SwingDJs

I hit a slight bump in my ambitions to become a DJ: my cd-rom drive has stopped being recognized by the computer. When I put in a cd (data or music) it sits there and spins a bit and then stops and when I click on the CD-ROM drive it opens a folder, but there is nothing in the folder. Basically it doesn't seem to recognize the CD-ROM at all anymore.

So. What's a good, cheap burner to buy? I'm not really on a tight budget but I'd prefer to spend less than $80 on a cd-rom, and in fact if anybody can figure out why a cd-rom would suddenly stop responding and save me from buying a new one entirely, I love you.

I think this is a no-name that came with my computer. Does buying a Sony or Panasonic mean it's more reliable?

Plextor is the gold standard when it comes to CD burners.

http://www.plextor.com/english/products ... rives.html

PlexWriter Premium 52x32x52, the single best CD burner on the market, but it's probably way more then you'll ever need. Then again, $100 bucks gets you a drive you'll probably be able to live with for 5 years or so.

julius wrote:I hit a slight bump in my ambitions to become a DJ: my cd-rom drive has stopped being recognized by the computer. When I put in a cd (data or music) it sits there and spins a bit and then stops and when I click on the CD-ROM drive it opens a folder, but there is nothing in the folder. Basically it doesn't seem to recognize the CD-ROM at all anymore.

So. What's a good, cheap burner to buy? I'm not really on a tight budget but I'd prefer to spend less than $80 on a cd-rom, and in fact if anybody can figure out why a cd-rom would suddenly stop responding and save me from buying a new one entirely, I love you.

I think this is a no-name that came with my computer. Does buying a Sony or Panasonic mean it's more reliable?

If all you want is a CD-RW drive, almost any of the generic drives are fine these days... the technology has been around long enough that even the cheapo drives work pretty well.

The Lite-On drives and clones that Best buy sells for around $60 are more than adequate.

Buying a Sony or panasonic doesn't automatically guarantee much except you'll pay for the name, at least in the CD-RW market.

Click here to see a decent cheap drive

I too have heard that Plextor is the best of the best, but often that comes with a big jump up in price. Recently when my 16x Plextor drive died, I was convinced to get a Sony 52x24x52 CD-RW (several people have sworn by them), and I've been quite pleased with it, having zero problems with burns since I installed it a few months ago.

Here is a similar model at Best Buy:
Sony 52x32x52 Internal CD-RW Drive ($79)

Look around as you can often find rebates making drives even cheaper.

Actually after looking at the link that Reuben has provided, that internal Plextor drive is only $75. Looks like a good deal.

Jesse

If you want cheap, then buy cheap. They're all about the same.

If you want good, I'd second Plextor. My old A-open which had good reviews when I bought it has given me nothing mut trouble up until a month ago when it refused to burn anything but CD-RWs ... really weird. I just replaced it with a Plextor DVD-/+R/W,CD-R/W combo drive. The thing just works, it can even read some marginal CDs someone gave be that my old burner and DVD-ROM couldn't. I also have an old 4X caddy-load Plextor SCSI CD-ROM I bought surplus for $10. It too still works like a charm in the MicroVAX when I use it.

If you can afford it, buy Plextor. The stuff simply, just works!

I have a LiteOn 52x52xsomething that is excellent and I paid $60CDN. It replaced my 8x plextor that served me well for years and years (and is still working in another computer) - so probably plextor will last forever, but a quick cheap soluton is any of the LG/LiteOn ones.

d.

microvax?! dude, that's old school hardcore.

thanks for the reccos, i'll hit Fry's tomorrow night and see what they got. maybe i should just order online, but i am an instant gratification kind of guy.

i can't play computer games without a cd-rom either because i don't download cracked cd-rom images! poop.

julius wrote:i'll hit Fry's tomorrow.

Maybe that's why your hardware is dying on you, haha.

I would also consider focusing on the software that comes with your burner. For personal use, the hardware can be pretty generic; the software is often the biggest difference-maker between drives of similar speed.

I bought my most recent CD-R (purely to make compilations of what I purchased for personal use) because it came with Nero, which is the best burning program I have seen out there.

Lawrence wrote:(purely to make compilations of what I purchased for personal use)

You don't use your compilations while engaged in the business of DJing to a public audience? You mean you only use the original purchased CD for such functions?

GuruReuben wrote:You don't use your compilations while engaged in the business of DJing to a public audience? You mean you only use the original purchased CD for such functions?

I'm not a copyright attorney, so don't take this as anything other than what I do, myself, but my understanding of the law is that re-compiling music into compilations is legal if you own the music and do not sell the compilations. At the very least, it is not the outright copying of a CD you don't own that they are the most concerned about.

I'm not depriving them of profit by re-compiling what I own into more convenient formats.

Yes, you can do all that for personal use.
We're all using them for more then just personal use, even if we're not selling them.

So, not that you care, but I went out (to CompUSA) and bought a Mad Dog 52/24/52 burner that came with Nero. I forgot to set the master/slave jumper but it must have been set correctly because I popped in the new cd-rom and it worked perfectly the first time. Except for the part where I jostled the vid card and the machine wouldn't boot up, but never mind about that. I have a few reservations about this wacky brand (the tray opens up and near the end of its motion it doesn't quite go straight so it wiggles a bit) but we'll see if it holds up.

I also got Tron 2.0 which I will be DJing at a dance in the near future.

Just kidding.