Just curious because I am looking to buy one and don't know much about them. Product names, good prices, speeds, and where to buy them would be a help. Thanks.

 

what ever you do, go for an internal. It will be cheaper and faster. Some of the best brands out there that will burn everything for you is Yamaha, Plextor. I know those two for sure. I have the Yamaha, and it is has been really good to me. Installation is a breathe, if you dont know how to install it, ask the store if they could. Best Buy installs things for you. Speed wise 16x writing is a very safe speed with a full cd done in under 5 mins, if you want you can go faster.

 

here is what you do....go HERE to pricewatch.com and look under the heading of STORAGE and select CD RECORDERS.....then you can pick from different speeds....makers.....price ranges.....device type (internal or external)....either EIDE, firewire, usb, scsi....then it will give you a listing of places you can get what you want according to your selection...it starts with the cheapest on up to the most expensive.......these are all places that sell what you are looking for...some have online stores...some you have to call and place a phone order....BUT BEFORE YOU ORDER FROM ANYONE....

write down the name of the place you have selected or are THINKING about ordering from...open another IE or Netscape window and go HERE, resellersratings.com you can sign up if you like...or just see how the company is rated....their ratings are based on nine criteria such as service, price, tech support, hastle of returning stuff if need be....and all the information is gathered from USERS of that company.....

ANYWAY.....that should get you started.....I personally would buy a PLEXTOR.....get the fastest unit you can.....which right now is a 40X12X40.....they are the INVENTORS of Burn Proof Technology which most everyone else has copied in some form or fashion....it will allow you to do other things while buring CD's and it won't ruin the cd you are burning. .... one will run you around $125- $130 now.....and whatever you do...ENSURE you are buying a RETAIL box...not the brown box.....the retail box is exactly what you would get if you went to any electronics store and baught it....it will include all the software all all.....the BROWN BOX is exactly that....nothing but the burner....as if you were buying them in bulk.

 

backpack CD Writers are the best...but going external is much slower only 2-6x, and they are 2x the price of an internal one

the nice thing about the backpack though is that you can conect it to your computer with parallel, USB or PCMICA cord

 

i don't post much here, but i thought i could help on this one....what are you using it for? cause i have one for my computer(internal), and one hooked up to my turntables,dat player, and all that jazz.....if it is for the computer get an internal one, just smoother all the way around, but i use my external one way more, i can record the radio, records, tapes, cds, tv, damn anything, then i just erase it, and start fresh,......anyway both my internal and my external are philips magnavox....just a personal preference, cause i have had trouble with every other brand cept them.......probably doesn't help much...just my 2 cents...

 

id recommend a good external cd burner that has a firewire (aka iee1394) connection, itll be as fast as an internal burner, but may cost more

 

Be careful, an external USB writer is probably going to make a lot more coasters than a good internal IDE one. USB 1 just isn't really fast enough.

However, if you can get your hands on a firewire burner, you'll have no problems with the 400MB per second transfer rate. That would be as fast as an internal one.

 

Thanks for your help everyone. I think I am going to go with an internal one, that seems to be the popular choice. Thanks.