Help me decide what to buy next

[Darrin]

As you just want CD access and not to be able to burn DVDs, why not get a USB adapter for your A1200 and then you can use a cheap external USB CD/DVD drive, a USB Ethernet adapter and have the ability to use memory sticks, etc?

[Darrin]

I use an A4000 with a Deneb for my main "real" Amiga and the Deneb is a lot faster than the A1200's solution.  That said, once you have USB it is hard to live without it.  I use an external HP DVD+RW drive and I connect to the Internet via a $20 USB Ethernet dongle.

It works fine for me, but as I said, I'm using a Deneb.

It is handy though to keep a backup of all of your essential files on a USB memory stick just in case your hard drive goes down and you need to reinstall.

[Darrin]

Would it be possible to use a printer through USB or is that expecting too much?

According to the specs, both Deneb and Subway are supposed to be able to use USB printers (although it doesn't say which models):

http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=137

I've never tried it myself.  I guess when I reassemble my A4000 then I'll have a go at connecting my HP printer/scanner and seeing if that works.