CD RW external drive for PC Laptop

Can anyone suggest what I should consider for an external cd rw external drive. I have a laptop with a cd/dvd drive and would like to make cdr's and/or mp3's for the car, boom box and portable. I can play mp3's on my Pioneer DV444 at home.
I don't want to sink too much $$$ into this.
While I am asking, is there a preferred software package for this type of thing?
Thanks!

 

Hi,
I don't have a recommendation, but I can tell you what NOT to buy.

Here at work I've got a Dell PIII 750 w/ 256 meg running Windows 2000. To do my burning chores- I am borrowing someones IOMEGA Predator- which is basically a 4X USB recorder. It will do 8X with IEEE, but I don't have that.

I really can't do anything while burning- or even copying to a CD-RW, and I mean nothing. Even then I get random errors just writing to the rewritable. This is the worst POS I have ever used.


Chris

 

Shakey,

A program that is often bundeled with cd-rw drives is 'Nero'. It is easy to use, but it doesn't report or try to correct read errors.

A much better program is EAC (Exact Audio Copy). You will have to spend some time setting this program up, but it will be worth it in the end.

Also, you can search the EAC group on Yahoo for recommendations on the best drives for ripping and writing audio CDs.

EAC home page: http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/

EAC setup tutorial: http://www.ping.be/satcp/eac00.htm

Yahoo EAC group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eac/

Have fun,
Dave

 

I've been using EAC for about 1 year now and it does give the closest to the original of the few programs that I've tried. Most of the programs that I tried did not allow for a 1X burn speed, which I've found produces more accurate results.

 

Thanks again. I will look into the above suggestions and go from there.