I'd like to get a cd burner for my rev/b iMac though i'm wary of buying a fast one and having it maxed out by the usb bandwith. are there are any burners that offer both usb and firewire support? i'd like to buy one now and also use it when i get a firewire machine. thanks.

[rjenkinson]

the only one that comes to mind is the iomega predator which has been announced, but isn't shipping yet. check http://www.iomega.com/ for the specs.

-r.

I just purchased the Iomega Predator & wanted to share my random thoughts on the unit. But before I begin, I'd like to say that as a consumer, I was very disappointed in the lack of press & 'reviews' its gotten so far. Usually, when a new product hits the market, its given at least a passing preview but this drive did not. It had little fanfare, previews or reviews so far. I let my eagerness to have a really cool looking product cloud the concerns that no one else seemed to have an opinion.

The very first thing you notice when unpacking this drive is how cool it looks. It looks slightly bigger than what the photos portray, but its still the smallest CDRW drive that I know of. Its rougly the size of a larger Sony Walkman, it really looks like you could shove batteries in it & take it on your morning jog.

The next thing you notice is the printed documentation. There are postive and negatives to this. They give you plenty of warnings to install the software FIRST (before you connect the drive to the machine). The negative part I'll get too later on.

The software was remarkably easy to install. Once the CD was installed into my iMac, it booted up & gave me an installation menu. After installing everything in that menu, I rebooted & it was then safe to the drive into the computer. Now, here comes my BIGGEST beef with the drive.

The model I bought (currently the only model available) is the USB version of the iOmega Predator. They give you two cords (power cord, usb cord) and a small USB adapter unit that plugs into the rear of the drive. However, it does NOT properly snap into place. I do not know if its molded improperly or its a design flaw. The USB adapter "snaps" (and I use that word loosely) into the rear & "locked" into place with springs. To disconnected you just pull. However, its EASILY disloged when plugging in or adjusting the cables. I fear that if I move it around it will unsnap and thus be disconnected from the computer. This is a big enough concern that I am SERIOUSLY considering either exchanging it for another Predator or returning it for a refund. I contacted Iomega but since its the holiday weekend, don't expect a reply anytime soon. Luckily, I have fourteen days to return this to the local CompUSA.

Now to my second beef that I illuded too in the comments above regarding docmentation. Iomega gives TWO CDs to be used with this drive, the CDRW is preformatted. I couldn't use the CDRW on my iMac & didn't test it with the PC yet. As a somewhat profiencent PC user, I assume that it was preformatted for PCs and wasn't meant to be used with the MacOS. However, THERES NO DOCUMENTATION that says this. If I were a new user, who maybe got the iMac for Chrismtas & never had a computer before--I'd assume that the thing was defective & return it. Iomega needs to improve the documentation or at least DONT preformat the CDs.

The software, Toast 4.1.2, comes with the drive. Its a really easy application to use on the Mac. However, it doesn't tell you how to format CDs. It does it for you, I guess. I haven't had a chance to burn a CD yet. I am still downloading songs from Napster, so I have enough to burn a whole CDR. Waste not, want not.

Overall I haven't been overly impressed with the Iomega Predator. Its sleek, stylish & looks awesome with the iMac & iBook. Its cooler looking than their Iomega 250 Zip. However, as I said before, the USB adapter issue is enough to make me consider returning it. So far the drive hasn't stopped working (via the adapter snapping out) but then again, I've only had it 1 day & yet to burn a CD.

I really wanted to post my 'first glance' because surely there are others who want to know if anyones used the Predator yet. What would I say to them? Try it, but only buy from a store that you can return it within 2 weeks and NOT charged a restocking fee.

One final thought, looks are important but design flaws such as the USB adapter detract from the "cool" factor. No one wants to worry that they cannot bump the wires with the fear of detatching the unit from the computer.

Christopher Powers
christopher@powers-online.com

p.s. I posted a very similiar message on the Iomega support forums & sent Tech Support an e-mail.

[Blencathra]

Have recently bought a Freecom Traveller 4x4x20 CD-RW. You can buy it with either USB, Firewire or PCMCIA connection. Whilst not the fastest CD-RW available its main advantage is its size (not that much bigger than a CD case.

Comes in translucent blue. Comes with USB cable, or on its own so you can add specific cable. Toast 4 comes with Firewire cable (not CD drive).

Performs very well and have updated Toast to Deluxe version which is brilliant!

Cheers, Blencathra!

[DanW]

I believe that APS is making drives that have both USB and FireWire connections.

VST makes a portable CD-RW that has both connectors. However, the FireWire doesn't speed up recording. Check it at www.vsttech.com. It works very well.

You will pay a premium for a combo USB/Firewire CD burner and it won't be worth it. There is a post in this thread that suggests Firewire will not improve speed of burning. That is untrue. A USB burner is unlikely to be able to record at more than 2X on a Mac using USB. That means a CD with 60 minutes of music (data) will take about 30 minutes to burn. There are CD burners out there that can record at 12X or faster. That means a CD can be recorded in 5-6 minutes.

My recommendation is to buy an inexpensive USB CD recorder now and begin to learn about burning CDs and enjoying the end result. Your experience and collection of CDs will be transferable when you eventually get a Firewire connection.

I have both a USB and a Firewire CD recorder. Used on the same computer, I am unable to record at more than 2X with the USB connection whereas the Firewire record can reliably record at 12X. The USB connection does not have the bandwidth to support burning at higher speeds.

While time may not be a significant issue, another reason to get a Firewire recorder is because the bandwidth of Firewire is so much greater than USB it is more tolerant of other devices and activities that use the Firewire connection. If you use USB to connect your CD recorder, you can forget about using any other USB device, which includes keyboard and mouse.

Finally, look for buffer under-run technology (Plextor calls theirs Burn-Proof). CDs when being burned are very sensitive to having data presented to them at all times. If for any reason the CD recorder doesn't get data when it expects it, it terminates the recording and the CD is useless. This new technology seems to have the promise of avoiding this problem by allowing the recorder to wait for data to arrive. The latest version of Toast (4.1.2) supports this buffer-under-run technology.

Lacie is releasing a 16x10x40x USB/Firewire CDRW

[Zwilnik]

Re the 16x USB/Firewire burner, like the rest, it will still only be able to do 4x burning over USB (USB can't shove data to it any faster), but would give you the advantage of 16x burning over firewire.
The VST combo drive looks suspiciously like a rebadged version of the Freecom Traveller (which I've had for over a year now). The Traveller happily burns at 4x over USB (2x for audio) and even works well on battery power (tested on a train with my iBook . Not over impressed with the Firewire lead, the first one I got had a hardware failure, and even with a working one, I don't think Freecom have quite got their stuff together with Toast, so I tend to just use it on USB. (I got the firewire cable for when I want to burn audio at 4x and just for general reliability, but I get very few coasters over USB).
Personally (after being a Jazz drive and Zip drive owner) I wouldn't touch iomega stuff with the proverbial bargepole.