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Write Choice

by Staff Writers  on Feb 1, 2001
Tags: Write | Choice
The CD-RW is close to becoming an ubiquitous part of a new PC. Exactly how this came about is difficult to pinpoint, but one reason is the growth of storage-hungry multimedia. More people are using th
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The CD-RW is close to becoming an ubiquitous part of a new PC. Exactly how this came about is difficult to pinpoint, but one reason is the growth of storage-hungry multimedia. More people are using their computers to house their digital photos, while others are even putting home movies on CDs.

Perhaps the factor that swung things in CD-RW's favour is one killer feature: universality. Virtually every PC in operation today includes a CD-ROM drive, and despite the undoubted success of Zip drives, Iomega can never hope to challenge this monopoly. Indeed, Iomega itself boasts two CD-RW drives in this month's Labs.

Another factor in CD-RW's success is the relatively low price of the media. A ten-pack of 12-speed recordable CDs costs around $20, while re-writable CDs cost about $40. Even for the latter, cost per megabyte works out at just 0.6c, which compares extremely favourably to the equivalent figure of 12c for Zip 250 disks. Thanks to the success of CD-RW as a standard, the drives are also becoming easier to mass produce and consequently the prices are steadily dropping. For instance, the cheapest drive on test this month costs $399, compared to $600 in the same Labs 21 months ago (see issue 18, p64).

We've also seen a few technology developments since our last CD-RW Labs test. Quite apart from maximum write speeds increasing from eight-speed to 16-speed, Sanyo has been busy developing its BURN-Proof technology (see Spin doctors, p116). This eliminates the problems with buffer under-run, greatly reducing your collection of CD coasters.

Whether you want the cheapest or the fastest drive, internal or external, our battery of tests make sure that you have all the information you need to make your decision.

Technical Editor: Tim Dean
Labs Assistant: Ashok Zaman
Contributors: Jon Bray, Tim Danton, Kenneth Henry, Fai Lee, David Neiger
This article appeared in the February, 2001 issue of PC Authority.


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This Labs featured in the March 2000 issue, any pricing seen in these reviews were correct at the time of printing.
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