Cool Tools archive

Sony offers 16x DVD burners
Sony Electronics this week launched its second-generation DVD+R Double Layer (DL) burners, which have now reached 16x speeds. The company is offering an internal model (DRU-710A, $180, shipping now) and an external model (DRX-710UL, $280, shipping in October). The drives can also support 16x DVD+R, 8x DVD-R, 4x DVD+/-RW, 48x... August 25, 2004

25 functions, one box
Addonics gets the prize today for the "most functions in one device" announcement. The San Jose-based company said its new MFR (stands for Multifunction Recorder) is a 25-in-1 digital media storage appliance that can do almost everything except make toast. The device can read and write 11 different memory card... July 29, 2004

Mass produce CDs and DVDs
One of the cooler products we've looked at is Primera's Bravo Disc Publisher, which lets you mass duplicate CDs and print directly on them without having to use those peel-and-stick labels. Today, the good folks at Primera announced its Bravo II Disc Publisher, which burns and prints CDs and DVDs... February 06, 2004

Make a CD without a PC
Kanguru Solutions this week launched a new device that lets users burn Flash card (media card) data directly onto a CD without needing a computer. The new KanguruFC-RW is a $199.95 device that lets users of seven different flash media cards (Compact Flash, IBM Microdrive, Smart Media, Secure Digital, Sony... January 23, 2004

Iomega DVD drive shipping
Iomega Corp. said this week that its new Super DVD 4x Internal Drive is now shipping. The company says the drive supports all major DVD and CD standards, including DVD+R/+RW, DVD-R/-RW, DVD-RAM, CD-R and CD-RW. The drive costs $279.95 and can be bought online at Iomega’s Web site. An external... September 10, 2003

Super slim DVD drive available
EZQuest announced today that its external Boa Slim DVD-RW drive for Macintosh and PCs is now available. The drive, which weighs under a pound, measures 6- by 5.5- by 0.75-inches. The device, which includes both FireWire and USB 2.0 ports, costs $359. A USB-only version is available for $339, the... September 03, 2003

Toshiba preps slimmer DVD drives
Toshiba’s Storage Device Division (SDD) today launched two slim optical disk drives for notebooks that include DVD recording capabilities. The SD-R6112 slim DVD recordable drive includes 2x-speed DVD recording, and the SD-R9012 super slim CD-RW/DVD-ROM combination drive includes 16x-speed CD recording speeds in a smaller format. The drives are aimed... August 26, 2003

HP wants to help preserve your videos
Many companies have come out with video-to-DVD hardware, but HP wants to make it easier for users. As part of its consumer product rollout this week, it announced the new DVD Movie Writer dc3000, a hardware and software platform that lets users convert VHS (and other media) videos onto a... August 13, 2003

I/O Magic merges CD-RW drive with media reader
I/O Magic this week announced an internal CD-RW drive that also includes an embedded 7-in-1 media card reader. The drive will be available next month for an introductory price of $79.99, the company said. The drive reads CD-R media at 52x-speeds, CD-RW at 32-x speeds, and regular CDs at up... August 08, 2003

Copy any CD / DVD to blank media
Addonics this week announced a new series of DVD DigiCopiers that aim to end the confusion surrounding which recordable format is compatible with which. The new DigiCopiers include a 4x-speed DVD+/-R/RW duplicator, an external DVD+/-R/RW burner for PCs and networks, and support for USB 2.0, FireWire, CardBus or Serial ATA-based... August 07, 2003

DVD player for Linux computers
Lindows.com this week announced availability of its Lindows DVD Player, which includes a fully licensed decoder that lets users play commercial DVDs on LindowsOS computers. The player can also play CDs, VCDs and multimedia files such as AVI, MOV, WMV and MP3 from local disk drives, as well as streaming... July 30, 2003

Plextor DVD burner aims to support all DVD standards
Plextor today announced a new drive that it says will burn DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW and CD-R/RW disks, helping to end consumer questions regarding which DVD recording format will work with existing or future standards. The PX-708A, available in August for $299, supports 8x-speed DVD+R and 4x-speed DVD-R writing; 4x-speed DVD+RW and... July 28, 2003

Produce 100 CDs instantly
Kanguru Solutions this week announced its new Autoloader 100, a CD duplicator that the company says can produce 100 CDs at once by pressing a button. The Kanguru Autoloader has a 52x-speed burning capability, and can copy a full 700M-byte CD in under 3 minutes, Kanguru said. In addition, the... July 16, 2003

Plextor offers new DVD drive
Plextor today announced a new external DVD/CD burner that supports both the DVD+R and DVD+RW formats, as well as USB 2.0 and IEEE 1394 interfaces. The PX-504UF DVD+R/RW drive supports 4x-speed DVD+R writing, 2.4x-speed DVD+RW rewriting, 12x-speed DVD reading (DVD-ROM), 16x-speed CD writing and 40x-speed CD reading (CD-ROM). The drive... May 27, 2003

DVD recorders that support four formats
Verbatim and Peripherals Group (a subsidiary of CenDyne) this week announced “dual-format” DVD recorders that support four different DVD formats: DVD+RW, DVD+R, DVD-RW and DVD-R. The Verbatim 4X Producer 44 Dual-Format DVD Recorders also support CD-R and CD-RW formats. The drives come in either external (VBTDVDL4X, $399) or internal (VBTDVDL4A,... May 16, 2003

DVD duplicator adds USB 2.0 features
Kanguru Solutions this week announced a stand-alone 4x-speed DVD duplicator that now has USB 2.0 connectivity. The Kanguru DVD Duplicator can copy DVDs at 4x speeds and CDs at 16x speeds without the need for a computer, the company said. The device can duplicate as many as seven DVDs in... April 25, 2003

Verbatim ships 52x external CD-RW drive
Verbatim Corp. recently released a new high-speed external USB 2.0 52x-speed CD-RW drive. The drive, which costs $129, extends the speeds of Verbatim's internal CD-RW drives to the external form factor. Features include drag-and-drop CD rewriting and "on-the-fly" formatting of disks, the company said. The drive can burn about 700M... February 10, 2003

Burn a CD in under 90 seconds
Other World Computing recently launched two new CD-RW external FireWire drives with speeds of 52x. The company says the devices will let users burn a CD in less than 90 seconds. The 52x-speed Mercury Pro drives work with both Macintosh and Windows-based PCs that have FireWire or USB support, the... January 29, 2003

Addonics updates mobile DVD/CD-RW drive
Addonics Technologies announced a new external mobile DVD player / CD burner that has faster speeds. The Mobile DVD / CDRW drive from Addonics has a 16x DVD player, a 48x write / 24x re-write CD-RW burner, and a 48x CD-ROM drive. Addonics says the 24x re-write speed is the... January 23, 2003

Archos ships portable DVD writer
Archos recently announced a portable DVD writer drive, the DExDVD-RW. The recorder can record in DVD-RAM, DVD-R and DVD-RW formats, and includes a USB 2.0 interface. Archos says that by using DVD-RAM disks in the device, users can utilize the device like an optical hard disk to store data. The... January 02, 2003