choosing an external DVD burner

Now that I have my new netbook, running WinXP SP3, I need to buy an external
DVD burner. I've read complaints from people who say the burner they bought
will work only with netbooks or, sometimes, laptops. I'd like to get a
burner that would work with my netbook, my other laptop, and my desktop
computer (just in case the internal drive conks out on either of the other
two).

I might also want to play DVDs with this drive. I think my netbook came with
Windows Media Player, and I'm hoping that's the only software I'll need.

What should I look for, and what should I avoid? (If there's a particularly
good website with this kind of information, I'd be grateful for a link.)

Thank you!

Jo-Anne

Jo-Anne wrote:
Now that I have my new netbook, running WinXP SP3, I need to buy an
external
DVD burner. I've read complaints from people who say the burner they
bought
will work only with netbooks or, sometimes, laptops. I'd like to get a
burner that would work with my netbook, my other laptop, and my desktop
computer (just in case the internal drive conks out on either of the other
two).

I might also want to play DVDs with this drive. I think my netbook came
with
Windows Media Player, and I'm hoping that's the only software I'll need.

You may need some DVD decoder software/codecs to allow WMP to be able to
play DVDs, which you can read about in WMP's help file (open up WMP and
select it).

Either that, or you can find various other software packages that will
already play DVDs, say like PowerDVD (designed for DVDs), or "Media Player
Classic" (basically a WMP replacement that has DVD capability built in), but
I use all three, on occasions).

What should I look for, and what should I avoid? (If there's a
particularly
good website with this kind of information, I'd be grateful for a link.)

Thank you!

I don't know about the DVD drives for your situation, but I'm sure someone
here might. You can also always check out some of the drives and reviews
on www.amazon.com, of course.

Jo-Anne wrote:
Now that I have my new netbook, running WinXP SP3, I need to buy an
external
DVD burner. I've read complaints from people who say the burner they
bought
will work only with netbooks or, sometimes, laptops. I'd like to get a
burner that would work with my netbook, my other laptop, and my desktop
computer (just in case the internal drive conks out on either of the other
two).

I might also want to play DVDs with this drive. I think my netbook came
with
Windows Media Player, and I'm hoping that's the only software I'll need.

You may need some DVD decoder software/codecs to allow WMP to be able to
play DVDs, which you can read about in WMP's help file (open up WMP and
select it).

Either that, or you can find various other software packages that will
already play DVDs, say like PowerDVD (designed for DVDs), or "Media Player
Classic" (basically a WMP replacement that has DVD capability built in), but
I use all three, on occasions).

What should I look for, and what should I avoid? (If there's a
particularly
good website with this kind of information, I'd be grateful for a link.)

Thank you!

I don't know about the DVD drives for your situation, but I'm sure someone
here might. You can also always check out some of the drives and reviews
on www.amazon.com, of course.

"Bill in Co." wrote in message
...
Jo-Anne wrote:
Now that I have my new netbook, running WinXP SP3, I need to buy an
external
DVD burner. I've read complaints from people who say the burner they
bought
will work only with netbooks or, sometimes, laptops. I'd like to get a
burner that would work with my netbook, my other laptop, and my desktop
computer (just in case the internal drive conks out on either of the
other
two).

I might also want to play DVDs with this drive. I think my netbook came
with
Windows Media Player, and I'm hoping that's the only software I'll need.

You may need some DVD decoder software/codecs to allow WMP to be able to
play DVDs, which you can read about in WMP's help file (open up WMP and
select it).

Either that, or you can find various other software packages that will
already play DVDs, say like PowerDVD (designed for DVDs), or "Media Player
Classic" (basically a WMP replacement that has DVD capability built in),
but I use all three, on occasions).

What should I look for, and what should I avoid? (If there's a
particularly
good website with this kind of information, I'd be grateful for a link.)

Thank you!

I don't know about the DVD drives for your situation, but I'm sure someone
here might. You can also always check out some of the drives and reviews
on www.amazon.com, of course.

Thank you, Bill! I will definitely look at the WMP help file and check out
other software packages. I did look at Amazon, but it's hard to find
anything consistent there. I looked at a Samsung burner that got lots of
rave reviews and a few bad ones--and discovered that you need two USB ports
on the same side of the computer to be able to use that drive. There were
also complaints about the software. I'm hoping I can get some links to more
consistent criteria for checking out these drives.

Jo-Anne

"Bill in Co." wrote in message
...
Jo-Anne wrote:
Now that I have my new netbook, running WinXP SP3, I need to buy an
external
DVD burner. I've read complaints from people who say the burner they
bought
will work only with netbooks or, sometimes, laptops. I'd like to get a
burner that would work with my netbook, my other laptop, and my desktop
computer (just in case the internal drive conks out on either of the
other
two).

