Getting a New CDRW drive couple of questions:

[wrestleantares]

Speed has never been a big issue of mine. I have a 4 x 4 x 32 speed CDRW. It has been adequate. However I am going to put a new drive on my machine. My problem with my old Phillips has been media compatability.

I want to be able to use more brands of CDR, as the Verbatim Azure Premium's are the only ones that work consistently in my existing drive, and I have to either order them or take an hour round trip to get them.

I am looking at the TDK Velocd with 24x max burning speed. How is it with media compatability with real world tests - i.e. you guys? Or is there another drive you would recommend.

[Sefy]

I suggeset if you are not in a hurry, that you wait a month or less even, cause new 32x/36x CDRW drives are coming out, and im not saying buy the new ones, but they will drop the price of the 24x.

Oh, and don't buy the TDK, very expensive, and doesnt' support 99min, get the Lite-On, it's extremly cheap (70$) and it does officialy support 90 and 99min media.

[MegaBit]

You may take a look at the HP CD-Writer 9900j (sold as 9900ci). It's a CDRW-DVD combo- meaning it will record CD-R and CD-RW and play DVD. I bought one from HP Shopping on-line which is one of the few places I've seen it listed for sale. So far it's been compatible with all sorts of manufacturers media. It will burn CD-R at 12x and CD-RW at 10X and read DVD at 8x.

Here's a link to a ZDNet review of it but note the current price direct from HP is $199 USD: http://www.zdnet.com/products/stories/reviews/0,4161,2717919,00.html

[Sefy]

I personaly wouldn't recommand HP, they are overly expensive, and offer less features then any competing product, and i'll be surprised it they officialy support 90/99min CDR media.

This is my personal opinion, not ment to judge or critize you, just my experience with HP drives.