Buying CD Burner...help

[october]

I am probably purchasing a CD burner this week. I am thinking external, because I don't want to take out my existing CD ROM drive.

Does this come with software that helps me to burn music or data? Is it easy to burn pictures onto a CD? Is it pretty easy to use? Hard to set up? Can someone give me a wealth of information to help me in my purchase? I was probably going to buy the 150 dollar one from an office store or something. Nothing terribly expensive.

 

[Mikoyan]

CD-burners usually come with programs, but i recommend you cough up a little extra dough for the 'Easy CD creator 5' from Roxio, this is the best burning program around. And yes, you can burn pictures on your CD's, it's easy.
Good Huntin'.

 

[CornMaster]

Originally posted by october
I am probably purchasing a CD burner this week. I am thinking external, because I don't want to take out my existing CD ROM drive.

Does this come with software that helps me to burn music or data? Is it easy to burn pictures onto a CD? Is it pretty easy to use? Hard to set up? Can someone give me a wealth of information to help me in my purchase? I was probably going to buy the 150 dollar one from an office store or something. Nothing terribly expensive.

If your going to get external....then avoid Backpack CD RW's and Smart and Friendly. They both really suck.

Also.....almost every burner comes with specialized software, that works with your perticular brand of drive. If you go for Roxio/Adaptec EZ CD Creator make sure that your drive is listed on the campatible list. I tried to install it for a friend for his HP drive.....big mistake.

 

[damunzy]

I would strongly suggest that you do NOT buy an external CD burner. I hardly use my regular CD-ROM in the burning process. I find it much faster to read the CD on the CD-RW and then put a blank one in a burn. I also found Nero to be a superior product, with the latest version able to burn DVDs (if you have a DVD burner that is, but you will know it is there for a future upgrade). Nero is a little bit harder to get use to compared to Easy CD Creator but I never could figure out how to make an ISO with Easy CD but I could with Nero. Nero also comes with InCD which is similiar to DirectCD, a product of Roxio that comes with EasyCD creator. The internal CD-RWs are cheaper and much faster. I purchased my burner, 16x10x40x, from BestBuy for 120$ or so. The fastest externals I have seen were 4x4x24 at 150$ or so. Also, if you can afford it I would go for a Plextor CD-RW as they are the best out there according to most computer magazines. Good luck with whatever you buy!

 

[Fishheads]

why don't you want to take out your existing cd rom? what else is in your computer?