CD Burners Reviews

Best CD Burners Reviews: (out of 7)
PC World, PC Magazine, Newegg.com

Best CD Burners: (out of 15)
Lite-On SOHR-5239S, Lite-On SOHC-5236V

Fast Answers - Best CD Burners

Top Rated	What the Research Says
• Lite-On SOHR-5239S (*est. $20) >> Where to buy	Internal CD burner. Owners say the Lite-On SOHR-5239S is an easy to install CD burner if you want a drive that just burns CDs. However, the Lite-On isn't much less expensive than some DVD burners, which burn both DVDs and CDs. Unless you have an older computer, or want a CD writer as a companion to an existing DVD burner, experts say you should get a DVD burner instead. See our report on DVD burners for more information.
• Lite-On SOHC-5236V (*est. $25) >> Where to buy	Internal CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo. If you'd like a CD-burner which can also read DVDs (but not write them), the Lite-On SOHC-5236V is a good choice, though a few owners say DVD playback can be spotty. Basic internal DVD burners start at about $35, so for just a bit more, you can get a more flexible DVD burner, which can also record to DVDs. A double-layer DVD gives you nearly 8GB of storage compared to a CD's 700MB capacity. (compare prices)
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Full Story

What the experts say, our analysis, and more...

Updated January 2007

Now that DVD burners have taken over the market, the pivotal question is whether to buy a CD burner at all, especially when DVD burners (which can also burn to CDs) have decreased dramatically in price (budget DVD burners cost less than $35). Most of our most credible reviewers from past reports, including PC World, PC Magazine and CNet.com, have eschewed reviewing CD-RW drives in favor of boosting coverage of DVD burners. Consumer Reports last updated its report on CD burners in November 2000, too long ago to be of any use. Manufacturers have also scaled back production, reducing once-lengthy product lines to just one or two models.

If you're thinking of upgrading or installing a CD burner, reviews say you should probably install a DVD burner instead. Top-speed DVD burners burn and read both DVDs and CDs, so they give you a lot more flexibility. If you have a digital camcorder, you'll be able to burn your movies on DVDs that will be readable in most home DVD players. DVDs hold much more information than CDs, 4.7GB compared to a CD's 700MB, so DVDs are more capacious for large data backups. Most DVD burners can burn to double-layer DVDs, which can hold as much as 8GB of data.

Right now, DVD burners write to CDs at slightly slower speeds than dedicated CD writers, but not by much. Top DVD burners are currently writing to CD at 48X/24X/48X speeds, whereas the Lite-On CD burner in Fast Answers operates at 52X/32X/52X speeds. That means that the Lite-On can burn 700MB to a CD-R in about 3.5 minutes, while the DVD burner would take about five minutes. If you're only burning an occasional CD, the speed variation doesn't make much of a practical difference. On the other hand, if you need to burn numerous CDs on a routine basis, the speed difference might be more significant.

If you have enough free drive bays in your computer, some computer owners are buying both a CD writer and a DVD burner. That way, you can get a top-speed CD writer for burning music and photo files to CD, as well as pick up one of the more affordable DVD burners. With both drives, you'll also be able to make direct disc-to-disc copies of CDs.

The bottom line is that if you're into burning music as well as movies or need more storage space for backups, you should go for a DVD burner. If you're more interested in making music CDs and smaller backups, or if you have an older computer, a CD writer will do the trick. For more information on DVD drives, see our separate report (DVD burners ). Note that the Lite-On combo unit above in ConsumerSearch Fast Answers can play DVDs, but it cannot burn them. ... Continued

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