I might also want to play DVDs with this drive. I think my netbook came
with
Windows Media Player, and I'm hoping that's the only software I'll need.

You may need some DVD decoder software/codecs to allow WMP to be able to
play DVDs, which you can read about in WMP's help file (open up WMP and
select it).

Either that, or you can find various other software packages that will
already play DVDs, say like PowerDVD (designed for DVDs), or "Media Player
Classic" (basically a WMP replacement that has DVD capability built in),
but I use all three, on occasions).

What should I look for, and what should I avoid? (If there's a
particularly
good website with this kind of information, I'd be grateful for a link.)

Thank you!

I don't know about the DVD drives for your situation, but I'm sure someone
here might. You can also always check out some of the drives and reviews
on www.amazon.com, of course.

Thank you, Bill! I will definitely look at the WMP help file and check out
other software packages. I did look at Amazon, but it's hard to find
anything consistent there. I looked at a Samsung burner that got lots of
rave reviews and a few bad ones--and discovered that you need two USB ports
on the same side of the computer to be able to use that drive. There were
also complaints about the software. I'm hoping I can get some links to more
consistent criteria for checking out these drives.

Jo-Anne

Jo-Anne wrote:
Now that I have my new netbook, running WinXP SP3, I need to buy an external
DVD burner. I've read complaints from people who say the burner they bought
will work only with netbooks or, sometimes, laptops. I'd like to get a
burner that would work with my netbook, my other laptop, and my desktop
computer (just in case the internal drive conks out on either of the other
two).

I might also want to play DVDs with this drive. I think my netbook came with
Windows Media Player, and I'm hoping that's the only software I'll need.

What should I look for, and what should I avoid? (If there's a particularly
good website with this kind of information, I'd be grateful for a link.)

Thank you!

Jo-Anne

The drive behavior should be uniform as it is moved from one
computer to another. As long as the driver stack is the same
on the computers, or the driver stack has the same features,
the features of the drive should be available on either
computer.

An example of an immature driver situation, was the first copy
of Nero I bought. It wouldn't burn any media on a USB based writer.
It could only work with drives mounted inside the computer. Things
have changed considerably for the better since then, and that is
no longer a problem.

Drives have a large number of "tick box" features and you can see
these listed in the specifications for the drive. This is a
start at understanding what a drive will or won't to. Capabilities
might be media based - CD, DVD, BD, HD-DVD. Or read/write (burner)
versus read only. And some of the standards are associated with the
drive functioning as a hard drive (i.e. random access when writing instead
of always writing in one long spiral), with standards such as
Mount Ranier or DVD-RAM.

http://www.hardwarezone.com/img/data...roInfoTool.jpg

You should be able to go to Wikipedia, and find articles on what
these various tick boxes mean. Other web sites may have more thorough
technical info, as some of these articles are a bit thin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_R...packet_writing)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvd-ram

To me, one of the defining factors, is the design of the
insertion mechanism for the media. I like a method that
is robust to wear and tear, doesn't damage the media, and
is easy to access. I select tray based load/unload of
media, and while having never tested them, would not
touch a slot load. I've tried a "springy hub" based
slim tray on a laptop, and found that to be less than
satisfactory. This choice has an impact on the size of
the drive, and the market dictates that customers always
buy the smallest optical drive, even if it means
sacrificing other characteristics. It means, if I want
an item as described, I have to build one for myself,
as the commercial offering (slim only) won't make me happy.

Paul

Jo-Anne wrote:
Now that I have my new netbook, running WinXP SP3, I need to buy an external
DVD burner. I've read complaints from people who say the burner they bought
will work only with netbooks or, sometimes, laptops. I'd like to get a
burner that would work with my netbook, my other laptop, and my desktop
computer (just in case the internal drive conks out on either of the other
two).

I might also want to play DVDs with this drive. I think my netbook came with
Windows Media Player, and I'm hoping that's the only software I'll need.

What should I look for, and what should I avoid? (If there's a particularly
good website with this kind of information, I'd be grateful for a link.)

Thank you!

Jo-Anne

The drive behavior should be uniform as it is moved from one
computer to another. As long as the driver stack is the same
on the computers, or the driver stack has the same features,
the features of the drive should be available on either
computer.

An example of an immature driver situation, was the first copy
of Nero I bought. It wouldn't burn any media on a USB based writer.
It could only work with drives mounted inside the computer. Things
have changed considerably for the better since then, and that is
no longer a problem.

