Now that I have a faster CPU, I'm no longer limited by encoding, so I need to find a faster CD-ROM drive. I'd like to go ahead and get a CDRW drive, since they seem to be not much more expensive these days, but I'll mostly be using it for ripping CDs under EAC, I'd guess.

So what I'd like to know is what you guys are getting for average rip speeds under EAC with your CDRW drives. I'll also accept cdparanoia speeds from Linux. Both, if you've got 'em.

I cannot say rip speeds specifically, but I think the Plextor is the current drive-of-choice.

You know, I went back and retested, and I don't know what the deal is, but now I'm getting like 12x speeds intead of the 2.5x speeds I was getting before I reinstalled Winders. So maybe I don't need to get a new one.

A bad disk?

So maybe I don't need to get a new one

Although it is nice to have a CD burner.

I typically get around 12x with my Sony DRU500a DVD/CD/RW. But I think that's more an issue with EAC trying to make more accurate rips, as the drive is rated to read higher than that (I believe).

Naw, plextor is passee

Lite-On is now regarded in many circles as having the best mechanism, and several companies (including Lite-on) build drives around it.

Cheers

Finally, someone else agrees with me. All of my drives are Lite-On, burners and DVD drives. I've never had a problem ripping a CD, and it's always fast in either Windows or Linux.

Yup. Mine reads/rips lots of CDs that my "top notch" Plextor gets confused by.

Cheers

I've seen nothing but problems with Lite-On drives. From noisiness to general breakage.

No problems here with my Lite-on CDR(W); works awesome. I've actually had a couple of others and never had a problem either.

I have never tried the Lite-On drives. I will have to next time I upgrade.

After blindly following other forums I've gone to Lite-On several times myself, and I don't know if it's specifically their drives, or just "today's" technology, but thay have all worjed perfectly every time.

www.forums.anandtech.com , under "hot deals" will frequently show you what stores have good deals on burners. Last week I picked up a drive from Best Buy for $15 after rebate, that was a 52x Lite-On. I've seen them go as far as free-after-rebate even around last holiday time.

I think OfficeMax currently has a Cendyne burner, 52x24x52 at about $10 (I don't recall) after rebate. In the past this was a re-badged Lite-On drive.

Oh, I normally get "about 10x", give or take. Seems that if it's at the beginning or the end of the disk makes a difference, and ditto for the quality of it (something from say Sony vs. Wax Trax).

I've seen nothing but problems with Lite-On drives. From noisiness to general breakage.

I'm sorry to hear that. I do agree on the noise, though. But I'm quite annoyed with how loud my whole machine is, so it's not a big extra step to notice the drives as well.

I currently run two Lite-On drives: a 16x10x40 burner, which I rarely use to burn, and a 16x DVD. EAC testing states that my DVD drive is better for secure ripping, although I don't get much speed out of it; typically anywhere from 3-7x. But then I don't do a whole lot of ripping, either. On the flipside, however, if I set up EAC to not worry about perfect rips, then I'll see rip speeds averaging 30x with my burner.

I've never had a problem with a Lite-On drive. I have at least 4 in the house, and some of them are at least a few years old.

Well I had a Lite-On (Lem-On!) CD-RW - it looked cheap, the drawer mechanism sounded cheap, its only good point was that it broke down before the warranty ran out. I won't buy another Lite-On product! (Edit:) knowingly!

I'm sorry to hear that. Perhaps I've just had good luck with them.

We've had this discussion with so many hardware components on this board, and could probably have the same discussion about every piece of hardware. It never ceases to amaze me how people can have such different experiences with a brand or even a model. We've had people who swear by Western Digital, and people who only swear at Western Digital. Same with AMD v Intel, etc. It's funny to me.