Mediocrity!
Written: Jan 08 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Easy to use
Cons: Big and heavy, slow speed, high failure rate (deceptively cheap), unhelpful documentation
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| wyu's Full Review: Hewlett Packard CD-Writer Plus 8220e CD-RW Burner |
Lured by an irresistible alignment of coupons ($50 off from Amazon.com) and rebates ($50 off from HP) offered for this product, I recently awarded myself an early Christmas present, the HP CD-Writer 8220e. While there are some things that are good about this CD burner, there are many that aren't. My sole consolation is that I didn't pay that much for it (provided HP sends me my rebate)!
The best thing about this CD writer is that it is very easy to use. Open the box, plug in the USB cable and the power supply, install the drivers and program, and you're ready to burn some CDs in about 10-15 minutes. The programs that come with it (on two CDs) guide you through the process step-by-step, prompting you to put in the right things at the right times. There is plenty of hand-holding here, even if you're completely new to CD burning. You can make exact copies of your existing CDs, make audio CDs from your digital music files, or backup files at the click of a button. For users that are more experienced, however, the programs packaged with the 8220e might seem really dumbed down by giving the user little opportunity for customization.
On the negative side, this CD burner is pretty big. It is about the size, thickness and weight of a hardcover novel. Given that it is over half of size of my laptop, bringing it around with me is a pain. However, with few exceptions, size seems to be a common drawback of external CD burners. Panasonic makes one that is a lot more portable (only 12.7 ounces), but at a higher price, of course. Go to this link to see the specs for Panasonic's KXL-RW 10A: http://www.panasonic.com/office/templates/PDIC_BuyNow.asp?Category=1052&ModelNo=kxl-rw10a
In addition, the failure rate of HP's 8220e is quite high. I have burned a variety of CDs so far, totaling about 20, and of those, 5 were coasters. That is a 25% failure rate. Forewarned about this drive's sensitivity to anything from dust motes to scratches, I carefully wipe down each CD with a lint-free cloth before starting the burning process. Yet, I still have 5 coasters on my hands. What happens is that the burning process would start, and about midway through (or near the end), an error message would come up and a troubleshooting window would pop up. The advice proffered by this troubleshooting window is invariably unhelpful, suggesting the same thing (i.e. clean your CD - even though I did!) every time. It would be nice if the drive could tell me about problems with the disc before it starts copying, thus saving me $1. If I burn 500 CDs in the life of this drive, I'll have 125 coasters, equally roughly $125 down the drain (or at least $62.5 if you buy CDRs in bulk for 50 cents each). I shudder at the thought -- what seemed cheap isn't really that cheap after all!
Given the high failure rate, I would suggest that you buy a more reliable product, such as Plextor's new external CD-RW drive (with Plextor's famed burn-proof technology), if you intend to burn a lot of CDs. Even though Plextor's drive is a lot more expensive, it may add up to savings in the long run in the form of less discs wasted in the burning process. You can get more info on Plextor's external CD-RW here: http://www.plextor.com/english/products/12_10_32S.html
A couple more things to note before you plunk down good money for this machine:
4X write speed: This speed means that you can't burn anything on this drive in a hurry. From my experience, it takes about half an hour to burn a full CD. There are three stages to the burning process of this drive: first it tests the read and write speeds of your drive(s); then it goes into copying mode (during which most of the errors seem to occur); then it verifies the CD you've just made. If you've behaved yourself (i.e. no shaking the desk while the drive is working, and no using your computer to run other programs either!), and if you had some luck on your side, a perfect CD will emerge from the 8220e.
A few minor annoyances:
(1) When making CDs of digital music, the program packaged with this drive does not automatically make a jewel case label for you, with a listing of tracks and track durations (in fact, I don't even know if the programs that came with drive is capable of doing that -- if you know, please drop me a comment and enlighten me). I've used other CD burners before with this very useful feature, which saves you a lot of time and frustration from retyping track titles and looking up track times.
(2)One of the programs that comes with the drive, Music Match Jukebox, is not the full version, and therefore lacks certain functions. You'll have to pay extra, of course, for the full version, and the program never forgets to remind you to pay for the upgrade every time you use it. Music Match Jukebox seems to offer no advantage over Winamp + Audio Catalyst, so I don't even use it.
(3) The 8220e also comes with a few circular labels that you can print via a program they've provided and slap onto the face of your CD with the help of this little plastic contraption they've included (just so that you can put the sticker on more precisely within the CD's edge). This seems rather gimmicky to me, but you may like it and order more labels from them!
Think hard before you buy ...
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
wyu
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Location: New York, NY
Reviews written: 36
Trusted by: 2 members
About Me:
A sporadic Epinionator who wishes that there's another hour each day just for Epinionating.
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