[filmscanners] Re: cdrw drives

["Arthur Entlich" <artistic-1@shaw.ca>]

I think you have something there.  Simply, those drives probably
originally sold for a lot more money, and were probably better made as a
result.

There seems to be a mid-point in most products where the technology is
finally "sound" (earlier CDR product was well built and very expensive,
but wasn't perfected) and yet it is still at a high enough profit
margin, that quality is built into it and it lasts.  As competitive
pricing pressures occur, the products get cheaper and cheaper, and
corners are cut to make them still profitable to make and sell.

HP announced they went out of CDRW drive production recently because
there was no money left it it, and switched over to DVDRAM/CDRW drives.

I own a lot of computer peripherals from the last 10-15 years, and the
differences in basic manufacturing quality is massive.  I wish it was
possible to just upgrade older stuff, because the inherent quality is so
superior to most of the stuff coming off the lines today.  Admittedly,
some of the stuff is overbuilt.  My Wacom 12x12" tablet weights about 15
pounds.

Since most of this stuff is not upgradable, I do wonder the sense in
making it so substantial.  Although I have an Epson Color Stylus Pro,
and a Pro XL which are built to never die, they are so slow by today's
standards, I almost never use them.  The 880 I bought several months
back weights about 1/4th what the Pro does, but it has a smaller dot,
higher resolution, and is much faster, and I bet will not last nearly as
long, but what's the point of investing all those raw materials into a
product if the technology itself is going to become obsolete well before
it wears out?

My middle-ware in the Epson lineup that I own is the 850 (I would have
preferred a 900 or 950).  I believe those two models are the top of
Epson's form in terms of cost/features/and quality of machine.  I'm
still waiting for them to put the 900 head into a wide carriage like the
3000.

Art

Ezio c/o TIN wrote:

> And ... what if ... the slower the better and lasting longer ?
>
> I've got 2 x Mitsumi IDE 4x2x32 who already burnt a thousand of CDs (more
> than 1 year of activity ) and no failures yet ...
>
> They cost 100$ each (NOT ON eBay !!!!!!!!!!!! but on the Mitsumi Europe
> e-shop ! ... ) ..
> More over ... they can READ EVERYTHING AND WRITE ACCORDINGLY ... as the old
> IBM was used to say ... ''if properly programmed by the user'' .... (ROXIO
> EZ-CD + NERO + CDBURN + CLONE CD)
>
> he he he he he he !  ;o)
>
> Cheers and beers ...
>
> Sincerely.
>
> Ezio
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "QUICKSILVER" <jimsmac@sssnet.com>
> To: <ezio.lucenti1@tin.it>
> Sent: Friday, March 01, 2002 8:13 PM
> Subject: [filmscanners] Re: cdrw drives
>
>
> I had a yamaha 16x10x40 and 20x10x40 both firewire and they both died
> within the first 30 day return period. the new20x10x40 is working ok.
> might just be bad luck. i use  a mac g4
>
> jim
>
> "Wilson, Paul" wrote:
>
>>Plextors are usually supposed to be very good.  Strange.
>>
>>Otherwise, TDK makes a good IDE one and Yamahas are also good.
>>
>>Paul Wilson
>>
>>
>>>-----Original Message-----
>>>From: cjcronin@erols.com [mailto:cjcronin@erols.com]
>>>Sent: Friday, March 01, 2002 1:10 PM
>>>To: pwilson@gomez.com
>>>Subject: [filmscanners] cdrw drives
>>>
>>>
>>>What is a good reliable cd/rw drive.  I had a plextor and in
>>>less than a year it became unusable. Suggestions? Experiences?
>>>
>>>Thanks
>>>Jules
>>>


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