Sony raises the bar for high performance CD-R/RW burning again with its new 52X CD-RW drive. The CRX220A can create a full CD-R disk in less than 2 minutes or a full CD-RW disk in... more
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A review by Dave_UK on Sony CRX 220A1 December 5th, 2003
Author's product rating:
Reliability
Excellent
Ease of Installation
Satisfactory
Value For Money
Excellent
Advantages:
Fast, quiet and well - built
Disadvantages:
speed selection
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
I was shopping around for a CD writer a few months ago and was spoilt for choice. It seems that, nowadays, every PC hardware manufacturer is trying to get a piece of the CD-duplication action.
>Value< However, I was pleased to spot this CD writer from Sony (a reputable brand) at a reasonable price. It was only a few pounds more than a budget equivalent, so I bought it and have been very pleased with it.
>Ease of use< The buffer-underrun protection on the drive is faultless. I have created many CD's - both audio and data - and none of them have had any problems. Even when using cheap media :) Additionally, the drive worked excellently straight out of the box. I have not needed to update the firmware, which is essential on many budget drives.
>Bundle< Sony also thoughtlfully includes a decent software bundle - however, my drive (despite being a boxed retail version) didn't come with a spare IDE cable, which although cheap would've been nice. There is a couple of capable unheard-of burning programs, although a copy of Nero would have been preferable. The drive comes with all necessary mounting screws and a CD audio cable for connectivity to your soundcard (this is not essential if you prefer to use digital audio extraction for music playback).
>Performance< In both reading and writing discs, the drive is very fast, and is also somewhat less noisy than many other CD-writers I have used. However, to select the highest transfer speeds (about 40x) you have to press and hold the eject button for five seconds to enable 'turbo' mode. This is a little inconvenient, but also means that the drive is quieter in normal use, when you don't need the extra speed.
>Overall< Overall, this drive is well-priced, fast, efficient and reliable. Definitely the best budget IDE CD-Writer I have used (and I have used about 10) - recommended.
NB. The drive may still be available cheaply online, but it has been replaced in the sony product line by the CRX230 model. Check it out here: http://products.sony.co.uk/productdetail.asp?id=10_168_5660
Sony raises the bar for high performance CD-R/RW burning again with its new 52X CD-RW drive. The CRX220A can create a full CD-R disk in less than 2 minutes or a full CD-RW disk in about 4 minutes, and features Power-Burn drive conformed buffer underrun protection technology. The CRX220A comes complete with software and accessories to get you up and burning CDs quickly.
Expansion / connectivity
Interfaces:
1 x IDE/ATAPI - 40 PIN IDC
1 x headphones - mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm
Compatible Bays: 1 x front accessible - 5.25" x 1/2H
Software / system requirements
OS Required: Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition, Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition / Windows 2000, Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition, Microsoft Windows XP Professional
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