Re: [AV Media Matters] Refurbished CD-R Drives

[jeffkreines@mindspring.com]

The one Yamaha CD-R drive I bought, which was new, not refurbished, is
now a doorstop.  A lot of the earlier Yamahas failed, and Yamaha had a
not very attractive trade-up program for them.  Perhaps this is where
many of the refurbished drives came from?

The money you might save on a refurbished drive is pretty minor compared
to the grief you'll put yourself through troubleshooting an
intermittently bad drive.  I'd do some research as well, look at test
reports and perhaps go to the CD mastering groups mailing lists.  I know
a lot of people like the Plextors these days, and they're reasonably
priced.  For Mac users, the new fast Firewire drives are pretty
attractive, being free of SCSI hassles.