Is there a "perfect" CD burner?
I want to get one that will work when I plug it in--not having to shut down and plug it in and restarting so it will work. I don;t want it to freeze my computer when I burn a CD, I want one that is burnproof, at least 12x firewire and one that has a mechanism that will work. I still don;t understand the difference between "teac" and "prexlor" (or whatever it is called) Appraently one of them sucks, and one doesn't. I want one that I am guaranteed to get the good done, and not a crap shoot like I have heard LaCie and QPS does by randonly putting different drives in their cases. Most importantly, this all MUST work with 10.1.3 and iTunes 2.0.3
If this sounds a little harsh well, I am pissed with my QPS drive. It freezes my computere very time I burn a CD and got absolutely no help from their tech support. I am going to sell it and buy a new one.
So...any recomendations?
If this sounds a little harsh well, I am pissed with my QPS drive. It freezes my computere very time I burn a CD and got absolutely no help from their tech support. I am going to sell it and buy a new one.
So...any recomendations?
Comments
I see that macMall has the same model at 16X for $30 more (I think). I called and they said it was a "special order" Apple.com, MacWarehouse, Dr.Bott, and MacZone all have the 8X but not the 16. Not even smartdisk.com has anything on the 16X on their website (that i could find) and I sent them an e-mail earlier today so I am anxious to hear about this drive and what the story is.
I woul dlove to have this drive as it is portable, small, and does not require an external power source. I have enjoyed my VST fireWire HD, so I have good vibes about that company.
FatBoy, does it work flawlessly? Is it plug-and-play (can I just plug it in when I am ready and go? What OS are you running, and what version of iTunes (if that is what you are using). Anyone else with this drive please chime in.
Thanks.
<strong>Anything is better than Apple's built-in CD burning! <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />
Why is that? could you explain?
Most burners with BurnProof or similar technology will be safe. Some burners listed at the same speed will be faster or slower at certain tasks. Plextor is one of the best names in the industry because their burners are fast and will last. I have a TDK that has a life expectancy much below most other burners, but it was cheap, and fast. I'll probably replace it before I break it though.
I have a QPS Que! Fire that uses a TEAC mechanism. It was definitely on the slow side for a 12x burner but QPS drives come with a nice carry-case and a nice looking enclosure. The plastic feet leave a little to be desired though. Basically, I have no idea why you are so disappointed with your drive.
I haven't had any problems with LaCie in the past...maybe you can look at what they have to offer.
As for my main computer now...I have a Pioneer DVD-RW.
[ 02-17-2002: Message edited by: Eugene ]</p>
How can I tell if I have the teac or plextor in mine (it is a 12x10x32)? I did what apple says by going to the system profiler, but that told me nothing (in their example on the web page it shows where it says "teac" but mine did not have that). I This was in 9.2. Is there a way to tell in OSX?
Here is what OSX sys. profiler says about the drive:
QB-P 2 Bridge
Vendor ID: 80cf
Speed: 400 MB/sec.
GUID: 8441602d
Vendor name: QPS
Unit version: 66691
That tells me nothing, maybe someone here can "read" that...
I would like to get this damn thing working properly and not have to buy another drive. I also am not going to buy Toast. I like iTunes, the drive is listed as compatible on Apple's site, I like using it, I have over 1100 songs on it.
It seems to work if I shut down the computer, plug it into the FW port, turn the drive on, and then boot the system. 2 problems with that--the reason why I bought a laptop was so I wouldn;t be anchored to my desk all the time and second that is just as bad as having it freeze--either way, I have to reboot the computer to use this thing, which in my opinion is unnaceptable. And if anyone thinks it IS acceptable, well then I guess I have higher standards. I would expect as much from my old POS Compaq which was nothing but headaches. I would expect it for a cheap drive, not one this expensive.
I just e-mailed the fellow that "helped" me and requested he forward my question to someone else since he obviously cannot help me. I doubt he will, so I will send it again to the general support address and hopefully someone different will get it. And on top of all this, the cheap SOBs don;t have a toll-free # to call. I still plan on calling by midweek if I don;t hear anything else and giving them an earful.
I could accept it if they tried to really help and eventually said there was nothing they could do, but they had to be pricks.
Go ahead, call me a whiner, I don;t care. I just have high expectations for someting I paid a lot of money for.
I have also read that QPS is apprantly blaming Apple for the problems and vice-versa. Well, if I ran QPS, i would get a fix out there and save my name. Who cares whose fault it is, their product is getting a bad name, not Apple's. Too late for that though. You can be damn sure I will stay away rom them in the future no matter what, and will recomend to everyone I know to avoid them if they ever consider products from them.
P.S. I appologize for my tone. I am not mad at anyone here so please do not think that harshness was directed to you, Eugene. I just expected more when I bought it. The bad thing is I bought it quite a few months back and didn;t even use it until the last month or so so I cannot return it.
PP.S. I just thought of something. I have all my tunes on a slim VST 20 GB drive. I plug that directly into the computer, and then the drive into the back of the hard disk. Could that be a problem?
<strong>I have a very close friend who is now semi-insane after dealing with QPS and trying to get his burner working. I was going to buy one but he told me he would shoot me in the head if I did, and I believe he just might. Anyone try the new LaCie with the USB and FW ports? Does it work with iTunes?</strong><hr></blockquote>
Tell him welcome to the club.
As for the LaCie, have you tried it w/ iTunes?
BTW...I found out my drive has the "TEAC" in it.
Like I said however, the version of Toast that came with the drive doesn;t even recognize the drive...and I am not going to invest $80 more dollars or whatever toast costs just to use this burner.
