WHAT'S HOT: If 700MB isn't enough capacity for you, then the silver-hued, $220 Sony Double Density drive is worth a look. Performance when writing to ordinary CD-Rs and CD-RWs on the fly was equal to or better than that of other drives rated at similar speeds. And when we tried writing to Sony's Double Density media, the drive performed without a hitch.

We tested the drive's Double Density capacity and CD-R write speed by burning 1.28GB worth of files from an image and also on the fly. The drive did well, burning both the image and on the fly in an identical 13 minutes, 2 seconds. We then burned a 1GB folder to test the drive's CD-RW write speeds. The folder took 18 minutes, 16 seconds to write to CD-RW--spot on for a drive rated at 8X.

Sony created its 1.3GB media by reducing the normal spacing between both burn marks and tracks, as compared with conventional CDs; predictably, these discs can be used only on Sony's Double Density drive. The drive has no buffer underrun compensation technology; however, the drive's large 8MB buffer proved effective in our tests.

WHAT'S NOT: Ordinary 16X/10X/40X drives can be had for less, and the Double Density drive's overall performance score on our tests was hurt by sluggish results for digital audio extraction and for installing Microsoft Office 2000 Small Business Edition (disc one). Also, Double Density media costs significantly more than ordinary CD media, selling for about $2 per DD-R and $3 for DD-RW (as compared with about 35 cents and $1, respectively, for standard CD media).

WHAT ELSE: The Double Density drive includes Sony's CD Complete Pro software suite, which has a handy all-in-one installer for its individual components: Sony CD Extreme, Sony abCD, Liquid Player, and Dantz Development's Retrospect Express. Sony provides a one-year warranty, and toll-free tech support for 12 hours on weekdays and Saturdays.

BEST USE: The Sony Double Density drive is best suited for those who value additional capacity over performance-especially if they plan on backing up their data.

SUMMARY

Sony Double Density CD-RW CRX200E/A1 12X/8X/32X, IDE, internal, 8MB buffer, Sony CD Extreme and abCD 3.01; one-year warranty, toll-free support for 12 hours weekdays and Saturdays. $190 800/352-7669 www.sony.com/spressa