Drives have a large number of "tick box" features and you can see
these listed in the specifications for the drive. This is a
start at understanding what a drive will or won't to. Capabilities
might be media based - CD, DVD, BD, HD-DVD. Or read/write (burner)
versus read only. And some of the standards are associated with the
drive functioning as a hard drive (i.e. random access when writing instead
of always writing in one long spiral), with standards such as
Mount Ranier or DVD-RAM.

http://www.hardwarezone.com/img/data...roInfoTool.jpg

You should be able to go to Wikipedia, and find articles on what
these various tick boxes mean. Other web sites may have more thorough
technical info, as some of these articles are a bit thin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_R...packet_writing)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvd-ram

To me, one of the defining factors, is the design of the
insertion mechanism for the media. I like a method that
is robust to wear and tear, doesn't damage the media, and
is easy to access. I select tray based load/unload of
media, and while having never tested them, would not
touch a slot load. I've tried a "springy hub" based
slim tray on a laptop, and found that to be less than
satisfactory. This choice has an impact on the size of
the drive, and the market dictates that customers always
buy the smallest optical drive, even if it means
sacrificing other characteristics. It means, if I want
an item as described, I have to build one for myself,
as the commercial offering (slim only) won't make me happy.

Paul

"Paul" wrote in message ...
Jo-Anne wrote:
Now that I have my new netbook, running WinXP SP3, I need to buy an
external DVD burner. I've read complaints from people who say the burner
they bought will work only with netbooks or, sometimes, laptops. I'd like
to get a burner that would work with my netbook, my other laptop, and my
desktop computer (just in case the internal drive conks out on either of
the other two).

I might also want to play DVDs with this drive. I think my netbook came
with Windows Media Player, and I'm hoping that's the only software I'll
need.

What should I look for, and what should I avoid? (If there's a
particularly good website with this kind of information, I'd be grateful
for a link.)

Thank you!

Jo-Anne

The drive behavior should be uniform as it is moved from one
computer to another. As long as the driver stack is the same
on the computers, or the driver stack has the same features,
the features of the drive should be available on either
computer.

An example of an immature driver situation, was the first copy
of Nero I bought. It wouldn't burn any media on a USB based writer.
It could only work with drives mounted inside the computer. Things
have changed considerably for the better since then, and that is
no longer a problem.

Drives have a large number of "tick box" features and you can see
these listed in the specifications for the drive. This is a
start at understanding what a drive will or won't to. Capabilities
might be media based - CD, DVD, BD, HD-DVD. Or read/write (burner)
versus read only. And some of the standards are associated with the
drive functioning as a hard drive (i.e. random access when writing instead
of always writing in one long spiral), with standards such as
Mount Ranier or DVD-RAM.

http://www.hardwarezone.com/img/data...roInfoTool.jpg

You should be able to go to Wikipedia, and find articles on what
these various tick boxes mean. Other web sites may have more thorough
technical info, as some of these articles are a bit thin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_R...packet_writing)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvd-ram

To me, one of the defining factors, is the design of the
insertion mechanism for the media. I like a method that
is robust to wear and tear, doesn't damage the media, and
is easy to access. I select tray based load/unload of
media, and while having never tested them, would not
touch a slot load. I've tried a "springy hub" based
slim tray on a laptop, and found that to be less than
satisfactory. This choice has an impact on the size of
the drive, and the market dictates that customers always
buy the smallest optical drive, even if it means
sacrificing other characteristics. It means, if I want
an item as described, I have to build one for myself,
as the commercial offering (slim only) won't make me happy.

Paul

Thank you, Paul! This is just the kind of information I need. For me, the
size of the external DVD drive isn't all that important. My plan is to use
it for installing some programs and perhaps for watching DVDs at home--but
when I travel, I'll leave it at home. The idea of buying the netbook was
that it would make for easy portability, so the fewer things I have to take
with, the better. I'll definitely look for a tray, although it might be hard
to find a good one. The internal burner that came with my Dell laptop seems
pretty flimsy to me, although it works.

Jo-Anne

"Paul" wrote in message ...
Jo-Anne wrote:
Now that I have my new netbook, running WinXP SP3, I need to buy an
external DVD burner. I've read complaints from people who say the burner
they bought will work only with netbooks or, sometimes, laptops. I'd like
to get a burner that would work with my netbook, my other laptop, and my
desktop computer (just in case the internal drive conks out on either of
the other two).

I might also want to play DVDs with this drive. I think my netbook came
with Windows Media Player, and I'm hoping that's the only software I'll
need.

What should I look for, and what should I avoid? (If there's a
particularly good website with this kind of information, I'd be grateful
for a link.)

