Are CD drives getting less usable as time passes?

[Floid]

Depends on the drive.  This IBM I'm using came with a Toshiba 4x? 8x? 12x? that's as noisy as a "jet engine" 40x Lite-On.  Meanwhile, Lite-On (they're a huge manufacturer) makes tons of different movements and firmwares, some better than others.

I recently wound up with a "52x24x52" AOpen/BenQ rebadge that's much "smoother" in operation than most things I've tried- they've probably gone to fluid-dynamic-bearings or somesuch on the motor, though heck if I know.  I believe one of the buzzwords involved means "We spin the drive up to about 8x, then faster if it proves to be a sustained read."

So... it's a tossup, and as these things are now as cheap and as common as floppy movements, it'll probably continue to be.  Anyone have a favorite make of floppy that's *consistently* good across all random model variations you might get paying $5 for a drive?

[jeffimix]

Well I've had soem odd experiences with Cd/DVD drives. I never realized at first that CD drives are different from DVD drives (for the purpose of reading CDs) But they are! I have a game that only works with true blue CD drives.  Second, my very name branded 12X Creative Labs (makers of fine sound cards) is very shoddy. My CD-RW and DVD-ROM drives are 12X8X32X and 16X respectively. I do not know why three numbers for the CD drive, thats just how its written.

[KennyR]

My CD-RW and DVD-ROM drives are 12X8X32X and 16X respectively. I do not know why three numbers for the CD drive, thats just how its written.

32x CD read.

12x CD-R write.

8x CD-RW rewrite. (Mikeymike was pedantic) :-P

[mikeymike]

8x CD-RW write.

That is, rewriting speed, as opposed to just writing to rewritable CDs :-)

[iamaboringperson]

CD-Drives ARE getting less reliable!
52x drives have been known to actually destroy the CD inside the drive! Its usually cheapy CD-R's that are made of a cheap kind of resin
they explode with a loud bang and kill the drive!

i wish i still had my old 12x SCSI SONY drive
that was my favorite drive


BTW the brand can make a big difference! i prefer Sony and LG

there is a drive that allows you to not only select its speed through software but also from the buttons at the front! its either asus or aopen...
you should consider the brand of drive you buy when you get one
ive had the best experience with sony
some drives are also more scratch tolerant than others!
got scratched CDs? if so you should know that some brands of drives will read those CD's - others wont

[ShadesOfGrey]

My vote for the best CD drive manufacturer goes to Plextor.  I've had three Plextor drives (all SCSI so far) and intend to get a fourth (IDE this time) soon.  

[Doobrey]

I know exactly what you mean.. I hate modern CD drives, most of them sound like a hairdryer running on nitrous oxide....

 My first CD was a Toshiba 4x SCSI, and it`s still in use in my A4000.. when I first installed it,it was so quiet I thought it was broken .. until I saw the LED on the front flashing away.

 The 8x IDE I put in my PC didn`t last the year, it made so much noise, the damn thing just wouldn`t stop whizzing and buzzing, even when it wasn`t being accessed.. so I tried to fix it by punching it several times  :-o

 So I bought a 40x replacement, and it`s been getting noiser and noiser all the time..last week the whole PC was only seconds away from being thrown out of the window ( OK, so most of the fustration was down to the cruddy MS OS installed !)

 Why can`t manufacturers just make well built, decent quality products instead of always trying to be the fastest or being riddled with "features" that no one really wants??

 I`d rather have a silent 8x CD that lasts for ages rather than an noisey uberdrive that will be lucky to even outlive the warranty.

[Floid]

Doobrey wrote:

 Why can`t manufacturers just make well built, decent quality products instead of always trying to be the fastest or being riddled with "features" that no one really wants??

For the same reason none of you wanted to deal with CD caddies when they were commonplace.

[Ni72ous]

i have a sony cd-rw which i am pleased with performance wise but its sounds crap and cheap, also an lg cd-rw which is quite & smooth in operation but features are just not there, also a pioneer dvd, 2nd one i have owned and its crap noisy and unreliable as was the first, i would never buy pioneer again, i think i will go for teac or plextor next, but my friend just bought a plexwriter and it to is crap not like my other mates one which is very nice.

[jj]

Well I will give HP my vote.  I have had a HP 8200i 24x4x4 for a couple of years.  Cost me £50 second hand.  I have never had any trouble with it on either my miggy or any of my pee cee's.  4x might not be fast for burning, but 20 mins isnt too long to wait for a cd.  You can always do something else while waiting.  I would defo go for quality against speed when it comes to burning evey time.

[Ni72ous]

@jj is ur hp write rebadged?

my  hp cd writer plus is an lg 8083 rebadged

[jj]

not as far as I know.   windows and bios always sees it as an HP

[bhoggett]

@JJ

Well I will give HP my vote.

My first burner was an HP back in the mid-90s. It cost me a whopping grand (1,000 UKP) and the CDs were about a tenner each.

Frankly it was a nightmare. I don't think it EVER worked properly, and eventually I replaced it with a Phillips (which was also quite dodgy). It wasn't until I got my 4x Plextor that I finally had a reliable writer, and it lasted me for years. In fact it still works fine now.

4x might not be fast for burning, but 20 mins isnt too long to wait for a cd.

Ahem... *choke*...

20 minutes is an age to wait, unless you only burn CDs very rarely. With having got ADSL not too long ago, I found my hard drives were getting clogged up with data and programs simply because I couldn't be bothered to wait while I compiled and burned backup/storage CDs. A couple of weeks ago I gave in and bought a PleXCombo drive (DVD player+CD-RW) because I felt my old writer was too slow and my old DVD drive was unreliable. What an excellent buy it has been - I'm chuffed to bits with it.

[Mike_Amiga]

KennyR wrote:
 
And does the same go for CPUs, do you think?

Not when your playing 3D games with adanced graphics, then you need all the pocessing power your machine can muster for all those floating point calculations (whatever they are).

However for everyday use, web, word processing and possibly simple accounts and graphics packages then an ass end second hand PC or Amiga would do just fine.

Toast (CD burning software on Mac) gives you a choice of speeds at which you can make your CDs burn, my top burn speed is 16x but with some of the crap quality media about (cheap cdrs) I choose lower speeds just incase I make a coaster or two. :-)

[iamaboringperson]

i would also vote for plextor

plextor produce the fastest & best CD drive in the world

40x ultra wide SCSI! with a huge buffer

[ShadesOfGrey]

Yup, I somethimes wish I gotten the UltraPlex 40X Wide instead of the UltraPlex 40X Max...  But I didn't have a Wide Ultra SCSI controller at the time.  :-D