Hewlett Packard 85250i CD Writer Plus

Advantages: Cheap and reliable.
Disadvantages: Not the fastest drive on the market

...I bought this CD Writer on the recommendation of a friend who had also recently purchased one. I got mine from Stak Trading’s web site (www.staktrading.com) for the bargain price of £69.32 including VAT and Delivery! I think the RRP is something like £150, or at least, it was, this model has probably been superseded by a newer model, hence the low price. I’m not sure exactly how long this piece of kit has been around, but I would guess at around a year. However, for what you get it is impossible to fault. The minimum system requirements stated by Hewlett Packard are: Pentium 200 MHz Microsoft Windows 95B or 98 32 Megs of RAM 35 Megs of hard drive space for software installation. What you get: 1 CD Writer (!) + screws. 1 IDE cable (just in case you need one) 1 Blank 74min CD-R 1 Installation CD...

Rude 12.08.2001 (23.10.2001) · Read review
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Review of HP CD-Writer 8250i

A cure for writers' block?

Advantages: Useful ideas for creative writers
Disadvantages: The approach won't appeal to all writers.

...The very fact that Natalie Goldberg's book 'Writing Down the Bones' is easy to read is testament to her skill as a writer. This should be encouragement enough for any writer to follow her advice. Her ideas so clearly expressed that they are absorbed without effort. The variety of them keeps the momentum of the book going. Goldberg began teaching writing workshops in 1975 to hippies, nuns and juvenile delinquents amongst others. In 1974 she began practising sitting meditation. She studied Zen formally from 1978 to 1984 and this deeply influenced her approach to writing. It will, however, probably mean that writers will either love or hate the methods exposed in 'Writing Down the Bones'. Writing is considered a discipline similar to running, for example: it must be practised every day. Goldberg sees writing as being about 'trusting your...

denella 15.04.2009 · Read review
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Review of Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer within - Natalie Naimark-Goldberg

I Wannabe a Writer...

Advantages: Inspires, encourages, has a variety of features
Disadvantages: Not quite up to the standard of its rival

...I realised a couple of weeks ago that I should probably be numbered with those who spot trains, collect stamps and play Warhammer; in other words, I seem to have developed a bit of an obsession. It’s been insidious, but the smart new magazine box-files on my bookshelves are evidence enough. They contain a copy of every issue from virtually every UK writing magazine published in the last six months. Included in this growing collection are the most recent five issues of Writers’ Forum (hereafter referred to as WF). Although I had avidly read each issue of this monthly magazine, until that point of realisation my actual output of written words was, well, non-existent. I’d obviously been operating under the common delusion that the mere ownership of something is enough to secure the desired rewards. Much in the same way...

Sally3 13.12.2003 · Read review
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Review of Writers Forum

Memorex-cellent value 12x CD writer

Advantages: Cheap and comparable to the more expensive Plextor
Disadvantages: Easy CD is maybe not as good as WinOnCD and support is vague

...Are you fed up waiting for that dodgy copy of you mates cd to burn? Tired of watching how slow your pathetic, unbadged, 2 speed cdwriter spits out those copies? Or maybe you're lukcy, and have a 4 speed cdwriter. Maybe even an 8 speed one. Now that's not bad now, is it - what is that, around 10 mins a cd? That's not bad. Now consider what it would be like to burn cd's in around 6 minutes. Now I'm not trying to be like that serial murderer blokey out of There's Something About Mary - you know, the one who goes on about his idea for the "8 minute abs video", only to be told "What if someone comes out with '7 minute abs'?" - cos I know that you're going to tell me there are faster drive around, before you say it! ;-) The drive I am writing this opinion about is the Memorex TwelveMaxx 1032. It is a 12 speed CD writer drive, which is...

MikeWhalley 25.04.2001 · Read review
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Review of Memorex CD-RW drive

Hewlett Packard 8250i Plus CD Writer

Advantages: Low cost and high quality
Disadvantages: None that I have found

...This is the best CD Writer I have ever used and would recommend it to anyone that wants high quality at under £150, if you have a budget of £200 you could go for the 9000 series CD Writer. It?s a 24 x 4 x 4 unit that is more than capable of carrying out most tasks that the home user would require. The writer comes bundled with Easy CD Creator so the minute it's installed your ready to start making your own CD's. With Easy CD Creator you can make audio and data CD's as well as CD to CD copying all at the touch of a button and if your not too sure it has a wizard built into it and does most of the setting up for you. It also includes on the installation CD some software for drag and drop creation so it's even easier to create your own CD's. The first thing I did with it was transfer all my old vinyl records on to CD which will play in most...