Thank you!

Jo-Anne

The drive behavior should be uniform as it is moved from one
computer to another. As long as the driver stack is the same
on the computers, or the driver stack has the same features,
the features of the drive should be available on either
computer.

An example of an immature driver situation, was the first copy
of Nero I bought. It wouldn't burn any media on a USB based writer.
It could only work with drives mounted inside the computer. Things
have changed considerably for the better since then, and that is
no longer a problem.

Drives have a large number of "tick box" features and you can see
these listed in the specifications for the drive. This is a
start at understanding what a drive will or won't to. Capabilities
might be media based - CD, DVD, BD, HD-DVD. Or read/write (burner)
versus read only. And some of the standards are associated with the
drive functioning as a hard drive (i.e. random access when writing instead
of always writing in one long spiral), with standards such as
Mount Ranier or DVD-RAM.

http://www.hardwarezone.com/img/data...roInfoTool.jpg

You should be able to go to Wikipedia, and find articles on what
these various tick boxes mean. Other web sites may have more thorough
technical info, as some of these articles are a bit thin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_R...packet_writing)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvd-ram

To me, one of the defining factors, is the design of the
insertion mechanism for the media. I like a method that
is robust to wear and tear, doesn't damage the media, and
is easy to access. I select tray based load/unload of
media, and while having never tested them, would not
touch a slot load. I've tried a "springy hub" based
slim tray on a laptop, and found that to be less than
satisfactory. This choice has an impact on the size of
the drive, and the market dictates that customers always
buy the smallest optical drive, even if it means
sacrificing other characteristics. It means, if I want
an item as described, I have to build one for myself,
as the commercial offering (slim only) won't make me happy.

Paul

Thank you, Paul! This is just the kind of information I need. For me, the
size of the external DVD drive isn't all that important. My plan is to use
it for installing some programs and perhaps for watching DVDs at home--but
when I travel, I'll leave it at home. The idea of buying the netbook was
that it would make for easy portability, so the fewer things I have to take
with, the better. I'll definitely look for a tray, although it might be hard
to find a good one. The internal burner that came with my Dell laptop seems
pretty flimsy to me, although it works.

Jo-Anne

On Dec 10, 4:42*am, "Jo-Anne" Jo-AnneATnowhere.com wrote:
"Paul" wrote in ...
Jo-Anne wrote:
Now that I have my new netbook, running WinXP SP3, I need to buy an
external DVD burner. I've read complaints from people who say the burner
they bought will work only with netbooks or, sometimes, laptops. I'd like
to get a burner that would work with my netbook, my other laptop, and my
desktop computer (just in case the internal drive conks out on either of
the other two).

I might also want to play DVDs with this drive. I think my netbook came
with Windows Media Player, and I'm hoping that's the only software I'll
need.

What should I look for, and what should I avoid? (If there's a
particularly good website with this kind of information, I'd be grateful
for a link.)

Thank you!

Jo-Anne

The drive behavior should be uniform as it is moved from one
computer to another. As long as the driver stack is the same
on the computers, or the driver stack has the same features,
the features of the drive should be available on either
computer.

An example of an immature driver situation, was the first copy
of Nero I bought. It wouldn't burn any media on a USB based writer.
It could only work with drives mounted inside the computer. Things
have changed considerably for the better since then, and that is
no longer a problem.

Drives have a large number of "tick box" features and you can see
these listed in the specifications for the drive. This is a
start at understanding what a drive will or won't to. Capabilities
might be media based - CD, DVD, BD, HD-DVD. Or read/write (burner)
versus read only. And some of the standards are associated with the
drive functioning as a hard drive (i.e. random access when writing instead
of always writing in one long spiral), with standards such as
Mount Ranier or DVD-RAM.

http://www.hardwarezone.com/img/data...roInfoTool.jpg

You should be able to go to Wikipedia, and find articles on what
these various tick boxes mean. Other web sites may have more thorough
technical info, as some of these articles are a bit thin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_R...packet_writing)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvd-ram

To me, one of the defining factors, is the design of the
insertion mechanism for the media. I like a method that
is robust to wear and tear, doesn't damage the media, and
is easy to access. I select tray based load/unload of
media, and while having never tested them, would not
touch a slot load. I've tried a "springy hub" based
slim tray on a laptop, and found that to be less than
satisfactory. This choice has an impact on the size of
the drive, and the market dictates that customers always
buy the smallest optical drive, even if it means
sacrificing other characteristics. It means, if I want
an item as described, I have to build one for myself,
as the commercial offering (slim only) won't make me happy.

