Is the Sony Spressa 12x a GOOD Deal?

[DealyDo]

Those that bought this drive, I can still get one of the 12X units. Is it worth it or should you spend another $ 80.00 and get a Plextor with burn-proof technology?

 

[MuffD]

get a plextor dude. those are the best ones around.

 

[VH2000]

muffstah is right!

Go with the Plextor - you will NOT be disappointed!

I got mine about a month ago from buy.com for $217. shipped (price at the time was down to $241 and then I used $30 off $150 coupon + shipping). The price has gone up to $260. since then.

This Plextor drive is fantastic!!

 

[anazoal]

Burnproof is good, but save the $80, get the SONY, and don't use your system while burning. You don't always NEED the best, and think how many CD-R's you can buy with $80 with all the deals going around!

 

[Souka]

This is just my comments....)no need to respond because this is wrong forum.

Why are so many of you having problems buring CD's?

I'll be extracting an audio CD, copying CD-CD, burning audio, burning data....I so RARELY make a coaster....and because I can't usually sit and watch my burner's amber light...I fire up Counter-Strike or Quake3...I usually only make a coster because stupid me highlights an entire directory of files and presses enter, or moves/deletes the source files....duh.

My Two Pesos...

(Of course I'm using a SCSI based CD-rom system, but my drives are still IDE...see below for system specs. Note: I using a Celeron 366 during most of these burns...heheh

 

[jhassi]

no offense Souka, but we're talking 12x IDE recorders, not 4x SCSI recorders

4x = 600 KBps
12 = 1800 KBps

it's pretty obvious to me why you don't make very many coasters

if their's no need to respond, why'd you post it? I think this is the right forum, i mean we're talking about one of the products in a hot deal, if he posted it in one of the other forums they'd probably say "huh? what 12x Sony drive are you talking about??"

I'd have to say go with the plextor burn-proof, I wouldn't use that drive in my system unless i didn't want to use my system everytime I burnt a CD How long before that got old and I'd be kicking my butt for not getting a Plextor!

 

[Spicollidriver1]

I got the sony because I only burn when I am not using the system. And the $80 is gonna go towards a new video card. I have used the plextor and yes it is the best burner out but is it $80 better I don't really think so.

 

[youmamaisugly]

i love my plextor 12x, although in cdrwin i still make coasters while im multitasking....i think the software has to support it...
Plextor updates the bios like every month also, which is great!

 

[youmamaisugly]

BTW, the following drive is daddy!! I want on of these....

Awesome cdrw/dvd

 

[ElDiablo]

DROOL . That Ricoh looks very nice. Need a hot deal on that baby

 

[jjsimas]

I have a HP 8250i; I use my system while it's burning. I can't ever remember burning a coaster..

Jason

 

[DealyDo]

I'm taking back the $ 199.00 ($217.00 with tax) 12X Spressa I bought at Comp USA yeasterday. I bought the Plextor 12X with burn-Proof from Buy.com for $ 236.00 delivered with $ 30.00 rebate instead. Too many very happy customers with Plextor(very few had bad things to say), too many bad reports from Sony. Resell probably is higher on the Plextor. I get Adaptec software with Plextor vs Sony proprietary stuff that doesn't get many good reviews. Sony support sounds absolutely dismal.

I don't mind taking risks, but with better support, better reviews, better software, better resell, why take the chance for $ 70.00. I bet the difference will be about $ 30-40 if I ever E-bay the drive

 

[SSGTi]

Just got the Plextor 8x/4x/32x. Works great. Plextor is the best

 

[rebuilder]

DealyDo,
Thanks for making me feel better that I didn't jump on this one.

I'm waiting for the magical $200 mark before I get a Plextor.

I've got a Smart & Friendly 12x scsi but I cant get the scsi card to work in tandem with my fastrack raid.
The scsi won't let my fastrack boot no matter how I move the cards in the slots or change configs in the bios.
So my only hope is to go back to ide.

 

[cmv]

I went with the Sony for $80 less. The Plextor is just too much right now. I didn't use the software that came with the drive, just CDRWin and FireBurner (what else do you need!). I've never needed support for a CD-RW so I'm not too worried about that either... This drive will most likely be supported by CloneCD (see their page, all the other Sony drives in this model line are supported).

Can anyone post some links with some bad news about the Sony drives?

