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28 April 2000 |
| CD-Writer & CD-ROM Reviews |
CD Reviews |
| If you are looking to Buy a CD-Writer or CD-ROM then here is an overview of all available Reviews from the last 4 weeks: |
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| The Week in Review |
CD/DVD NewsWire |
| CD News: |
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| DVD News: |
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| MP3/Audio News: |
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27 April 2000 |
| CD/DVD Software Releases |
CD/DVD Software |
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26 April 2000 |
| Creative CD-RW Blaster 12432 |
| Creative has introduced it's new CD-ReWriter flagship, the CD-RW Blaster 12432. The drive is based on the Plextor PX-W8432T. |
CD-RW Blaster 12432 Specifications:
- 12x Write, 4x ReWrite & 32x Read
- E-IDE/Atapi Interface
- 4 MB Buffer
- Supports CD Text (Read/Write)
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| Lasonic DVD-2000/8050 Consumer DVD/VCD/CD/MP3 Player |
| The Lasonic DVD-2000 is made by Lasonic which has offices and factories in the US, Taiwan & China. The player is not really region free but rather regio selectable. Using the remote control the desired region can be selected.
It also does not display the titles of the MP3 files, this is not really an issue as the other consumer player only display "short names"( 8+3 characters), which is in most cases useless as it is too short! If this is all not enough then there are also 2 buildin games (Tetris & Othello) for you to play!
The Lasonic DVD-2000 is currently being sold in Europe for EUR 325,- |
Lasonic DVD-2000 Specifications:
- Compatible with DVD Video, CD-DA, Video CD 1.1, Video CD 2.0 CDR, CD-R/W, MP3
- Video NTSC-M or PAL-B/G/H/I - Factory Programmed
- Audio PCM (44.1, 48 or 96KHz), MPEG-II Layer, Dolby Digital 5.1 Channels
- Supports DTS Surround Sound
- CSS-Encrypted Play & Anti-Taping (Macrovision 7.01)
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Lasonic DVD-2000
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| The Lasonic DVD-8050 is exacly the same as the DVD-2000. The only difference is that it also features Karaoke functions. |
| CD/DVD Software Releases |
CD/DVD Software |
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25 April 2000 |
| CD/DVD Software Releases |
CD/DVD Software |
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| Nero 5.0 |
| On the 30th of April Ahead will release the latest Nero release: Nero Burning Rom 5.0.
New features will be support for multiple burning to more than one burner at the same time, support for SVCD (Super VideoCD), extended support for adding graphics to VCD's. Extended support for M3U Playlists and much more! Read the Nero 5.0 Press-Release to know everything! |
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21 April 2000 |
| Traxdata Delays CD-R99 Media |
| Traxdata decided to delay the release of their CD-R99 media (TXS1299JC) because of compatibility issues. The manufacturers of CD-R Media & CD-Writers did not manage to come to an agreement concerning the use & compatibility of this media. |
| Traxdata 80 Minutes MiniDiscs |
| It was just a matter of time before the 80 minutes "virus" also jumped over to other media as Traxdata seems to be selling 80 minutes MiniDisc's (TXA80MD) instead of the usual 60 or 74 minutes discs.
Until now Traxdata has only been selling the TXA74MD 74 minutes discs. |
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| CD/DVD Software Releases |
CD/DVD Software |
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18 April 2000 |
| BlindRead Update |
CD/DVD Utilities |
| Added BlindRead 3.0.0.22 Final to the CD/DVD Utilities page.
New Features since the Previous Version:
- Enumeration of devices should now work properly.
- Full support of the Kenwood TRUE 52x and 72x units.
- Full reading support of the TEAC 55S and tweaked TEAC 56s and 58s - For these units, data & audio extraction shall now work "the pedal to the metal !"
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| CD/DVD Software Releases |
CD/DVD Software |
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| MP3/Audio Software Releases |
MP3/Audio Software |
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15 April 2000 |
| Plextor Added MMC DAO RAW Mode Writing |
Firmwares |
| It seems that the cooperation between Plextor and CloneCD has very fruitful, as Plextor has released new firmwares which support writing in MMC DAO RAW mode and CloneCD is the first to support the following drives:
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| Goodman GCDR10 Standalone CD-Recorder & MP3 Player |
MP3 Players |
| The GCDR10 is able to encode MP3s in realtime either from a CD or downloading them from a PC via the parallel or USB port. |
Goodman GCDR10 Features:
- CD-R & CD-RW Compatible
- USB & Parallel Port
The Goodman GCDR10 will be available in Europe as of August 2000 for EUR 660,- |
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Goodman GDMP330 Portable MP3/CD Player Features:
- Compatible with CD-R & CD-RW Media
- 45 seconds ASP (Anti Shock Proof)
The Goodman GDMP330 will be available in Europe as of July 2000 for EUR 149,- |
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| CD/DVD, Audio & MP3 Software Releases |
CD/DVD Software |
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12 April 2000 |
| Sanyo SPP-PD7 Portable MP3/AAC Player |
MP3 Players |
| The Sanyo SPP-PD7 is the first portable audio player which will support the Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) format. AAC surpasses MP3 in both compression ration & sound quality and will be an big contender when MP3 is replaced. |
Sanyo SPP-PD7 Features:
- MP3 & AAC Multi-Decode System
