Iomega is one of the big names in data backup and storage. Although they have quite a number of products available these days, they are probably most widely known for their Zip drives. Some people love them, others hate them, but what else is new in the tech world?
One of their latest ventures is in the CD burning market -- their latest model coming toe to toe with other companies at the 12x10x32 speed rating (write, rewrite, max read). Since 16x drives are currently being introduced into the market, the price of the 12x drives will quickly become very reasonable, making them a good buy for upgraders and first time buyers alike.
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| ZipCD's Box Shot & the Box's Contents |
Introduction
The Iomega ZipCD 12x10x32 is similar to Iomegas other two drives, the 12x4x32 and the 8x4x32 models with the most significant difference being the introduction of Sanyos BURN-Proof technology. BURN stands for Buffer UnderRuN and the technology is a major improvement to the CD burning process.
In the past, the one problem that has thwarted more CD burning attempts than any other, is the buffer-underrun. During the burning, the data that is being supplied to the CD-RW must remain in a constant and (somewhat) steady stream. If this stream of data is interrupted, the CD-RW will run out of data to burn, the laser will turn off and you can kiss that CD goodbye. At least, thats how it used to happen. With Sanyos BURN-Proof and Ricohs Just-Link, buffer underruns are quickly becoming relics of another age.
Lets look over the ZipCDs specs:
| Write Speeds: | 12x / 8x / 4x / 2x / 1x |
| Re-Write Speeds: | 10x / 8x / 4x / 2x / 1x |
| Max Read: | 32x |
| Capacity: | 650MB/74min and 700MB/80min |
| Buffer: | 1.8MB |
| Write-Methods: | Multi-session, packet-writing, track-at-once (TAO),
session-at-once (SAO), Disc-at-once (DAO) |
| Supported Formats: | not available |
| Other: | BURN-Proof |
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Notice that this drive does support overburning. The blank Iomega CD-Rs that come with the drive are actually 700MB CDs which is be a pretty solid indication that using quality, over-sized CDs shouldnt be a problem.
Box Contents
One of the neatest features of the ZipCD isnt part of the drive at all: its the box (no, really!). Opening the boxs lid reveals a smaller box with two finger holes, which conveniently contains all of the goodies. The rest of the box is devoted to housing the drive itself. No bags, no messy Styrofoam, and best of all, no clutter.
So what are the goodies? Well, theres the software CD, the help CD, the Quick-Install manual, an IDE cable, four screws for installation, an analogue audio cable, two blank 700MB Iomega CD-Rs, and the usual registration/company advertisement leaflets.
The software that comes with the drive is as follows: Adaptec CD Creator 4.0, Adaptec Direct CD 3.0, Musicmatch Jukebox, Adobe Activeshare, and Iomega Quik Sync 2 Software. The Adaptec software is nothing special as it is included with most CD-RW drives, but the full versions of Musicmatch Jukebox and Adobe Activeshare are nice additions. Unfortunately, one of my favourite programs of the bunch, Quik Sync, is only a demo version. Maybe its just me, but it seems a little odd that the only demo software they include is a product of their own making
The physical Quick-Install manual is pretty paltry and is only useful for those who know nothing about installing IDE drives; all it contains is very basic installation information. In short, its next to useless. The not-so-physical manual on the Help CD is a little better in that it contains about as much information as you would expect from an average paper manual. Thankfully Iomegas website has a copy of this manual so if you cant get the drive installed and it is your only CD-ROM drive, you can still fall back on the website.
The two blank CD-Rs are nice, but I am sure most users would prefer to get at least one blank re-writeable CD. It is becoming rather common for CD-RW manufacturers not to include CD-RW with their drives which is especially a problem for people living outside of the USA where this media is much harder to come by.
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