Rating: 
Summary: Great and stable CD-RW drive
Review: I use this CD burner extensively to make data CDs as well as music CDs from mp3 files. It is relatively fast, very stable and very accurate.I run the drive with a Compaq Prosignia 150 running MS Windows 2000. There was a driver problem with the drivers supplied on the enclosed CDs, but a quick call to technical support pointed me to updated drivers. I've since rebuilt my machine and installed with the updated drivers... up and running in about 3 minutes with reboot. The drive is instantly recognized by my machine and the included software is easy to use and versatile enough for most situations. I've burned about 60 CDs in less than a month and only had one CD have a problem due to a momentary power loss. Great product, great service and lots of fun!
Rating: 
Summary: Great for the Price!
Review: This CD writer is great. All my friends want me to burn CD's for them. It may not be the fastest on the market (which is why I gave it a 4-star rating instead of 5), but the price was right and I can get a lot of use out of it without a high investment. I recommend this product to anyone considering a new writer and doesn't mind a little extra time.
Rating: 
Summary: Even more compatibility problems (2 different computers)
Review: I was unable to get the unit working with EITHER of my two computers. After third call to tech support was informed that they are having intermittent problems with computers recognizing the unit. The 2 computers I tried to get working: Dell Inspiron 7500 Laptop with Windows 2000 Professional Dell Dimension 4100 PC with Windows Millenium When I tried to install to my third computer, I realized the unit is not certified for use on Windows NT. Returned unit and will purchase different brand. Beware!!
Rating: 
Summary: Nice device with poor software
Review: I use my cd writer only to record music CDs. The device works fine (almost with no errors), but the sofware is very limited. Even worse, it doesn't do what the on-line reference guide says it does. Here is my mail to Veritas (who provides the sofware that comes with the writer)and their response: Me: " Hello. I am using an HP 8200e series CD burner which I recently bought to record audio CDs. The reference guide says 'The Exact Copy feature makes a duplicate of your master CD, transferring the disc layout of the original disc to your CD-R or CD-RW (e.g., a Disc-at-Once source disc will copy as a Disc-at-Once, retaining the track and gap layout of the original disc).'. This seems not to be true, as I am using the 'Make an exact copy' option from HP MyCD to copy from original audio CDs and still a 2 second gap between tracks is added on recorded CDs. This is very annoying, especially when recording live CDs. Is there a way to fix this error? Thank you" Support "Alfredo, MyCd does not support removing this gap. This gap is due to the way the software instructs the drive to burn. The laser stops and starts between tracks. MyCd Pro provides the ability to remove this 2 second gap." Of course, MyCd pro means additional $.
Rating:
Summary: No Problems Here!
Review: I bought this burner to use with my IBM T20 laptop which is running Windows 2K. Not only was Windows able to recognize the device, but I also had to drivers installed in less then 5 minutes and had to burner working in 10 minutes. This is a great portable burner. I really love how easy it was to use with my desktop also (although that took a bit longer because of Windows 98). I recomend this product to anyone who needs a decently fast and portable CD Writer for use anywhere.
Rating:
Summary: Very Good For people who want a really portable CD Writer
Review: Though the 8220e External USB is not a very fast writer compared to famous yamaha etc but one thing is very nice that it is really a true portable USB Writer .I can use it in my office in any computer as I can plug it externally . So you dont have to face difficulty to install SCSI( SCSI installation is a nightmare ) or a IDE writer . Just plug it in the USB port and the WIN 98 ( Alert it does not support WIN 95 or NT ) do the rest . I really recommend it for people who dont like the installation hassle rather like a simple portable drive. I bought it for SONY VAIO PCG-F801 Laptop ( WIN-98 ) and it worked fine . I am happy with its performance . Only negative point I found is that it does not support WIN95 or WIN NT or Mac . I have a iMac but I cant use it . I think HP should come out with a Mac driver . So buy it if you have a USB PORT + WIN-98 and if you like a true portable drive .
Rating:
Summary: compatibility nightmare
Review: i purchased this product to work with my dell latitude laptop which has windows 2000 loaded on it. i could not get the unit installed correctly - it just didn't work. finally after a half a day talking with hp customer service, i was informed that there was a compatibility problem with this unit and windows 2000. they are writing a fix for it, which should be done in 2 months. they also said that there was a compatibility issue with dell latitude laptops. i guess this was not my lucky day for buying. returned the hp and am buying another brand.
Rating:
Summary: Very good for the money
Review: Much like other Hewlett Packard CD-Writers, this one has much better music writing support. It is not particuarly fast, however it is very accurate. I have written 2 music CDs with it, and with no error. It is very easy to use, the instruction book is very clear for beginners. Overall, I think that this is a great CD-Writer for those who don't want to spend to much money and who don't mind about a little more transfer time.
Rating: 
Summary: USB is great, but it isn't for CD burning
Review: I purchased this unit about two years ago, and it's something I regret. After trying this unit on three different machines under four operating systems (Windows XP, ME, 98 and Linux [Fedora Core]), getting it to cooperate with each system was anything but your standard "plug and play" operation. What HP's customer support doesn't tell you is that for some versions of the popular Nero CD-authoring suite, you are required to download a separate file in order for the software to detect your burner. Based on my experiences with Windows 98, I simply could not get this burner to interact with any burning applications other than to use it as a floppy-like storage drive. Even after upgrading to the latest Windows 98 drivers, the burner failed to behave as it should. Windows XP is a mixed bag, sometimes this burner works, sometimes it doesn't. While Windows was able to detect the drive, and provided you had the proper drivers, the drive was able to burn audio CDs under Windows Media Player. To burn other formats, Nero was required (the bundled software is garbage, don't even touch it), and often this required the Nero fix mentioned earlier (required for the latest version of Nero). Surprisingly, with an older version of Nero (5.5), the burner worked right out of the box. I was burning audio and data CDs, as well as a VCD and SVCD discs. Furthermore, the burner performed flawlessly for me under Windows ME, regardless of which version of Nero I installed. Linux is just out of the question. While the drive was detected and installed automatically under Fedora Core 2, you simply cannot burn data to a USB-connected CDRW drive. From what I read on a Linux FAQ, USB cd-burning has yet to be implemented. So, for those of you looking for a cheap solution for CD authoring with Linux, this isn't it. When this unit works, it's great. When this unit fails to work, expect to lose some hair trying to fix everything. USB is great, but it isn't for CD burning. Stick with an internal drive.
Rating:
Summary: Slowest
Review: This device is like a piece of junk considering the speed and accuracy of its work. It never finishes a task correctly and it take about 30 minutes to write a CD.
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