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thoughts on my new Iomega (firewire) Predator cd-rw drive
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: May 2001
Location: second star on the right, on till morning
Status:
Offline
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I recently preordered, then recieved the new Iomega entry into the firewire cd-burner orena, and these are my first impressions. Let me be clear from the beginning, I am clearly frustrated at it's failure to install, and operate as I would expect a new firewire device to work. It has yet to function, let alone impress.
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I'm just completly disappointed in this purchace.. :this: is the best iomega can do? The shoddy workmanship in assembly is only topped by cheap component materials, and overall base design.
It is much larger than I was expecting, all the curves just seem to add to it's squat chubby look. It seems very much a product of cut corners... I was also not aware that it is a scsi device foremost, with an adapter widget that not quite snaps on (it all hangs off the scsi connecter.) It also requires an external power adapter that is almost as large as the widget. The power connector, firewire, and aux audio out plug are all on this widget, pulling evern harder on the already weak connection. I screams for duct tape.
The case originally looked dull and metalic, which would go great with my new tibook, but instead it is all cheap grey and blue plastic, similar to junk childrens toys. Yet another blind slave to the clear plastic craze spawned by apples once original idea. None of this fancy casing does anything to muffle a very fast spinning disc.
The front (I guess) leaves you with a headphone jack (uh, why?) and a painfully small (and smooth) volume dial which is very difficult to use. Since they bothered to put a headphone jack on the front (and a similar plug on the back for "out of the way" computer attachment - what a waste of firewire, completly underused) I dont quite get why they didnt go ahead and add a play/stop button so it could be used on it's own (it sure looks like a consumer cd player spinoff)
The only status indicators are a pair of small round green leds that flash at different times at different rates, somewhere in the documentation I'm sure that's documented, but it is not very informative. This is the least of the problems.
The paper documentation that came with it is incorrect, showing outdated pictures. The attempt to make up for this defecit by including a hastily photocopied note urging you to visit the support site.
Overall I rate my purchase as "unresearched" and "impulsive" and hope someday it will become useful, in some way, hopefully not as a coaster, ashtray (a colorful one), or a yard sale item.
-=C=-
[This message has been edited by firegod (edited 05-18-2001).]
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: May 2001
Location: second star on the right, on till morning
Status:
Offline
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an update:
I have burned a cd successfully, but it seems the TiBook is not capable of full 8x reads of the internal cd/dvd drive, so I am having to burn at 4x to be certain, 6x will require a bit of testing.. The first part of a cd reads slower than the end (outer edge rotates faster)
I also had a fun time mucking about with the extensions manager, a lockup later, I've switched to Base Set, disabled Authoring Support, and enabling all Toast related extensions (I view extensions by group)
-=C=-
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: NYC
Status:
Offline
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I also had a bad experience with Iomega CDRW products (the USB ZipCD) a few months ago. Tech support was the most INEPT group of people I've ever seen. One guy didn't even know what burning software comes with the drive. He thought that IomegaWare does the burning, yet that only deals with removable media like Zip drives and such. I wound up sending the drive back for a refund. I would definitely encourage others to look to other products before Iomega's current line of CDR/W offerings.
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Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Rolling Hills of Wheat
Status:
Offline
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If you want a great firewire external CD-RW, try Club Mac's unit. The one I purcahse for work came with Toast OEM(just about everything comes with some version of Toast) and it runs at full speed. It is bascially a Plexstor IDE internal in a Firewire enclosure, but it burns at full speed, copies at full speed and hasn't created a coaster yet. It works better than I ever expected.
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Predator User
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Guys,
I have just bought the predator USB version of the CD-RW. It rocks! What the f*ck is wrong with you people? Iomega makes great mac products, and I couldn't be happier with my purchase.
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Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: detroit,mi,usa
Status:
Offline
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Originally posted by Predator User:
Guys,
I have just bought the predator USB version of the CD-RW. It rocks! What the f*ck is wrong with you people? Iomega makes great mac products, and I couldn't be happier with my purchase.
see? unregistered users are useless. thanks for your input, ****ing troll.
------------------
you're going to have my foot at your lip in a minute, young man.
scott
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