- 4-5 hours Audio Playback
- Uses a MultiMedia card
- SDMI Compliant
- Weight: 58g
The Sanyo SPP-PD7 is currently on sale in Japan for ¥37,000 (US$ 346) |
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| iPlayMP3 Moveman Portable MP3 Player |
MP3 Players |
| The iPlayMP3 Moveman is a CompactFlash (CF) Type I & II portable MP3 player. It includes a full LCD display & user-friendly controls. The Moveman is available in three versions: no memory (iPM-MM01), 56MB (iPM-MM56) & 80MB (iPM-MM80) |
iPlayMP3 Moveman Features:
- 0, 56 or 80 MB Memory
- CompactFlash memory (type I and type II)
- Weight: 70 grams
- Power: 2 x 'AAA' size 1.5V Alkaline batteries
- Size: 98 x 64 x 17.5 millimeters
The iPlayMP3 Moveman is currently available. The iPM-MM01 is sold for US$ 99,95, the iPM-MM56 for US$ 199,95 and the iPM-MM80 for US$ 269,96 |
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11 April 2000 |
| Aiwa MM-FX500 Portable MP3 Player |
MP3 Players |
| The Aiwa MM-FX500 is the predecessor to the MM-VX100 Portable MP3 Player, the most notable feature this device has is that it can record from any analog device like a tapedeck or a turntable. This way it becomes very easy to play you favorite LP's on you MP3 player! |
Aiwa MM-FX500 Features:
- 32 MB Memory
- Analog Audio input
- Twin Multimedia Cards (MMC)
- Build-in Microphone
The Aiwa MM-FX500 is currently for sale in Japan for ¥39,800 (US$ 372). |
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| BlindRead Update |
CD/DVD Utilities |
| Added BlindRead 3.0.0.22b to the CD/DVD Utilities page.
New Features since the Previous Version:
- This build shall correct the "can't see my drive" bug. As we're not 100% sure it'll going to work as earlier versions (.18 and .19) it is released as Beta.
- Better DOS drive letter detection
- Better device enumeration
- Better extraction engine on units that doesn't support properly the Windows synchronization mechanism (or poor ASPI layers)
- Greek language added
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| CD Media Info - New CD-R/CD-RW Media |
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| CD/DVD, Audio & MP3 Software Releases |
CD/DVD Software |
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10 April 2000 |
| CD Media Info - New CD-R/CD-RW Media |
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9 April 2000 |
| DDump Update |
CD/DVD Utilities |
| Added DDump 1.06 to the CD/DVD Utilities page - Thanks XiT!
New Features since the Previous Version:
- Global timeout has been set to 5 seconds to prevent the reader from "hanging"
- Added fast seek for LaserLock, increases speed on some devices using original CDs
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| CD Media Info - New CD-R/CD-RW Media |
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| The Week in Review |
CD/DVD NewsWire |
| CD/DVD/Misc News: |
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| DVD DeCSS News: |
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| CD/DVD, Audio & MP3 Software Releases |
CD/DVD Software |
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6 April 2000 |
| DDump Update |
CD/DVD Utilities |
| Added DDump 1.05 to the CD/DVD Utilities page - Thanks XiT!
New Features since the Previous Version:
- Fast sector skipping is now also supported with the LASERLOCK option, so dumping LaserLock/LockBlocks protected CD will be lots faster (if the drive supports fast skipping).
- Pause areas on audio CD were doubled, as they are already included in the image. Now it is also possible to dump audio CDs with no pauses.
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| CD Media Info - New CD-R/CD-RW Media |
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| Taiyo Yuden is the first CD-R Media manufacturer to create 16x speed certified CD-R Media. |
| CD/DVD, Audio & MP3 Software Releases |
CD/DVD Software |
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4 April 2000 |
| DDump Update |
CD/DVD Utilities |
| Added DDump 1.04 to the CD/DVD Utilities page - Thanks XiT!
New Features since the Previous Version:
- Made SAFEDISC option a little less "sharp" as some good sectors were also reported as bad.
- Tiny speedups on extraction engine.
- Forgot to strip the debug information from the EXE, now DDump is nearly half the size!
- Removed a nasty bug introduced in 1.02 which caused the engine never leave the recovery mode after processing the safedisc area on CD, so the rest of CD was dumped quite slow.
- The "Runtime error 106"-bug should be fixed now.
- Added some more code to prevent SCSI-devices from "hanging" with SAFEDISC- option.
- The "Runtime error 216" on swedish and chinese Win98SE should now also be solved...(hopefully).
- DDump now informs you if your reader does not allow fast sector skipping in SAFEDISC- mode, so you could be prepared for a longer extraction time.
- When SECUROM was given as parameter, the program did not stop.
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| Cirrus Logic introduces 16x Write & 48x Read Speed Chipset |
| Cirrus Logic introduced the industry's fastest CD-ReWritable (CD-RW) chip, delivering 16x write and 48x read speeds. The new CR3480 encoder/decoder can write twice as fast and read 50% faster than CD-RW chips currently available from other manufacturers. A major manufacturer of CD-RW drives has already selected Cirrus Logic's new chip because of its speed advantage and ease of use. Most likely this will by Sony as their current Spressa Atapi CD-RW drives contain the previous Cirrus Logic CR3470 CD-RW chipset... More in their Press Release. |
| The Week in Review |
CD/DVD NewsWire |
| CD/DVD/Misc News: |
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| CD/DVD, Audio & MP3 Software Releases |
CD/DVD Software |
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