of currently available drives.....

[photon_trap]

I've been reading past threads for hours and have been unable to find advice on a good drive for ripping that is currently available. I am sorry if this topic has been beaten to death but advice is very much appreciated!

TIA
Jeff A

[kristian]

Re: of currently available drives.....

I'm having excellent, fast results with a Lite-On iHas424-98; it's a rebadged Sony Optiarc AD-7241S. Frequently secure rips at 40-42 X toward ends of CDs. Same unit without Lightscribe is iHas 324, or Optiarc 7240.

Don't let anyone tell you the iHas 424-08 is a "true" Lite-On. It ain't; the only difference is the 08 uses Markertek chips vs. NEC chips in the 98 and Optiarcs. They use otherwise identical transports etc.

Incidentally, I contacted Plextor to ask a few questions. They refused to acknowledge that their drives (e.g. PX-880) are rebadged in spite of the language on Plextor's "About Us" page:

"In 2008, leveraging PLDS (Philips & Lite-On Digital Solutions) infrastructure, Plextor US operations appointed PLDS as the sole distributor to promote and sell Plextor branded products into the US, Canada, and other American continent countries."

Plextor also couldn't state what makes Plextors better than anything else for the premium price. Finally, the PX-880 has had numerous firmware revisions since introduction--what are the patching up?


Best,

Kristian

[theanswer337]

Re: of currently available drives.....

I'm having excellent, fast results with a Lite-On iHas424-98; it's a rebadged Sony Optiarc AD-7241S. Frequently secure rips at 40-42 X toward ends of CDs. Same unit without Lightscribe is iHas 324, or Optiarc 7240.

Don't let anyone tell you the iHas 424-08 is a "true" Lite-On. It ain't; the only difference is the 08 uses Markertek chips vs. NEC chips in the 98 and Optiarcs. They use otherwise identical transports etc.

Incidentally, I contacted Plextor to ask a few questions. They refused to acknowledge that their drives (e.g. PX-880) are rebadged in spite of the language on Plextor's "About Us" page:

"In 2008, leveraging PLDS (Philips & Lite-On Digital Solutions) infrastructure, Plextor US operations appointed PLDS as the sole distributor to promote and sell Plextor branded products into the US, Canada, and other American continent countries."

Plextor also couldn't state what makes Plextors better than anything else for the premium price. Finally, the PX-880 has had numerous firmware revisions since introduction--what are the patching up?


Best,

Kristian

I just purchased a PX-880U11 from Tiger Direct. Should I have any concerns?

[theanswer337]

Re: of currently available drives.....

*bump*