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 | Title : Yamaha CRW2200FXZ 20X10X40 Firewire CD-RW Drive
Author : Yamaha Electronics
Release Date : 20020111
Binding : Electronics
Regular Price : $429.00
Amazon.com Price : $177.95
(59
%)
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Editorial Reviews :
The Yamaha LightSpeed CRW2200FXZ features 20x record speeds that let you record a full 650 MB CD in less than four minutes, and 40x audio-ripping speeds that let you rip a full CD in three minutes. The LightSpeed exclusive SafeBurn Buffer Management System, with its 8 MB buffer, not only eliminates buffer underruns but also lets users multitask while burning a CD, without worrying about hang-ups for fear of creating useless discs.
This external FireWire-interface drive comes with everything you need to burn a CD today: top-rated Nero 5.5 CD mastering software; InCD for packet writing; NeroMIX for audio ripping; Nero Toolkit to troubleshoot your system; MusicMatch Jukebox to create, play, and store MP3 files; Adobe PhotoDeluxe and ActiveShare to manipulate images; and a Neato CD label applicator and software.
Buyer Reviews :
This was a top-of-the-line Firewire CD-RW burner when I bought it. I have no doubts that the hardware is well-made; it does indeed burn CDs in four minutes, and it does indeed have buffer underrun protection, and it does indeed enable me to back up my important documents and create custom CDs. However, it's worth noting that my experience with this item was far from plug-and-play. This was 100% due to the poor quality of the CD-burning software that was bundled with it for Macintosh users.
I bought this burner to use with my Macintosh G4 tower with MacOS 9.2. The software provided for Mac users was Ahead Nero Max 1.5.2. At the time I received the unit (I purchased it without doing any serious research on the software, alas), I checked Ahead's website to see if it had any information about the software. At the time, the software was apparently still in beta. There was very little information and absolutely no support.
The marketing copy may call Nero's software 'top-rated,' and perhaps the Windows version is acceptable, but I found the Mac interface terribly unintuitive to work with -- many options, many window panes, many notations that make little sense to someone who is unfamiliar with CD-burning basics. Since this was my first CD burner purchase, I hadn't a clue, and this software was totally incapable of extending a helping hand.
No Mac manuals were included in the package, so instead of waiting for Yamaha tech support to point me to the promised-but-unfindable Mac manuals on their website (note: they never did), I decided to wing it. I used Nero's wizard to attempt to burn my very first music CD; two minutes later I had burned my very first coaster. To this day I still have no idea if this failure was due to a software bug or 'user error' -- the software didn't give me any way of knowing, and that's very bad design practice.
Rather than spend any more time using Nero Max's frustrating, possibly-buggy, definitely-beta interface, I solved my problems by going out and buying a Toast Titanium for Mac. Toast is fairly well-designed save a few UI quirks (nothing destructive) and has been through enough development cycles that you can expect some degree of reliability. But having already dropped {the money] on the burner, I am extremely annoyed that I had to do this.
This burner also comes with Photoshop 5.0 LE for the Mac. While I was pleasantly surprised to find this software bundled, I was unpleasantly surprised to find that the box did not include the serial number so that I could install the software. To be fair, Yamaha tech support did respond to my inquiry about *this* problem within a few days.
So, to sum up...
Never doubt that the usability of the bundled software is just as important as the reliability of the hardware it comes with. I'm sure Yamaha went with a different software package to save a few bucks over the cost of licensing Toast (the CRW2100 line included a version of Toast), but this software choice severely impacted my experience with this product, and that's the sole reason it gets only two stars. If you're considering CD burners, and don't already own some CD-burning package you're happy with, buying a decent burning program to use with this burner can set you back [even more money]. If this bugs you, I'd suggest doing some serious research into purchasing a burner that comes bundled with something else.
(by Michaela Schlocker)
Features/Technical Specs :
* Delivers 40x read speed, 20x write speed, and 10x rewrite speed
* Record a 74-minute audio CD in under 4 minutes
* Requires no additional time to control the rotation speed of its motor
* Removes buffer underrun with SafeBurn System
* 8 MB buffer
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