[ 02-17-2002: Message edited by: Horned_Frog ]</p>
<strong>Why does it seem everyone is recomending Toast? I don't wannasbuy it, I want to use iTunes!!!!! It is free, cool, easy to use, and I have tons of MP3 already neatly organized on it. If iTunes cannot burn properly then Apple should not have included the feature.
Like I said however, the version of Toast that came with the drive doesn;t even recognize the drive...and I am not going to invest $80 more dollars or whatever toast costs just to use this burner.
[ 02-17-2002: Message edited by: Horned_Frog ]</strong><hr></blockquote>
Toast has a lot more featuers. It's definately worth the extra money.
<strong>
Toast has a lot more featuers. It's definately worth the extra money.</strong><hr></blockquote>
But I don;t need any more "features." All I want is to make audio CDs.
<strong>
But I don;t need any more "features." All I want is to make audio CDs.</strong><hr></blockquote>
To add to what FatBoy said (and in his style)...I have that burner as well. My dad got it with his Ti. I tried it with my G4 Cube and it worked right out of the box in iTunes.
The VST is plug and play...flawless....its silver not grey.
[ 02-17-2002: Message edited by: Macintosh ]</p>
I wan tto post all my emails and the replies I got, unedited except for my name and the name of the guy I corresponded with. Tell me if I got satisfactory help and if you feel I have a right to get mad:
Email 1 from me:
My name
my phone #
[email protected]
Part # QPCDRW121032FEM
Serial # *********
Apple iBook (Graphite SE, 466, single USB, FireWire, 320 MB RAM)
OS: Mac OS X 10.1.2
iTunes for Mac OS X 2.0.3
My name ismy name.
I am using the above mentioned drive (model # QPS-525) and am having difficulties with my computer once I am finished burning a CD. Everything works fine, but when the drive is finishing burning the disc, my computer slows down to the point my only option is to restart. It takes several minutes just to close a window or click on a menu and have the menu options appear. About once out of every ten times I burn a CD I do not have this problem---the CD mounts on the desktop and it appears in the left side menu of iTunes along with the library and playlists. More often than not, however, I get the slowdown and am forced to reboot. Is there a way to alleviate this problem? I would appreciate any advice you may have.
Thank you,
(My name)
email 1 from him:
toasttitanium version 5.1 is reported by roxio as being 10.1.2 compatible
Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*any other legacy software or devices may cause problems in 10.1.2 investigate them as separate issues
email 2 from me:
I am sorry...I do not understand how that helps me in my problem. I am using iTunes. Please re-read my original e-mail which is below and let me know if there is a solution to the problem.
email 2 from him:
Please shutdown any other programs that may be running background processes when you are using itunes
Also try the following media brands: TDK MAXELL FUJI or KODAK use certified speed media (1x-12x or 1x-16x)
Also try these above brands in their audio versions
email 3 from me:
None of these suggestions have worked. My computer is still freezing up whenever the drive is finished burning a CD. I am very dissapointed to say the least, and was hoping for $250 I would by a drive that works 100%. Can you suggest any further solutions?
email 4 from me (after I did not get a reply from him after 8 days):
If you cannot help me, I would appreciate it if you forwarded my original question (as reproduced below) to someone else who may be able to help. I hate to be negative, but I am shocked at the lack of support I have received. I replied to this e-mail about 10 days ago. You could have had the courtesy to reply as saying there is nothing else you can think of.
email 3 from him:
Please contact <a href="http://www.apple.com"; target="_blank">www.apple.com</a>
Itunesis an apple program and as such any software issues should be referred to them
When your 12x firewire drive was manufactured and sold, neither itunes 2.0.3 nor mac os 10.1.2 were in existence
email 5 from me:
It seems you do your absolute best to make sure your products are not future proof? What a joke! How do you explain that the version of Toast you included with the drive does not even recognize it? QPS supposedly stand for Quality, Performance, Service, none of which are true, are they?
I am absolutely disgusted. You can be DAMN sure I will NEVER buy a product from you again and I am already plastering Apple message boards with how poorly you in particularly have treated me. What is with all these 2 and 3 sentence replies? That is hardly service. Someone higher up in your company will certainly be hearing from me.
----END OF EMAILS----
Well, I tried to call today, and stayed on the line for a half an hour on a toll call waiting to talk to someone, and only kept getting a recording telling me to go to their website for help and to hang on.
Truly pathetic that I cannot even get through to someone on my own dime.
I am physically ill.
And you're aware that OSX still doesn't support all the hardware that's supported by OS9, right? It's getting there, but it still isn't 100%.
I hate to say it, but I think you should be bitching at Apple to support your drive with OSX and iTunes, rather than bitching at QPS about this.
Edit: Also, the version of Toast I got with the drive for OS9 (4. something I think I posted it above somewhere) does not work AT ALL. When I open it, it says there is no burner connected. Sys. profiler recognizes it as there. I do not have iTunes for 9 and have no intention of DLing it as I am on 56k.
I do realize that not everything is OSX compatible, but the drive is listed by apple as compatible, and it does burn the CDs, it just freezes the computer most times I am finished with it.
As you can see, I was poilite in the firet couple emails I sent. It was only after I started getting the runaround and then not even getting a reply for more than a week that I started to get pissed. I can accept it if he had just told me that as of right now, it is not 100%, but that they are working on it, that they appologize, and they will email me should na update or something be available. I mean, treat me like I have a brain, not some moron. Even if he was lying about them being sorry and that they are working on it, at least have the decency to say something polite and not these dumbass answers.
[ 02-18-2002: Message edited by: Horned_Frog ]</p>
<strong>
But I don;t need any more "features." All I want is to make audio CDs.</strong><hr></blockquote>
You'll never make any copies of CDs? Even just for backup?
I got my 12x sony on ubid.com for a song and have never had a problem.