[DNA man]

I see that the SmartDisk VST FW portable CD-RW have come down in price. Since I do not have access to my own CDRW drive I was tempted to buy one. I was wondering if any one who has experience with this particular drive might like to comment on it's pro and cons. Is a x8 write and re-write speed CDRW drive slow by todays standards?
Is the portable LaCie CDRW better value for the money?

Also, I'm not sure if the drive (if I buy it) comes with software (eg Toast etc). Does any one know if it would work with OS9 (or OSX if the notion takes me) straight out of the box? The lack of an AC adaptor requirement makes it quite tempting since i own a Pismo and the less cable to carry about the better!

Many thanks for any insight provided.

[bradoesch]

8x write is slow by today's standards. There are 40x drives now. This might not matter at all...depends on what you use it for. Burning entire CDs will take much more time (obviously), but to just write a few files on a CD to take somewhere, you don't really need 40x. The new drives won't reach their maximum speed until they've got to the outer part of the disc anyhow.
For the 8x re-write, that's pretty much today's standard. Most drives are 10x RW, some are 12x now I think.
I think the bus powered aspect of it makes it pretty cool. If you don't need super fast burning speeds, I'd go for it.

Brad