Rating: 
Summary: GOOD UNIT AFTER KINKS WORKED OUT
Review: I, like many others, agree that the basic instructions could have been written better. The software installed fine. I just couldn't get the thing to burn. Called HP, and they took me through several extensive computer adjustments, starting in
"MY COMPUTER" ie....device manager, "cd-rom" property settings, then BACK TO to MY COMPUTER, property, performance, file system, hard disc, cd-rom, graphics......all had some adjustments. We also went into Control Panel, clicked on Display and re-set the screen saver not to come on for at least 60 minutes.....or better yet, turn it off to burn music cd's Then we went into the Re-writter program and went to options. Reduced the speed to 1x or 2x at the most, and unchecked the "test operations before recording disc. We also went into Explorer, tools, internet options, and selected the delete files and also checked the delete all offline content. We also turned off our connection to the internet.
We then proceeded to burn a CD and it worked.
NOTE.....THE ABOVE ONLY RELATE TO BURNING MUSIC CD'S. These seem to be the fussiest. I had no problem burning all the Photo cd's at 4x even being connected to the internet.
ALSO, AND THIS IS IMPORTANT. I FOUND OUT THAT AT LEAST WITH MY COMPUTER ( A GATEWAY Desktop PENT II 400MHZ, Windows 98) THAT I CAN NOT BURN A CD IF THERE IS ANY OTHER USB DEVICE ATTACHED TO THE BACK OF MY TOWER !!!!!!
I HAVE 2 USP PORTS. One for the CD Burner and the other for my Printer. I HAVE TO UNPLUG MY HP 1215 PRINTER FROM IT'S USB PORT IN ORDER FOR THE HP CD-WRITTER TO BURN A MUSIC CD. DONT ASK ME WHY. EVEN HP CANT ANSWER THAT ONE FOR ME. AND FORGET ABOUT USING A USB EXTENSION HUB TO PLUG IN THE BURNER...YOU WILL JUST WASTE DISCS.
Like I said, once I got the kinks worked out, the unit burns like a dream...... I did find the people at HP very, very nice and helpful. Without them, I would have given up. My neighbor has one and never had the problems I had.....His installed immediately and worked without all the tweaks. His computer is newer and he was also running Windows ME....... For an inexpensive unit, it fits my needs at the moment.
Rating:
Summary: Nothing is perfect
Review: i have this product for almost a year,, it's actually burnt me more than 180 cds so far,,seem successful?? nope,, about 100 more blank cds go to the trash,, the madiodre software reported the same stupid error and i think the software itself is not intuitive enough.. i finally come up with a new idea,, borrowed the roxio easy cd creater 5 to use insted of the sucker bunble software,, the newer program just smart enough to detect the drive and it never fail me since,, i uninstalled the sucker HP cd writer software,, and everything work fine,, a lot better than before,, if you found that your machine turned to a piece of junk,, just command it with the roxio software version 5 (should be more choice avaiable,,) don't touch the bundle software,, except the installation diskette for the driver,, and then,, have fun with a new reliable burner,,
i gave it 3 stars coz i hate its software,, it's just a stupid version of burning program,, the hardware itself is very durable,, i throwed it several times ( on the carpet floor, due to the disappointment feeling the software gave) but it still work,,, just change the software,, borrow some one to try,, if you can,, better than the bundle one for sure...
Rating: 
Summary: Everything depends on its mood.
Review: Well, i bought this unit since it cost me at 200 bucks,, not a big deal then for one year ago. Sometime it was good enough to burnt me 4-5 cds in a row without any error, sometime this manic-depressive unit just fail with the common error, the high speed cd used. The first time I attempted to install it was a bad experience, insufficient instruction included, but somehow, I got it work in 2 hours. Anyway, after my computer ran to some problem and I got to reinstalled all operating systems, the set up is just a piece of cake. took me about 10 mins to reach the device. Like some other reviewers, this unit needs some cares, I found out that if I reboot the computer before burn a cd, it's tend to work better with a fewer error. Still, it's painful sometime I have to reduced its burnning speed to 2x rater than its full 4x to get the job done. If you have enough budget, you better choose the faster and more reliable device aviable on the market, they are packed with better software (I got some problem updatting the Roxio in my system too, it's cracked) with a buffer underrun protection. Anyway, this unit burnt me more than 150 cds so far, both music and data, that's okey with the cost of 250 blank cds (that stupid error made more than 1/3 of waste blank medias). I think the burner itself is not a problem, but the software come with it is just a soft-brain. I also tried to installed the winoncd which work very well with internal burner with this device, nope, it doesn't recoznized the HP, bad luck.
Like I said, if you have enough money to look for those machines come up with USB 2.0 or firewire, with a buffer underrun protection, go with it, you will not want to wait for 40 mins for a cd (which you'll never know it will be done or not) insted of you'll get 5-10 mins full cd without error massage from those better machines out there. Now I'm looking for a USB 2.0 or firewire machine too, hopefully this time I will make a right choice.
Rating:
Summary: Good unit for novice
Review: While I, too, have had some problems with this unit, I still believe it is a good value. I had this thing up and ready to go in a matter of minutes due to the plug n play capability. I had the previous software, "My CD", at the time. The CR-R supplied with the burner failed to work, prompting a call to HP. I was getting the "high speed media" error and not too happy about it. With the technician's help (we all agree they need an 800 number) this was solved by simply going into "options" and telling it to NOT perform a write speed test. Then we set the write speed at 1X. It seemed to work, but I was having quite a few disks fail during burning, so I called back. This time checking the system performance was done and the whole turning off all startup menu programs. But I would not deal with a product that forced me to turn off my antivirus software and decided that if it took this much trouble, I would return the 8230. I have since discovered that if I simply reboot my system prior to burning, even with all startup items intact, that I have no problems burning either data or audio CD's. You may say this is not ideal, but I find it to be a small inconvenience for a sure thing, instead of a possible coaster.Yes, it is slow, but I don't need speed and am totally uncomfortable with installing anything on my computer. Since updating to "Record Now" software, I have not turned off the write speed test or checked the write speed, but have not had trouble with data CD's and I think my son has been burning audios. We use some WalMart bulk CD's with no problem, as well as anything on sale. For the price (I got mine cheap on a well known auction site) and two phone calls, I still rate it a four.
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