[jagga]

Hi
I'm thinking about buying a USB CD-RW drive for my imac. I only know of two that are available right now, the QUE and SONY Spressa. Can you guys post your experiences with these two items. And also if there is another alternative.

Thanks in advance.
Navdeep.

I have recently bought the Sony Spressa, and have been very very pleased. One has to poke about the sony site a bit to find the right link that will lead you to the drive updates you'll need to prevent your iMac from crashing on startup though. The burner itself is fantastic. I was making CD's within half an hour of getting everything squared away. The Describe software works like a charm and is very simple to use. Out of the 12 disks I've made I've had zero troubles, and made no coasters. A unit can be bought at eCost for just under $280 shipping included, well worth it! Good luck with your choice.

I would suggest against a usb cd-rw. If you have an imac, this is your only option, but I still would hold out until you upgrade to an imac with firewire ports or a g4 with firewire ports. USB is just too slow at 12 mps (megabits per second.) However firewire can go up to 800 mps. If you do get a usb cd-wr..... go with the QPS drive. It's much nicer than the sony, and comes with a great garauntee. Plus it comes with Toast, which is the only cd software that is really fantastic on the mac. (If you have one of the new imacs, you DO have firewire ports. If you have a slot-loading cd hole, you have the new imac.)

Cheers,
Bob

[NDBounce]

A quick correction - Only the iMac DV's have firewire ports (The slot loading 350mhz Blueberry model does not).

I have a Que! drive...it's okay. I think most of my qualms with it come from USB though. Mine has this odd problem...whenever I turn on/off the lightswitch in the room with the drive I get a message telling me that the connection is unstable and the disc fails to write.

I have had this problem in 2 different buildings, I'm not 100% certain if this is a problem with my USB port on my iBook, or with USB in general or with the Que! Drive. I don't even know how to begin to determine this.

But in my opinion the Que! drive gets a fair mark. MacWorld did give the Que! drive nods over the Sony Supress in their review (September 1999 issue). It received 4 mice, the supressa received 3.5 mice. Hope that helps. If you have further questions regarding the Que! drive feel free to ask.