Lite-On Lite-On LTR52246

• Reviewed by: mfbowman1

  Strengths: Initially worked well and was fast.

  Weaknesses: The write laser began failing at four months and at five months has now completely failed.

  Overall: Called the manufacturer for warranty return information because the retailer from whom I bought it provides no warranty. Was transferred to a voice mail box and my call so far has not been returned.

• Reviewed by: stephanw

  Strengths: Fast writing speed, everything about this

  Weaknesses: no weaknesses

  Overall: This is the best CD-RW drive i've seen and it is one of the cheapest priced i've seen, too. If you are looking for a good CD-RW and a great price, this is what you've been looking for!

• Reviewed by: BoneMachine

  Strengths: Fast & easy install,Nero Burning Rom,drive is shipped with Buffer-Underrun protection enabled,excellent value($103 CDN or aprox. $69 US )for a retail box.Purchased JAN-11-03.Zero problems to date.

  Weaknesses: I'm hard pressed to find any weakness.The hardcopy documentation (one page poster w/diagrams) is scarce,however there is a 10 page manual on the CD;personally I'd rather not pay for technical writing.

  Overall: I bought both the LiteOn 52x24x52 CD-RW and their 16X DVD drives in retail packs in a local ma & pa shop in western Canada where I live (DVD purchased JAN-11-03 too - $66 CDN or aprox $44 US ). Remember that these folks designed and manufactured the first 52x24x52 ( CAV ) CD-RW burner to market. As I understand it any futher speed increases by ANY company will require a new laser type (blue ?) so I quess that this will be my last CDRW upgrade ever!? The drive also includes the "redefined" SMART-BURN (Smart Monitoring & Adapting Recording Technology for BURN-ing) which would automatically check media quality and set limit to burning speed that is best suited for the media to ensure successful writing sessions ( Users will have an option to deactivate this feature if they choose to force the drive to record at maximum speed regardless of media quality , but at our own risk ). The drives continue to feature SMART-X®(Smart Monitoring and Adjusting Read-speed Technology for eXtraction) function that provides the fastest DAE speed. I copyed Ahead's Nero software,514meg's from the DVD on the fly ( files aren't handled by the hard drive but rather go directly from DVD to CDRW )on an Emtec 4X CD-rewitable FORCED to 8X without flaws ( 7 minutes/22 seconds ).If your not to tight on space & don't yet have a DVD reader I recommend both drives wholeheartedly .If you just need a CD-RW you really can't go argue with the value of Lite On's 52x24x52x & Ahead's Nero 5.5.