burrows@milton.u.washington.edu (William Burrows) (08/02/90)
Does anyone have any experience with the CD-Technology Porta-Drive CD-ROM drive? MacUser rates it at 4.5 mice while they give the AppleCD SC only 4 mice. Thanks. Please e-mail responses to: burrows@milton.u.washington.edu
fiddler@concertina.Sun.COM (Steve Hix) (08/02/90)
In article <5816@milton.u.washington.edu>, burrows@milton.u.washington.edu (William Burrows) writes: > Does anyone have any experience with the CD-Technology Porta-Drive > CD-ROM drive? The documentation is...well...substandard. The drive works fine, though. ------------ The only drawback with morning is that it comes at such an inconvenient time of day. ------------
jbr0@cbnews.att.com (joseph.a.brownlee) (08/02/90)
With all the CD talk in this group, I am left with a few questions. I have to
admit that I am not that familiar with the details of the technology, probably
since I have yet to see a good comprehensive article on the topic that isn't
mostly marketing hype, and since I'm not a "hardware-type".
Ok, that being said, I have the following questions:
. Which drive do people like?
. What is a good source?
. How much should I expect to pay?
. Can I get a drive that can write optical media and also
read CD's without taking out a second mortgage?
. If you have used a CD-ROM drive, did you find it useful?
Are there enough CD's out there to justify the purchase?
Any information is appreciated.
--
- _ Joe Brownlee, Analysts International Corp. @ AT&T Network Systems
/_\ @ / ` 471 E Broad St, Suite 1610, Columbus, Ohio 43215 (614) 860-7461
/ \ | \_, E-mail: jbr@cblph.att.com Who pays attention to what _I_ say?
"Scotty, we need warp drive in 3 minutes or we're all dead!" --- James T. Kirkblob@Apple.COM (Brian Bechtel) (08/03/90)
jbr0@cbnews.att.com (joseph.a.brownlee) writes: > . Which drive do people like? Apple and Toshiba are the most popular. You must get a driver that works with that drive; the Apple CD-ROM driver doesn't work with other drives. > . What is a good source? Apple's drive is available at any authorized Apple dealer. > . How much should I expect to pay? U.S. suggested retail price is $899.00 > . Can I get a drive that can write optical media and also > read CD's without taking out a second mortgage? No. > . If you have used a CD-ROM drive, did you find it useful? Yes. > Are there enough CD's out there to justify the purchase? Depending upon what you're doing, yes. For instance, Apple is distributing all its developer information on CD-ROM. Microsoft Office is a CD-ROM containing all the popular Microsoft applications for the Mac plus lots of add-ons for a price significantly lower than the cost of the separate applications. --Brian Bechtel blob@apple.com "My opinion, not Apple's"
taylor@limbo.Intuitive.Com (Dave Taylor) (08/03/90)
[The following is an excerpt from an article I wrote for Computer
Currents magazine. This information is not, of course, complete,
but should be some useful fuel for the fire, as it were. -- Dave]
--------
... Which CD-ROM Drive To Get
(C) Copyright 1990 Dave Taylor. All Rights Reserved.
Before we look at the wealth of information available on CD-ROM, let's
have a quick check into what companies offer CD-ROM units, and what kind
of price you can expect to pay for them.
The first and foremost company is Apple themselves, with the newly
redesigned CD-SC CD-ROM player. The current, recently lowered price for
the unit is under $1000 retail, with the best advertised price
approximately $800 or so. The unit was redesigned, by the way, because
the older models were prone to collecting dust on the optical lens
(through which a laser shines and records reflections, the fundamental
CD technology). Average seek time on the Apple CD-SC is 600
milliseconds.
Next in line is the DRD-253 from Denon, a company that has long been
known for their fine audiophile equipment. This unit has an average
access time of 350 milliseconds, supports audio straight off the disc,
and even has a built in audio speaker so you can use it just like a
little audio CD player. The DRD-253 configured for a Macintosh to hook
up to the SCSI port is $829 complete.
NEC Electronics also offers a couple of different CD-ROM players for the
Macintosh environment. The portable CDR-35 kit is clocked at a slow
1500 millisecond average seek time, but is quite totable at almost the
same size as the small Sony D-7 audio CD unit. NEC also makes a larger
desktop unit that features the same color scheme as the Macintosh
itself, the CDR-77, and about three times the performance of their
portable unit, with an average seek time of 500 milliseconds. Pricing
is $599 for the portable unit and $749 for the desktop model.
Toshiba also has a pair of CD-ROM drives available for the Macintosh,
with one priced amazingly low at under $700. The lower priced unit is
the XM-5100A and it features 380 millisecond seek time and front panel
audio output and volume control. The small profile desktop XM-3201A is
slightly faster at 350 millisecond average seek time. Pricing on both
are: $699 for the XM-5100A and $799 for the XM-3201A unit.
This is not an exhaustive list of what drives are available for the
Macintosh. Also, the prices should be used as indicators, not as
suggested retail; a quick glance through some adverts in the latest
issue of MacWorld indicated prices that while for the most part were
similar to the above, had the NEC portable for $399, and the Toshiba
XM-3201A unit for $899 (in the same advert). Shop around once you've
decided on a particular drive.
Note that with the exception of the Apple drive, all the drives
mentioned here can easily be used on a PC too, thereby making them
perhaps an even wiser investment for a mixed computer office or work
environment. On the down side, they all require that you use a rather
awkward CD disc caddy; a small plastic disc holder that requires some
fiddling to open typically. For reasons that we can't fathom, all the
CD-ROM drive makers have decided that the ease of disc swapping in an
audio CD drive isn't appropriate for the presumably more delicate CD-ROM
discs. Spare disc caddy's, which seem to be identical for all vendors,
are about $12 each.
--------
Hope that's a help!
-- Dave Taylor
Intuitive Systems
Mountain View, California
taylor@limbo.intuitive.com or {uunet!}{decwrl,apple}!limbo!taylor