Mac users should avoid this product
Written: Jun 19 '00 (Updated Jun 20 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: it eventualy did work
Cons: very clunky interface, the install screws up your computer
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| lpennock's Full Review: Sony SPRESSA USB Burner |
While I am sure that the vast majority of the people reviewing this burner are PC users, I wanted to throw in my $0.02 about using this on a Mac: Don't. My two biggest problems are with the interface and the way the software interacts with the MacOS, both of which lead me to believe that whoever wrote this software package has never actually used a Mac beyond just fixing and compiling software to run under it.
First, the interface: The Sony "Discribe" application has one of the worst interfaces I have ever seen. Most Macintosh applications follow some sort of general user interface rules to keep buttons easy to find, windows easy to collapse, etc. Discribe throws all those out the window. The designers of this program must have just decided that making the window look cool was far and above more important than making the interface usable. Things that look like buttons aren't, buttons you need are nowhere to be found, and I found after using it for a day that 3 things I thought were design elements were in fact very important buttons.
Second, the installed program: I found out the hard way that once you install this program on a Macintosh (a Powerbook G3 with System 9.0.4 in my case) you can not start up your powerbook without the device attached. It just hangs with the CD Burner extension stuck at "searching bus for device" or some similar error message. I booted without extensions, disabled the USB drivers (named "charismac" or something like that), searched for anything else it put in my System, but my laptop still wouldn't start with extensions enabled until I went and got the device and plugged it in. This is terrible design. I still don't know which extension or control panel is required to start up my laptop without the device plugged in, so for now I've got to carry the burner around with me. I have used plenty of other less insistent burners that recognize when there is no device to be found and just disable the extension, put an "X" over the extension so you know it's not enabled, and continue with the boot up process.
I'm sure I'll figure it out, and maybe it is just me being dense, but the fact that this scenario is even possible is a bad sign.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
lpennock
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Member: Lewis Pennock
Location: Nashville, TN
Reviews written: 8
Trusted by: 10 members
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