* *Paul

Thank you, Paul! This is just the kind of information I need. For me, the
size of the external DVD drive isn't all that important. My plan is to use
it for installing some programs and perhaps for watching DVDs at home--but
when I travel, I'll leave it at home. The idea of buying the netbook was
that it would make for easy portability, so the fewer things I have to take
with, the better. I'll definitely look for a tray, although it might be hard
to find a good one. The internal burner that came with my Dell laptop seems
pretty flimsy to me, although it works.

Jo-Anne- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I suspect a fair few burner issues are down to lack of adequate power
supply to the burner, some manufacturers try to get round this by
going down the two USB port option, but this still assumes that the
USB ports on the PC are capable of sourcing 1A each, which is not
always the case IMX. Although it's messier to use I'd look for a
burner with external power supply. FWIW I've been using one of thes
efor about 3 years light usage with no hassle:-

http://tinyurl.com/yfnyyyo

On Dec 10, 4:42*am, "Jo-Anne" Jo-AnneATnowhere.com wrote:
"Paul" wrote in ...
Jo-Anne wrote:
Now that I have my new netbook, running WinXP SP3, I need to buy an
external DVD burner. I've read complaints from people who say the burner
they bought will work only with netbooks or, sometimes, laptops. I'd like
to get a burner that would work with my netbook, my other laptop, and my
desktop computer (just in case the internal drive conks out on either of
the other two).

I might also want to play DVDs with this drive. I think my netbook came
with Windows Media Player, and I'm hoping that's the only software I'll
need.

What should I look for, and what should I avoid? (If there's a
particularly good website with this kind of information, I'd be grateful
for a link.)

Thank you!

Jo-Anne

The drive behavior should be uniform as it is moved from one
computer to another. As long as the driver stack is the same
on the computers, or the driver stack has the same features,
the features of the drive should be available on either
computer.

An example of an immature driver situation, was the first copy
of Nero I bought. It wouldn't burn any media on a USB based writer.
It could only work with drives mounted inside the computer. Things
have changed considerably for the better since then, and that is
no longer a problem.

Drives have a large number of "tick box" features and you can see
these listed in the specifications for the drive. This is a
start at understanding what a drive will or won't to. Capabilities
might be media based - CD, DVD, BD, HD-DVD. Or read/write (burner)
versus read only. And some of the standards are associated with the
drive functioning as a hard drive (i.e. random access when writing instead
of always writing in one long spiral), with standards such as
Mount Ranier or DVD-RAM.

http://www.hardwarezone.com/img/data...roInfoTool.jpg

You should be able to go to Wikipedia, and find articles on what
these various tick boxes mean. Other web sites may have more thorough
technical info, as some of these articles are a bit thin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_R...packet_writing)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvd-ram

To me, one of the defining factors, is the design of the
insertion mechanism for the media. I like a method that
is robust to wear and tear, doesn't damage the media, and
is easy to access. I select tray based load/unload of
media, and while having never tested them, would not
touch a slot load. I've tried a "springy hub" based
slim tray on a laptop, and found that to be less than
satisfactory. This choice has an impact on the size of
the drive, and the market dictates that customers always
buy the smallest optical drive, even if it means
sacrificing other characteristics. It means, if I want
an item as described, I have to build one for myself,
as the commercial offering (slim only) won't make me happy.

* *Paul

Thank you, Paul! This is just the kind of information I need. For me, the
size of the external DVD drive isn't all that important. My plan is to use
it for installing some programs and perhaps for watching DVDs at home--but
when I travel, I'll leave it at home. The idea of buying the netbook was
that it would make for easy portability, so the fewer things I have to take
with, the better. I'll definitely look for a tray, although it might be hard
to find a good one. The internal burner that came with my Dell laptop seems
pretty flimsy to me, although it works.

Jo-Anne- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I suspect a fair few burner issues are down to lack of adequate power
supply to the burner, some manufacturers try to get round this by
going down the two USB port option, but this still assumes that the
USB ports on the PC are capable of sourcing 1A each, which is not
always the case IMX. Although it's messier to use I'd look for a
burner with external power supply. FWIW I've been using one of thes
efor about 3 years light usage with no hassle:-

http://tinyurl.com/yfnyyyo

"airsmoothed" wrote in message
...
On Dec 10, 4:42 am, "Jo-Anne" Jo-AnneATnowhere.com wrote:
"Paul" wrote in ...
Jo-Anne wrote:
Now that I have my new netbook, running WinXP SP3, I need to buy an
external DVD burner. I've read complaints from people who say the
burner
they bought will work only with netbooks or, sometimes, laptops. I'd
like
to get a burner that would work with my netbook, my other laptop, and
my
desktop computer (just in case the internal drive conks out on either
of
the other two).

