Rating: 
Summary: Disappointment has a new name and they call it CRW2100EZ
Review: I had really high expectations for this drive, which may have led to the high dissapointment when it didn't meet those expectations. I had a model made in DEC 2000 with the latest firmware version. I couldn't get it to burn CD's consistently. I tried Disk to Disk, Disk to Drive to Disk, with DMA, without DMA, as a slave, as a master, on it's own IDE channel. I even installed it in two different PC's. PIII 500mhz with 256MB RAM and PIII 700mhz with 256MB RAM. The drive would consistently lock up the PC and put out coaster after coaster.I have never used Yamaha drives before. They have a really good reputation and I may try them again at some point, but the bottom line with this product is that it is their flagship drive ( excepting the SSCI version ) Needles to say this one is on it's way back.
Rating: 
Summary: Works for Me!
Review: I have read some reviews where people have had problems with this drive or the software/firmware. I recently purchased this drive and I have had NO problems. The Adaptec software it comes with makes CD-making a breeze. I made my first Audio CD from a collection of my favorite CD tracks by "clicking and dragging." The program even automatically opened the CD tray and told me when it was time to insert the CD with the next track for recording - what could be easier than that? I did the self test as suggested in the documentation and the drive met or exceeded the advertised 16x/10x/40x speeds. I installed it in a relatively new DELL 1GHz PIII system and it was plug and play all the way for me - no software, hardware or compatibility problems whatsoever. I REALLY like this drive.
Rating:
Summary: Best CD-RW i've ever seen, bar none
Review: Yamaha has fixed their firmware update, I got mine on January 10th, and it is a BEAUTIFULL peice of work, every cd i've burned has gone through in less than 5 minutes each NO CD's have turned into coasters, the installation was a complete breeze, from opening the computer, to burning my first cd, it took all of 4 minutes flat the software that comes with it is also absolutely complete it comes with all kinds of music, and video, and picture editing software, this is by far the best cd-rw out there right now, bar none.
Rating:
Summary: UPS getting wealthy
Review: I am in process of returning my second sample of this unit. This is not my first burner, and my system and software are up to date. The first couldn't read an Imation disc it had just burned at only 4x (crashed with Easy CD Creator Deluxe 4.02e1 but I could use DirectCD 4.02d), and an hour with Yamaha tech resulted in a return. The replacement is completely dead- no power- after a 1.0H firmware upgrade attempt that failed while installing. Both sounded like string trimmers. I am going to try a Plextor- I can't stand to keep paying for continual trips to UPS. They're the only ones in this deal that are making out.
Rating: 
Summary: Decent but could be better
Review: I installed this drive thinking it would work well to begin with, but had problem with DMA with win98. It always froze when reading a cd. Tech-support gave me the run around. Eventually, after a week, i bought winME. Drive works perfectly now. Burns cd's in less than 5 min. Wish Yamaha had some better support for this. Oh well.
Rating: 
Summary: Firmware bugs still a problem
Review: I read the reviews here but hoped that by december Yamaha would have resolved the firmware bugs that are causing the drive to not work well on many systems. Well, not yet, I got a build from November 2000, downloaded the December firmware update and the Adaptec software update, but at least on my Win2000 system, the drive had problems reading some CD's (including 2 of the 3 software CD's that came with the drive), would spontaneously "unplug" itself, and could not write a CD. This was not a problem with the IDE settings or DMA. So best to wait for another firmware update unless you're prepared to take a chance. I returned it and am very happy with the replacement, a Plextor 12/10/32.
Rating:
Summary: this is an awesome drive AFTER you upgrade EASY CD CREATOR
Review: I bought this cd based on PC Magazine's good review, but I was concerned to see that others were having problems with their drives. When i got it tonight, i had the same problem that i read on AMAZON.com--that the drive wouldn't read blank media as blank. Long story short, the problem was EASY CD CREATOR 4. You need to have version 4.02e at a mininum and the drive ships with version 4.02d. So...once i got the patch from ADAPTEC and installed it (5 minutes total time) i burned my first 74 minute audio cd in about 5 minutes, no problem. Quite the improvement over my 2x burner. I LOVE IT!
Rating:
Summary: I've Seen Better
Review: Well i had no luck with this Burner... I think i recieved a defective one. It screwed up my system and wouldn't read blank CD's as being Blank. I was not impressed with it's 8 meg buffer either. I was getting buffer underuns while only running the burner. I have a pretty powerful system and it shouldn't have been doing this. I returned the burner to amazon. maybe it will work better for you
Rating:
Summary: Don't buy It if it's built before nov 2000
Review: you dont want one that is built before nov 200 with the old firmware. I got 3 of them for systems I built and had to return 2 that where the older ones. You cant flash the drives they lock up..
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful Drive!
Review: Before this drive arrived i had my doubts about this drive based on reviews i had read. The reviews said it was noisy, bad software. This is not true. The drive is whisper quiet, the Software is great, and the drive lives up to its 16X write speed. There are no buffer underuns! An 8mb Buffer eliminates them. This drive is beautiful, i do not believe there is a word in the english language to describe it!
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