[fady]

Hello All,

I'm trying to understand some of the problems people are having with USB and CD-RW. I want to purchase one but do not know which to chosse between USB and firewire. I would like to avoid the price difference.

My guess. Is it possible that people with USB CD-RW are having problems with single-bus USB macs (iMac Rev A to D i think as well as BW G3)? with audio particularly?

If it was only software associated, why would some people not have problems at all?

Could it be that the single bus USB does not allow enough outpyut for burning at 4x or for audio?

any constructive insigth is greatly appreciated as there are so many diverging opinions.

Thx.

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Fady

I bought a G4 400. I have a LaCie monitor with a USB hub, and I bought a usb LaCie cd-rw.

To cut to the chase, I am taking the burner back for a firewire.

Reason #1: Apple USB extension not compatible with Toast USB extension.

Reason #2: My burner will work when plugged into the lacie hub, but will not be recognized by toast if it is plugged directly into the G4 ... figure THAT one out.

Chances are that if you're burning music, you have to write at 2x, not because of USB, but because most USB burners only have 2 mb of buffer size, where fire wire has 4mb. There are some USB burners with 4mb of buffer, but that's bringing you half way to a firewire price wise. The guy at LaCie tried to convince me that USB was the better choice, because it is in it's third generation, and firewire is in its first.

But you can look at it this way. If USB is in its third generation and is still not compatible with TOAST 4.1 (the latest burning software, 4.0,3.8 do not support mp3) and is basically still a piece of crap, and Firewire IS compatible with 4.1 in its 1ST generation, then you tell me which technology has its act together.

USB is fine for goofy things and toys like web cameras, mice, keyboards ... whatever. But for crucial data transfer and BACKUP? .... give me the same technology that video editors use to transport HUGE amounts of Gigabytes and the speed of light. Firewire is where the industry support is.

Yeah its more money, and I'm pissed that I have to shell out more(LaCie allows a 30 day upgrade option which I'm excersising) but I can tell you that the pain I wen't through for the last 2 weeks, just to get my CD-RW to recognize a CD-RW ... installing toast 4, upgrading to 4.1 back to 4 which can't burn mp3's ... back to buggy 4.1

And now that it kind of works, I have to write music a 2X? Do you know how long it take to write 74 minutes of audio at 2X? THIRTY-FOUR (34) frikin' minutes. That broke my back, I'll gladdly slap down an extra $150 canadian to be able to burn a full cd in less than 9 minutes.

Sorry for the length .... I'm kinda venting here.

Regards.