or any other well-known brand. You can guarantee build quality and they should be able to reach high speed without problems with vibration ... Read review

Advantages: Can show off to your friends
Disadvantages: Unstable

...was a time when a Creative product was a good product. The name alone was sufficient to know that your newly purchased soundcard would be compatible with every thing you could throw at it, and would be reliable, and stable. Somewhere along the product line, Creative changed. No longer were their products the reliable things that people were used to. I purchased one of the 36 speed cd-rom drives with an IR remote control. Beautiful thing, when it ...
...you would hope for. After install, my computer became instantly unstable, and the BIOS refused to acknoledge my second hard drive. After much fiddling, I discovered the cd-rom drive did not like sharing an IDE chain with another piece of hardware. The driver is also buggy, and slows your pc down even when the drive is not in use. When it works, as i say, it's nice - the remote control thing is so nice, and impressed people. But I could not wait to ... Read review

Advantages: "works" with Mac and Windows
Disadvantages: Too many to list.

...work... (using Taiyo Yuden media bought from Microboards authorised retailers) >Manuals... inexistent! After days of bugging their support, a PDF was emailed over... > Support - rude and unhelpful most of the time. Takes days to get anything out of them In short? Stay well clear from this product! ... Read review

Advantages: Fast Write speeds, wide compatibilty, 20 speed dvd writing and CHEAP
Disadvantages: Not any that i've experienced!!

I found this to be an excellent drive as i picked up one for around £30 and that was when it came out(last year, june). I think that this is an excellent drive for the fact it has a wide range of DVD and CD writing features; 20 speed writing, my favourite feature is the light scribe feature which allows you to design your own cd labels on a special 'lightscribe disc'. The Drive was also quiet, but not too quiet. I found the OEM Box that the drive ... Read review