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CD-RW Drive 4X/4X/6X USB Mobile CDRw with Ac/battery for Mac/pc | List Price: $249.99
Discount Price: $69.00
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Brand: Sony
Binding: Electronics
Warranty: 1 year warranty
Features: - 4x write, 4x rewrite, and 6x read speeds
- Plays music CDs and MP3 files as a stand-alone player, using the supplied remote-controlled headphones
- Plug-and-play USB interface
- Playback controller displays both CD Text and ID3 tag information
- Windows and Macintosh compatible
Better than I expected [Posted on 2001-11-20]
I needed a CD burner for my laptops, and a USB compatible one was a necessary choice. After a lot of reading and researching, I opted for the Digital Relay: most professional reviews were positive (...), but I was held back by some feedbacks by (...) users. So there was some suspense in the air when I installed it. The results so far are very positive: software installation (on a thinkpad with win2000) was flawless, and burning audio and data a piece of cake. There is also a backup software utility. Both applications do their job well, although very advanced users will want something better: free/cheap recording software abounds both for Mac and Windows, so this is besides the point of this review. The fact that the digital relay duplicates as a stand-alone mp3 player is extremely useful if you listen to a lot of music; using a tape adapter you can play mp3 in your car -- very cool. The only drawback is that this unit won't record in packet writing mode on win2000-based systems; the customer service warned me about it before I bought the unit. To me it doesn't make any difference, since I use it for data backup and music recording, not as hard drive substitute. Another very minor drawback is the remote: it's cute and useful when driving a car. But it looks very fragile, and designed for the hands of a toddler. Something bigger and sturdier would have made for better engineering design.
Follow-up [Posted on 2002-03-19]
A while back I wrote a review on this product, which you can read below. Having used the product for a few months now, I would like to add two slightly negative remarks and a positive one. First, the unit is really too big to be taken around. It's great if you share it among computers, or attach it to your home theater, but that's about it. If you are looking for a portable MP3 player, consider lighter options (Rio-like). Second: battery life is actually 2 hours, as mentioned by the user's manual. Again, this is OK for "emergency" operations, but limits the usability of the drive. On the positive side, I have used the drive on several computers and for long periods of time. So far it has not faulted me once.
Wildly Inconsistent [Posted on 2002-05-07]
I think I would've been happier with an uglier, cheaper CD burner. I've coastered three disks for every one I've recorded. The software is useless -- it hangs precisely 47 seconds into testing. To get the included software to work properly, I've had to uninstall and reinstall each time. So now I'm using MusicMatch. Sony's support,while pleasant, was also useless. They repaired problems with a grinding noise and the eject button, but couldn't help me with the stalling problem. In fact, I had better luck when I did exactly opposite what they told me!
Wildly Inconsistent [Posted on 2002-05-07]
I think I would've been happier with an uglier, cheaper CD burner. I've coastered three disks for every one I've recorded. The software is useless -- it hangs precisely 47 seconds into testing. To get the included software to work properly, I've had to uninstall and reinstall each time. So now I'm using MusicMatch. Sony's support,while pleasant, was also useless. They repaired problems with a grinding noise and the eject button, but couldn't help me with the stalling problem. In fact, I had better luck when I did exactly opposite what they told me!
The last CD-R I ever hope to buy. [Posted on 2002-05-27]
I can't comment on this product's use as a portable MP3 player, other than to say it has a lot of cool gadgets to facilitate that sort of thing. And you could put all the music you'd ever want on a few CDs in MP3 format, which struck me as impressive (as did the little readout attachment which actually gives you track info). I got this for one purpose: To burn CD-Rs on any computer I happened to be at. USB connectivity makes this a pleasure. I just plug the player into a USB port and it appears as a drive. The burning software is adequate, if not spectacular. And the unit burns a full CD quickly and cleanly. (I've never "burned a coaster" with this.) If someone needs an emergency backup, I can just connect this and save their data quickly. I only have to avoid cracking one computer case to make this worth my while. And if it's a little pricier than an internal model, just remember your next computer won't =need= to have a burner on it--you can just use this. So, to sum up: It connects quickly and easily, is totally self-sufficient, and does the job nicely. Quite apart from whatever capacity it might serve as an MP3 jukebox.
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