Iam looking for imfo. on the best one to get for my G4 tower it is the newest one.it has a400meg pross. 2o gig hard drive 320 meg of ram. We are looking for a cdrw to backup files and need to find one that will work well with our comp.Thank You

Others may disagree, but I really like my Que!Fire 12/10/32 drive. Running Toast 4.1.2 it is doing a great job.

You definitely want FireWire as opposed to USB. I believe USB is limited to around 4x burn speeds, whereas my FireWire drive hits its 12x maximum frequently.

My setup: G4/450 AGP, OS 9.0.4

Thank You very much we just ordered the QPS quefire8x4x32 found it for 239.99 from mac mall

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Snapkraklpop

how about giving us a mini-review of it after you've a few days experience?

And for god's sake buy toast deluxe 4 it makes burning cd's oh so much easier. But if you don't just remeber to check the speed on every song or else your burner will be very unreliable

We just got the cd burner QPS 8x4x32 today it had toast 4.1 and all the cables we also ordered the graphite panel kit which we didn't need because it already had them on it Thanks for the info. we need all the help we can get . lol

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Snapkraklpop

Hey, PeteL999, I have Toast standard 4.1.2, what would be the advantage of getting Deluxe? Thanks for any info you can give me .
I did a little research and answered my own question on this. The Deluxe version provides additional capability to burn CDs from cassette or LP input. It also costs $89.

[This message has been edited by Fredo (edited 12-05-2000).]

From the Roxio site (Adaptec's Software Products Group is now Roxio:the Digital Media Company)

Q. What's the difference between Toast 4 Deluxe and Toast that came with my CD burner?
A. The version of Toast that came with your CD burner is a "lite" version that provides basic CD recording functionality. Toast Deluxe has much more powerful features, such as CD Spin Doctor (turns analog records into CDs) and PhotoRelay (organizes and protects digital photos). Toast Deluxe also supports advanced CD formats, such as Hybrid (share data with PC users), Enhanced (audio and data CDs), and VideoCD (playable on most DVD players).

DanW - Thanks for the info.

You're welcome. I live to post.

Woo hoo! Number 8!

Richard the cd burner work's great i think we got a good deal on itthanks

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Snapkraklpop

Getting back to the original question, USB on the macintosh has been implemented to support low bandwidth devices such as mice, keyboards, etc. Apples USB drivers are optimized for low bandwidth (unlike the USB implementation on a PC). Thus, to ensure proper performance, a FireWire drive is a must.

I'll second that. I tried my friend usb cd-rw with usb and and had nothing but problems. A bunch of disk errors.

I just bought my wife a Que 8x4x32 with firewire and it works great. I have no trouble at all using Toast 4.1.x Deluxe (the features are worth the money), but Adaptec Jam 2.6, which Adaptect says supports the Que drive hasn't worked yet. Error after error. I figue it must be the software, because Toast hasn't produced a coaster yet. I've probably burn more than 30 Cd's, music and back-up, without a hitch.

Just some thoughts.

While I agree that FireWire CD-RWs offer the best price/performance ratio, I've had no problems with my (first generation) Sony Spressa, in either using Discribe or Toast Deluxe 4.1.2.

A plus for me is that I can use the USB burner with any Win98/ME machine. A good thing for us who have divided OS families.

I just wanted to clarify that USB drives, such as the Que 4x4x8 CD-RW drive, will work on the Mac, however, these drives typically cannot burn an audio cd at a speed greater than 2x without errors.

The issue isn't functionality since the device can perform. Rather, the question is are you satisfied with the performance of writing audio cds at 2x? (Also, these USB devices or the USB interface they are connected to can't be disturbed while they are writing the cd; can't simultaneously use the USB interface for printing, keyboard entry, serial communications, other input device entry, modem, etc.)

I know some will say they are satisfied with 2x performce. But, writing CD-Rs at 12x or 16x (approx. 5 minute creation times) is what I prefer.

Oh no, cripes, buy a FW CD-RW. Unless one had a 233/266/333 iMac or 300/333/366 iBook, there is no reason to buy a USB one. However as one who had a Spressa 8 months before a FW version was released, I have to say I've no need to upgrade (especially if Apple will incorporate them in future products).

I've a QUE 12x10x32 at work--smooth.....