Rip Me A CD !!!!! **UPDATED 9/30/2000**
Written: Jul 18 '00 (Updated Sep 30 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: 20x rip speed , strong software package , extras , manuals
Cons: none yet
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| artic00cat's Full Review: TDK veloCD ReWriter 12/10/32 |
Well the time finally came and I moved on replacing my old Memorex CD-RW 4x2x24 with the TDK VeloCD 8x4x32. Awaiting for Epinions to finally post the product so that I may review it. The time is now, and with that I will proceed as planned with reviewing The TDK VeloCD.
First off the manufactures suggested retail price for the unit is $349.00 on TDK's home page. You can however find the unit for approx. $249.00 if you use a little creative searching and research. The original figure expressed here may be enough to strike the fear into the light of heart , thus the reason for me explaining the pricing up front.
This particular unit boasts speeds of 8 X 4 X 32. In retrospect the 8 reflects the speed at which the unit is capable of writing to a CD. The 4 reflects the speed capability of the unit to rewrite a CD. And the 32 is the speed at which the unit is capable of reading a standard CD. Please note that 32 is the max. speed the unit will read the CD and is not a True X rating.
The unit as expected resembles any other CD - ROM drive unit you have ever seen. From appearance they all tend to look similar. And to an extent it is an average CD drive as well. Look at it as an enhanced CD drive with read. Write. And rewrite capabilities. The over all appearance of the drive is sleek and pleasing to the eye. When the drawer is ejected the base reveals a translucent blue colored plastic that adds to its mystique.
The drive installs easily much like any other CD or even DVD drive. Pop the case, mount the drive in a free 5 ¼ bay, hook up the EIDE cable, hook up the power cable, check the jumper setting for master, through the case back together and boot up your machine. Windows 98 did a beautiful drive detecting the unit as well. When completed and the computer is booted up and the drive is detected, all you have to do is install the software and your ready to rock and roll.
One key function of this unit that makes it ideal for copying or mixing audio CD's is it's 20X rip rate. This means that the drive performs audio extraction from a CD at the max. speed of 20X. As anyone experienced in ripping knows this can save much valued time will creating your own mix etc.
The drive also comes with a impressive software packaged bundled with it for your enjoyment. The retail box contains TDK PureDupe , TDK Digital MixMaster , TDK AudioMatic Processor , Adaptec Easy CD Creator , Adaptec Direct CD , MusicMatch Jukebox , Adobe ActiveShare , Windows Media Player , and Search By Media software.
I am not going to go try and review these software packages as I have not used them enough to accurately give any interpretations of them. However The version of Adaptec's easy CD creator is a stripped down version. It serves it's purpose but is limited in its features. The TDK software package thus far seems to make up for this though. Yet it still does not compare to using the full version of Adaptecs Easy CD creator software.
The drive itself performs beautifully and with out flaw. I have not created any coasters, Frisbees or otherwise with this drive as of the time of this review. The TDK unit supports many different readable formats and has digital audio extraction capabilies.This is a great CD-RW drive and the capability of ripping audio at 20X is a wonderful time saver. The drive although at 8X a little bit slower than today's highest speeds of 10 and even 12X on the write speeds , allows for adequate performance at a reasonable price.
One last thing I would like to add is that the TDK unit comes with complete and accurate instruction manuals. It includes a VHS installation tape to aide in installing the drive in a visual manor as well as all the paper documentation. The paper documentation includes drive installation, software installation , and use of the application provided . It also came with Two TDK blank CDR disc's and one TDK blank CD-disc. Also included was a TDK permanent CD marker pen.
*****UPDATE*****
As of this time this burner has out performed any and all that I have personally seen. It is capable of burning a quality copy at 8x without any problems what so ever, even on audio tracks. Please make sure to use blank CDR media capable of handling 8x. And it takes about 10 min to complete a whole CD at this speed.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
artic00cat
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Location: New York
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