I might also want to play DVDs with this drive. I think my netbook came
with Windows Media Player, and I'm hoping that's the only software I'll
need.

What should I look for, and what should I avoid? (If there's a
particularly good website with this kind of information, I'd be
grateful
for a link.)

Thank you!

Jo-Anne

The drive behavior should be uniform as it is moved from one
computer to another. As long as the driver stack is the same
on the computers, or the driver stack has the same features,
the features of the drive should be available on either
computer.

An example of an immature driver situation, was the first copy
of Nero I bought. It wouldn't burn any media on a USB based writer.
It could only work with drives mounted inside the computer. Things
have changed considerably for the better since then, and that is
no longer a problem.

Drives have a large number of "tick box" features and you can see
these listed in the specifications for the drive. This is a
start at understanding what a drive will or won't to. Capabilities
might be media based - CD, DVD, BD, HD-DVD. Or read/write (burner)
versus read only. And some of the standards are associated with the
drive functioning as a hard drive (i.e. random access when writing
instead
of always writing in one long spiral), with standards such as
Mount Ranier or DVD-RAM.

http://www.hardwarezone.com/img/data...roInfoTool.jpg

You should be able to go to Wikipedia, and find articles on what
these various tick boxes mean. Other web sites may have more thorough
technical info, as some of these articles are a bit thin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_R...packet_writing)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvd-ram

To me, one of the defining factors, is the design of the
insertion mechanism for the media. I like a method that
is robust to wear and tear, doesn't damage the media, and
is easy to access. I select tray based load/unload of
media, and while having never tested them, would not
touch a slot load. I've tried a "springy hub" based
slim tray on a laptop, and found that to be less than
satisfactory. This choice has an impact on the size of
the drive, and the market dictates that customers always
buy the smallest optical drive, even if it means
sacrificing other characteristics. It means, if I want
an item as described, I have to build one for myself,
as the commercial offering (slim only) won't make me happy.

Paul

Thank you, Paul! This is just the kind of information I need. For me, the
size of the external DVD drive isn't all that important. My plan is to use
it for installing some programs and perhaps for watching DVDs at home--but
when I travel, I'll leave it at home. The idea of buying the netbook was
that it would make for easy portability, so the fewer things I have to
take
with, the better. I'll definitely look for a tray, although it might be
hard
to find a good one. The internal burner that came with my Dell laptop
seems
pretty flimsy to me, although it works.

Jo-Anne- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I suspect a fair few burner issues are down to lack of adequate power
supply to the burner, some manufacturers try to get round this by
going down the two USB port option, but this still assumes that the
USB ports on the PC are capable of sourcing 1A each, which is not
always the case IMX. Although it's messier to use I'd look for a
burner with external power supply. FWIW I've been using one of thes
efor about 3 years light usage with no hassle:-

http://tinyurl.com/yfnyyyo

Thank you! It hadn't even occurred to me that there must be burners that
plug into a regular electrical outlet. I'll see what I can find.

Jo-Anne

"airsmoothed" wrote in message
...
On Dec 10, 4:42 am, "Jo-Anne" Jo-AnneATnowhere.com wrote:
"Paul" wrote in ...
Jo-Anne wrote:
Now that I have my new netbook, running WinXP SP3, I need to buy an
external DVD burner. I've read complaints from people who say the
burner
they bought will work only with netbooks or, sometimes, laptops. I'd
like
to get a burner that would work with my netbook, my other laptop, and
my
desktop computer (just in case the internal drive conks out on either
of
the other two).

I might also want to play DVDs with this drive. I think my netbook came
with Windows Media Player, and I'm hoping that's the only software I'll
need.

What should I look for, and what should I avoid? (If there's a
particularly good website with this kind of information, I'd be
grateful
for a link.)

Thank you!

Jo-Anne

The drive behavior should be uniform as it is moved from one
computer to another. As long as the driver stack is the same
on the computers, or the driver stack has the same features,
the features of the drive should be available on either
computer.

An example of an immature driver situation, was the first copy
of Nero I bought. It wouldn't burn any media on a USB based writer.
It could only work with drives mounted inside the computer. Things
have changed considerably for the better since then, and that is
no longer a problem.