Jester 08.07.2000 · Read review
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Review of HP CD-Writer 8250i

Resources for writers

Advantages: Current resources, frequently updated, quick to load, easy to navigate, courses and critique available
Disadvantages: Rather basic layout, no actual articles, not much for newcomers to writing

...Jacqui Bennett's Writers' Bureau website (http://www.jbwb.co.uk) is in my view one of the most useful sites for British writers that I have come across. It's not flashy; it doesn't even look slick or professionally designed, but it's easy to navigate, it's frequently updated, and it's full of current information about writing markets and competitions. The aim of the site is to help people become published writers. With that in mind, there are two main types of resource here: free ones, available to all, and paid resources. Jacqui Bennett (whose real name is Jenny Hewitt) is a writer and writing instructor of significant experience; she and her team aim to provide links for everything that a writer might want. ? Layout ? The main page (and indeed all pages) has simple text on a white background, with a blue bar of links...

Kukana 08.11.2003 · Read review
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Review of Jacqui Bennett Writers Bureau

early writer

Advantages: Plextor are THE cdwriters
Disadvantages: its old now and there are better available

...this caddy based cdwriter was perhaps the classic writer. Although annoyingly caddy based it featured 4x writing and good 12x reading in its day. It has no rewrite ability at all. Capable of important stuff like DAO raw writing it still today is better equipped for copying protected CDs compared to many current models like Yamaha. Build quality is heavy and strong. The drive I'm reviewing had massive use before coming my way and yet still operated well. My high opinion of Plextor drives is founded on this drive. Lets hope modern Plextor drives are up to the standard of this one. The only downer is that scsi installation was tricky. It seemed to prefer the scsi cards with built in cache to those without. I can't explain why but would guess that the timeouts on its scsi connection were perhaps slighltly too fast. One reason I...

BonzoBanana 15.01.2001 (14.01.2001) · Read review
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Review of Plextor PlexWriter CD-R drive

Sony CDU928E CD Writer

Advantages: It works sometimes.
Disadvantages: Loads

......

Trev1000 02.04.2001 (31.03.2001) · Read review
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Review of Sony CDU928E CD Writer

CD WRITERS...the lowdown

Advantages: fast, reliable, not to expensive
Disadvantages:

...I enquired about buying a cd writer a few months ago. Luckly, I know someone who is extremely "up" on computers and software, and they directed me to to TEAC 8x writer. Basically, if your thinkng of buying a cd writer/re-writer then my advise would be to purchase the best you can afford, then borrow more money and buy a better one! When you first look at the speed the writer can "burn" digital data on to cd's, then you might think that writing a 650Mb cd in 18 minutes is ok (this is 4x speed). But after you've completed writing your first, and are onto your second, you soon start to lose your patience, (and I am very patient!). I have an 8x writer which can write a full cd in 8 minutes. Now this is the type of speed most people should be after, even if you are ot into this type of thing in a big way, it get's frustrating if...

StevenR007 06.09.2000 · Read review
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Review of TEAC - TEAC 8x writer/re-writer CDR58S

A Writer Writes About Writing

Advantages: Interesting ideas; range of literary references
Disadvantages: Mainly for writers of fiction and poetry

...Having read and been so impressed by several of Margaret Atwoods works of fiction, I imagined that a book written by her about the art or activity of writing would prove to be an interesting read. As explained in the introduction and prologue to the book, the chapters here are based on the Empson Lectures given by the writer at the University of Cambridge in the year 2000. Chapter 1, entitled Who do you think you are? is mainly autobiographical, tracing Atwood's early years from her birth in Ottawa in 1939 up until her undergraduate student days at Victoria College, the University of Toronto. I found it an enjoyable read that eased me into the book, as I learned how Atwood and her brother whiled away the hours taking turns at storytelling, and how she became an avid reader of everything from Edgar Allan Poe and Jane Austen to True...

denella 26.02.2008 · Read review
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Review of Negotiating with the Dead: A Writer on Writing - Margaret Atwood