 

[DealyDo]

CMV-Not trying to bash the Sony, you're right also, This was a tough call. I was living very well with my little ol' Memorex 2x4x6 and was very happy with it. It just seemed that if you get a bad Sony CD-RW you're SOL with Sony support. What swayed me was the hugh support and positive evals for Plextor. We're talking strong baby strong. Just go to Arstechnica.com and read some of the posts. Plextor rules there. I do alot of OC'ing etc and lurk there quite a bit. In that forum there are many people who know their stuff and a lot who don't, but for a product to have concensus praise is not the norm for that forum.

On the other hand, I could just be a frickin weak willed, marketing ruled, zombie who's definitely buying overkill since I burn anout 20 disks a year. All I want to do is burn and clone. And from what I saw at the CloneCD site the Sony 12x was more capable. The Plex was lacking in sub-channel reads or something like that.

 

[Spindler]

I just picked up the sony 12x8x32 today. Works great and for $150 after taxes, makes for a super deal.

Would I have preferred the Plextor? of course, but at $80 more, I really cant justify it. Sure it has the burn proof technology, but w/ both at 12x burn, it should only take 6-7 mins to burn a full cd and i'm sure i can find something to keep me busy other than having to use the computer at that time. So burn proof technology is a bit of double safety net for me which I can afford to not have.

I guess the only other thing I know that makes Plextors better is that they allow for "overburning" of cds. Not sure if this is still possible on the 12x like they were on the older drives, but my need for overburning is very slim to none. I know some game cds pack more than 800 megs onto a cd to prevent piracy, so if this is your thing, then definitely pick the Plextor

Feel free to share your thoughts on this! :Q

 

[Freekylink]

Currently there is over a $100 difference between the two. I went with the sony. The only thing that worries me is buying it from CompUSA with their track record of customer service.

 

[cmv]

I too am worried about the CompUSA rebate... One person mentioned on the Sony thread that a lot of his CompUSA rebates went to the CompUSA store instead of his home! As strange as that sounds you might want to keep it in mind if the rebate is missing - give that store a call (I assume the one you brought it at).

I think the Plextor is an awesome drive. I don't need burn proof as I don't play games while burning CDRs or do anything that is CPU/IO intensive (except the burn of course). The problem with the Plextor is just if it is used for reading - it does something odd with some audio channels so you just need to read in your CD using a different drive (it'll burn it correctly).

I simply decided that for me the $80 was better spent elsewhere... The support is a gamble I'm willing to take. If the drive fails and Sony is horrible my next drive will be a Plextor. If the drive doesn't fail my next drive still might be a Plextor!

Bottomline: $200+ is too much for a CD-RW for me when it mostly sits around unused.

 

[DealyDo]

CMV-Give me an e-mail on how it goes if you install the Sony drive any time soon. I'd like to hear firsthand. I haven't opened or returned anything yet. In fact I was thinking that my daughter would like the Sony drive for christmas. And believe me she's a power burner.

 

[sirsolo]

I just got Sony 12x a few days ago, and I can tell you from firsthand experience that it works as good as a Plextor. My cd-rw before this one was a Plextor (8x4x32), so I think I can make a fair comparison.

 

[RichieZ]

Sony is a good drive, heck I just sold an 8/4/32X sony to someone. But I must say that Plextor is better, and SCSI is better than IDE. I have the 8/20X plextor, Plextor 40X max, and a IBM 36LZX. DO ANYTHING while burning, playing Q3A, UT, Seti@home. Its all good!

CompUSA has some good deals, this is much like when I go my 8/20X (ok really imation flashed to plextor) $200-$50 rebate. Sell SCSI card $40, sell SCSI case $40. Net cost $70! The rebate came throught but it was from imation not CompUSA and it took the full 8 weeks.

 

[RSM]

I was at compusa and saw the iomega 12x8x32 saying it ahs burn proof.Is this a plextor only thing?I wonder

 

[cmv]

Burn proof is something that Sanyo or some other company licenses out...

I installed my Sony yesterday. I just put it in the computer and fired up CDRWin (v 3.8b) and it worked fine when I made a backup of a CD-ROM using Fuji 16x CDR from CompUSA. It is fast! Nice change of pace from my 6x burner. I haven't tested it with all the different types of media I have here but I will soon. I have Kingston 8x 700mb, PNY 8x(?) 700mb, Ricoh Platinum 12x 700mb, Ricoh 8x 700mb, etc...

 

[cressida]

I have a plextor 36x reader and I love it. Go for Plextor, they barely get any bad reviews ..