Drives have a large number of "tick box" features and you can see
these listed in the specifications for the drive. This is a
start at understanding what a drive will or won't to. Capabilities
might be media based - CD, DVD, BD, HD-DVD. Or read/write (burner)
versus read only. And some of the standards are associated with the
drive functioning as a hard drive (i.e. random access when writing
instead
of always writing in one long spiral), with standards such as
Mount Ranier or DVD-RAM.

http://www.hardwarezone.com/img/data...roInfoTool.jpg

You should be able to go to Wikipedia, and find articles on what
these various tick boxes mean. Other web sites may have more thorough
technical info, as some of these articles are a bit thin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_R...packet_writing)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvd-ram

To me, one of the defining factors, is the design of the
insertion mechanism for the media. I like a method that
is robust to wear and tear, doesn't damage the media, and
is easy to access. I select tray based load/unload of
media, and while having never tested them, would not
touch a slot load. I've tried a "springy hub" based
slim tray on a laptop, and found that to be less than
satisfactory. This choice has an impact on the size of
the drive, and the market dictates that customers always
buy the smallest optical drive, even if it means
sacrificing other characteristics. It means, if I want
an item as described, I have to build one for myself,
as the commercial offering (slim only) won't make me happy.

Paul

Thank you, Paul! This is just the kind of information I need. For me, the
size of the external DVD drive isn't all that important. My plan is to use
it for installing some programs and perhaps for watching DVDs at home--but
when I travel, I'll leave it at home. The idea of buying the netbook was
that it would make for easy portability, so the fewer things I have to
take
with, the better. I'll definitely look for a tray, although it might be
hard
to find a good one. The internal burner that came with my Dell laptop
seems
pretty flimsy to me, although it works.

Jo-Anne- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I suspect a fair few burner issues are down to lack of adequate power
supply to the burner, some manufacturers try to get round this by
going down the two USB port option, but this still assumes that the
USB ports on the PC are capable of sourcing 1A each, which is not
always the case IMX. Although it's messier to use I'd look for a
burner with external power supply. FWIW I've been using one of thes
efor about 3 years light usage with no hassle:-

http://tinyurl.com/yfnyyyo

Thank you! It hadn't even occurred to me that there must be burners that
plug into a regular electrical outlet. I'll see what I can find.

Jo-Anne

"Jo-Anne" wrote:

"airsmoothed" wrote in message
...
On Dec 10, 4:42 am, "Jo-Anne" Jo-AnneATnowhere.com wrote:
"Paul" wrote in ...
Jo-Anne wrote:
Now that I have my new netbook, running WinXP SP3, I need to buy an
external DVD burner. I've read complaints from people who say the
burner
they bought will work only with netbooks or, sometimes, laptops. I'd
like
to get a burner that would work with my netbook, my other laptop, and
my
desktop computer (just in case the internal drive conks out on either
of
the other two).

I might also want to play DVDs with this drive. I think my netbook came
with Windows Media Player, and I'm hoping that's the only software I'll
need.

What should I look for, and what should I avoid? (If there's a
particularly good website with this kind of information, I'd be
grateful
for a link.)

Thank you!

Jo-Anne

The drive behavior should be uniform as it is moved from one
computer to another. As long as the driver stack is the same
on the computers, or the driver stack has the same features,
the features of the drive should be available on either
computer.

An example of an immature driver situation, was the first copy
of Nero I bought. It wouldn't burn any media on a USB based writer.
It could only work with drives mounted inside the computer. Things
have changed considerably for the better since then, and that is
no longer a problem.

Drives have a large number of "tick box" features and you can see
these listed in the specifications for the drive. This is a
start at understanding what a drive will or won't to. Capabilities
might be media based - CD, DVD, BD, HD-DVD. Or read/write (burner)
versus read only. And some of the standards are associated with the
drive functioning as a hard drive (i.e. random access when writing
instead
of always writing in one long spiral), with standards such as
Mount Ranier or DVD-RAM.

http://www.hardwarezone.com/img/data...roInfoTool.jpg

You should be able to go to Wikipedia, and find articles on what
these various tick boxes mean. Other web sites may have more thorough
technical info, as some of these articles are a bit thin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_R...packet_writing)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvd-ram

To me, one of the defining factors, is the design of the
insertion mechanism for the media. I like a method that
is robust to wear and tear, doesn't damage the media, and
is easy to access. I select tray based load/unload of
media, and while having never tested them, would not
touch a slot load. I've tried a "springy hub" based
slim tray on a laptop, and found that to be less than
satisfactory. This choice has an impact on the size of
the drive, and the market dictates that customers always
buy the smallest optical drive, even if it means
sacrificing other characteristics. It means, if I want
an item as described, I have to build one for myself,
as the commercial offering (slim only) won't make me happy.

