Rating: 
Summary: easy install, does the job, but a little slow
Review: If you want to burn audio CD's and make data CD's but don't want to install an internal CD-RW drive, then you might want to check out this item. Extremely easy/fast to install via the USB port. Burns CD's easily, but it's not the fastest. Comes with lots of software--Music Match jukebox and Adaptec CD wizard/Direct CD and some blank CDR's and a Verbatim CD-RW. Installs itself as a new drive. (Mine is drive F). Caution--for data discs--don't use generic CD-RW's. They will not work. Use the Verbatim DataLifePlus 2x-4x Rewritables. The unit requires you to format the CD-RW disc before the first use (which is an annoyance) but after that, all you do is drag and drop from Windows Explorer like you would with a diskette. Very Fast. No problem with any brand of CD-R's for audio. I've used various ones and all burned fine.
Rating: 
Summary: Hit or Miss
Review: I'm using it with an early iMac (Mac O.S. 8.6). I've made more "coasters" than CDs. Called Mac. I have the extended warranty on the iMac. They said that they get calls all the time about using Toast, the software included with this product. They said Toast has a problem with alot of Mac extensions. For every CD i've "burned", i've ruined at least 1 blank CD. And i do it the same way everytime. One time it gives me some sort of error message. I do the exact same thing again, and it works fine. Yes, i am using the brand of blank CDs that Iomega recommended. Had a little bit better luck storing data on a CD, but i've ruined a few blank CDs doing that also. The guy at Mac said if i had at least O.S. 9 (or better) and got iToons it should work better. Maybe. Maybe not.
If you're using a slightly older Mac and want to "burn" music CDs, this will work. And when it works, it works great. But, you may need 50 blank CDs to actually "burn" 20. As far as data storage, 50 blanks will probably get you about 40-45 good discs. Well, at least that's been my experience.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't Waste Your Money and Time
Review: Even when it was brand new I had about a 75% success rate with this burner. After wasting many hours and blank CDs, that rate, 10 months later, is 0%. You'll easily make up the savings of this inexpensive burner if you spend a few dollars more and get a better burner--I've shelled out $50 in discarded CD-Rs since I got this.
Rating:
Summary: Unreliable
Review: I recieved this drive as a gift Christmas 2001. Right off, burning CD's turned out to be a huge hassle as I had to "coaster" about half of the 50 or so CD's I attempted to burn in the first month. As it was pretty much the burner I was stuck with, I kept it, only to have it [fail]me by September 2002. Go with another brand.
Rating: 
Summary: Iomega Zip CDRW - USB
Review: There are 3 simple steps to "burning CD's". [1] Buy the Iomega Zip650 USP Drive; [2] Install the Software; [3] Connect it to a USB port. For me, that is all it took to start creating CD's for my RoadWarrior {IBM ThinkPad}. The Adaptec Software is easy to use. The Iomega Drive is accurate and easily portable. Since I do a lot of my work "on the road", it makes it easy to transfer data back to my Desktop system when I return. I have found no problems with the different drives that I use; being able to read from or write to CD-RW media formatted on either machine. I can make extra copies and snail-mail them to collaborators without any problem of lost data, (for less than a BUCK including postage). If we are at the same conference, I can burn the data and hand it to them in less than 15 minutes (sometimes more than 300 HiRes Digital Photos and 20 MB of data from a single weekend conference). The speed of "burning" is better on this portable drive than on my multiple media desktop drive. (DVD-ROM/CD-ROM/CD-R/CD-RW internal IDE drive). I still use a Iomega ZIP (100Mb) USB drive but am finding fewer times that I need it.
Rating:
Summary: DO NOT BUY
Review: I was able to use my Iomega RW drive for a few months after I bought it. Then, one day, it would not recognize the drive. I have uninstalled and reinstalled many, many times and it still will not work. I have not been able to get any help from Iomega support. Also, sometimes the door to the drive would not open. I wish I had looked at the reviews before I bought it.
Rating:
Summary: what's all the fuss about?
Review: Now, I'm sure I'll get a rash of unhelpful votes for this, but sometimes I wonder if when people complain about problematic, inconsistent hardware and software, the actual problem is human error. Then again, I really don't understand how anybody could screw up installing and using this drive. Having read many of the comments on this page before buying it with some trepidation over a month ago, I went through the documentation on Iomega's site throughly. After a few hours of reading I realised that I should have just plugged in the drive, connected the USB, and turned on the computer and installed the sugessted software. It's that simple, despite what some would have you believe. The drive has worked well for me so far, writing more than a dozen CDs in both audio and data format at the 4x max, and while this is rather slow, I'm using it primarilly for back-up and for the price (this drive is now available cheap as a refurbished product on Amazon) it was well worth it. Also, no coasters yet. Some have suggested using only quality media for burning, though I did try a no name disc and it burned without a problem. Mostly I've used HP media. Some people have pointed out compatability problems with Toshiba notebooks, so if that's your system, beware, but for someone looking for a cheep external it's really rather hard to beat this product
Rating:
Summary: Works well but doesn't lasts
Review: I was pretty happy with this unit. However, after around one year and two months it wouldn't start anymore. I expected more durability for [the moeny]. I don't think I'll waste my money with IOMEGA again.
Rating:
Summary: The pits.
Review: This is the touchiest computer-related item that I've ever used. It absolutely refuses to accept any CD-R discs except some real cheapies which I bought at Office Depot. Therefore, I can't burn anything onto decent media, which is more likely to last for awhile. The irony of all ironies is that this burner would not even accept the sample Iomega disc which was enclosed in the box! Burning discs with this device is incredibly frustrating. From the first, it's been all but impossible to make compilation music CD's. After a hellish experimentation process, after trying every trick in the book, I finally worked out a process which seemed to work. However, even going through the complimated rigmarole that I came up with doesn't guarantee success with any consistency. Get ready to burn a lot of coasters, people. I sure have. I initially had no problem simply copying a disc, but now even that function won't work. I have to download every track as a WAV file, then burn the disc from the hard drive. Ridiculous. My only consolation is that I'll be getting a new computer before too long, with an internal CD-R drive, so that I can junk this thing. BTW, I'm no computer idiot, nor are my problems a result of "user error." All I can tell you is that this is entirely a hit-or-miss device -- note that reviewers either find it works beautifully, or hate it beyond reason. It's all luck. I suggest that you try something more reliable.
Rating:
Summary: Works well for me
Review: I've had this Iomega CDRW for about a year now. It installed easily. I use it both for storage and for system backup and it has performed without issue. It continues to work well for me!
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