Modern Classic (Freecom Classic CD-RW)

Member Name: johnsy32

Product:	Freecom Classic CD-RW
Date:	13/04/07 (394 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fast when running correctly

Disadvantages: Quite bulky and noisy

If you are looking for a fast external CD rewriter, this one is for you. It is quite bulky and noisy but it has loads of good points too. This review covers why I chose this CD re-writer, problems I have encountered, system requirements, what you get in the box, the software that is bundle with the item and a conclusion.

Why this one?
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The first CD-rewriter I owned was the Freecom Classic Series 4x 4x 4x, which was a slower version of this one. A colleague broke this one, so I decided to upgrade to something faster. I couldn't have an internal one because of the built in sound card that I have in my PC and I didn't want to upgrade everything just to put a rewriter drive in. I stuck with what I new and purchased the new Freecom Classic Series 52x 24x 52x.

It is very fast and can copy a whole 750mb music CD in around 5 minutes (if everything is set up correctly, please read on to find out about problems I have encountered). Which is really fast for an external USB drive, I really noticed the new speeds over the ones on my old version.

Problems encountered
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As part of this review I am able to tell you about running this rewriter drive on three different computers and two different operating systems so you will be able to see how well this works with each.

--Windows Millennium Edition --

The installation for this operating system seems quite easy and straightforward but I encountered a few problems. The first thing was that when I installed the USB2 drivers, everything seemed fine. Once I had plugged my rewriter drive in it only recognised the drive as a CD-ROM. Every time I went to copy a CD or send data to a disk, it wouldn't recognise the new machine. I put this down to a problem with my computer; I freshly installed Windows Millennium Edition and then went through the process again. This time it worked fine, I was able to get up to some really high speeds with the USB2 connection, but this soon failed and I was receiving warnings that the drive couldn't work at full capacity because only the USB1 drivers were installed. I gave up and suffered with slower speeds, as I didn't want to re-install everything again.

--Windows XP--

A colleague of mine wanted to use the CD-rewriter at work so I brought it in for him to use (even though this was how my last one broke!) He uses Windows XP on his quite new machine, so first thoughts were that the USB2 drivers would be installed. So we plugged the drive straight into the USB ports and everything was set up automatically. The new device was recognised, we installed the software and it was ready to go. He was very impressed by the speeds and was giving me a running commentary every time a higher writing speed was hit! This was the best operating system that has run the device.

--Windows XP, running device on Toshiba Portege Notebook --

This laptop was running Microsoft Windows XP, and I thought it would run smoothly. I plugged the device in and it recognised the CD-rewriter straight away and installed all the drivers. I had previously installed the copying software and tried to write data to disk. I found that there was a conflict between the Freecom and the CD-Writer already on the laptop. I tried cutting corners by installing both drives because when I want to copy a CD on the notebook, I have to create an image of the CD and then burn the image to disk as there is only one drive. I was not able to install another drive and use it.

System requirements
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Here is a list of system requirements.

Windows 98SE or higher
Pentium II 300Mhz
64MB RAM

What you get in the box
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Here is a list of what you get in the box
Software (Roxio Easy CD Creator 6)
Blank Media Disk
Freecom USB 2.0 Cable
Power Supply
Device
Instructions

The software
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The software that came bundled with this CD-Writer is Roxio Easy CD Creator 6, it's not the full version but there is enough there to do what you need to do. So far with this software I have created a data disk, there is a nice easy to use interface where you choose the files to copy, click copy and then click on the burn icon, really easy. I have created a VCD, you have to select a new project and set it to create VCD disk, and then select you file and click burn (you can design and add interactive menu's if you want). I have created a music CD, same process as before but using the setting MP3 disk. I have copied whole CD's with the application that is included on the CD. It is all very easy to do and is my favourite choice of burning software, hope this gives an idea of what you can do.

Conclusion
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This is an excellent CD-Rewriter drive when it is running at full speed without any problems, it is actually unbelievably fast (just ask my colleague!) The software is very easy to use and you won't have any problems with it. When I brought my first slower drive, the software that came included was Direct CD and Roxio Easy CD Creator, and installing both of these caused a conflict between the two. I'm glad that this was
sorted out.

The instructions that come included are very clear and give a step by step guide on how to install the machine and use it. The software also comes with very clear instructions, but like most programs it's a lot of trial and error and finding out how things work best for you.

I have also got to mention that when you are burning data to a disk, it works independently to what you PC is doing. The disk won't be damaged if your screen saver comes on or you want to do other tasks while you wait for the process to complete.

I brought my product from PC World and they still stock them at the moment. There are lots of places on the Internet to buy this external drive. If you are looking for a cheaper alternative, I've seen them sell on e-bay for £25 excluding postage and packing.

I hope that this review is very helpful, as I was able to review this device on three different machines. I never thought I'd be writing a review about them one day.

Like I said in my con's of this product, it is bulky and noisy, it is quite big and takes up a bit of desk space, and it is very noisy, it is a joke we have that it sounds like it's about the take off. All in all, this is a very impressive machine once the problems are sorted out.

Summary: It gets the job done!

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