Paul

Thank you, Paul! This is just the kind of information I need. For me, the
size of the external DVD drive isn't all that important. My plan is to use
it for installing some programs and perhaps for watching DVDs at home--but
when I travel, I'll leave it at home. The idea of buying the netbook was
that it would make for easy portability, so the fewer things I have to
take
with, the better. I'll definitely look for a tray, although it might be
hard
to find a good one. The internal burner that came with my Dell laptop
seems
pretty flimsy to me, although it works.

Jo-Anne- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I suspect a fair few burner issues are down to lack of adequate power
supply to the burner, some manufacturers try to get round this by
going down the two USB port option, but this still assumes that the
USB ports on the PC are capable of sourcing 1A each, which is not
always the case IMX. Although it's messier to use I'd look for a
burner with external power supply. FWIW I've been using one of thes
efor about 3 years light usage with no hassle:-

http://tinyurl.com/yfnyyyo

Thank you! It hadn't even occurred to me that there must be burners that
plug into a regular electrical outlet. I'll see what I can find.

Jo-Anne


.
There are a lot of external burners that plug into the electrical outlet. That to me is better than using the usb port for power.

"Jo-Anne" wrote:

"airsmoothed" wrote in message
...
On Dec 10, 4:42 am, "Jo-Anne" Jo-AnneATnowhere.com wrote:
"Paul" wrote in ...
Jo-Anne wrote:
Now that I have my new netbook, running WinXP SP3, I need to buy an
external DVD burner. I've read complaints from people who say the
burner
they bought will work only with netbooks or, sometimes, laptops. I'd
like
to get a burner that would work with my netbook, my other laptop, and
my
desktop computer (just in case the internal drive conks out on either
of
the other two).

I might also want to play DVDs with this drive. I think my netbook came
with Windows Media Player, and I'm hoping that's the only software I'll
need.

What should I look for, and what should I avoid? (If there's a
particularly good website with this kind of information, I'd be
grateful
for a link.)

Thank you!

Jo-Anne

The drive behavior should be uniform as it is moved from one
computer to another. As long as the driver stack is the same
on the computers, or the driver stack has the same features,
the features of the drive should be available on either
computer.

An example of an immature driver situation, was the first copy
of Nero I bought. It wouldn't burn any media on a USB based writer.
It could only work with drives mounted inside the computer. Things
have changed considerably for the better since then, and that is
no longer a problem.

Drives have a large number of "tick box" features and you can see
these listed in the specifications for the drive. This is a
start at understanding what a drive will or won't to. Capabilities
might be media based - CD, DVD, BD, HD-DVD. Or read/write (burner)
versus read only. And some of the standards are associated with the
drive functioning as a hard drive (i.e. random access when writing
instead
of always writing in one long spiral), with standards such as
Mount Ranier or DVD-RAM.

http://www.hardwarezone.com/img/data...roInfoTool.jpg

You should be able to go to Wikipedia, and find articles on what
these various tick boxes mean. Other web sites may have more thorough
technical info, as some of these articles are a bit thin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_R...packet_writing)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvd-ram

To me, one of the defining factors, is the design of the
insertion mechanism for the media. I like a method that
is robust to wear and tear, doesn't damage the media, and
is easy to access. I select tray based load/unload of
media, and while having never tested them, would not
touch a slot load. I've tried a "springy hub" based
slim tray on a laptop, and found that to be less than
satisfactory. This choice has an impact on the size of
the drive, and the market dictates that customers always
buy the smallest optical drive, even if it means
sacrificing other characteristics. It means, if I want
an item as described, I have to build one for myself,
as the commercial offering (slim only) won't make me happy.

Paul

Thank you, Paul! This is just the kind of information I need. For me, the
size of the external DVD drive isn't all that important. My plan is to use
it for installing some programs and perhaps for watching DVDs at home--but
when I travel, I'll leave it at home. The idea of buying the netbook was
that it would make for easy portability, so the fewer things I have to
take
with, the better. I'll definitely look for a tray, although it might be
hard
to find a good one. The internal burner that came with my Dell laptop
seems
pretty flimsy to me, although it works.

Jo-Anne- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I suspect a fair few burner issues are down to lack of adequate power
supply to the burner, some manufacturers try to get round this by
going down the two USB port option, but this still assumes that the
USB ports on the PC are capable of sourcing 1A each, which is not
always the case IMX. Although it's messier to use I'd look for a
burner with external power supply. FWIW I've been using one of thes
efor about 3 years light usage with no hassle:-

http://tinyurl.com/yfnyyyo

Thank you! It hadn't even occurred to me that there must be burners that
plug into a regular electrical outlet. I'll see what I can find.

Jo-Anne


.
There are a lot of external burners that plug into the electrical outlet. That to me is better than using the usb port for power.