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Rating: 
Summary: Doesn't work with Windows XP
Review: Despite what the sketchy instructions indicate, this device doesn't work with Windows 98SE or XP. Plus their tech support only goes from 9am to 5pm Pacific time. First tried hooking up this device when I had Win 98SE - no luck. When I upgraded to XP for other reasons, same problem. Tech Support didn't offer that much support except to have me do all of the trouble-shooting items I had already done. So unless you are super tech savvy and can spend hours trouble-shooting the drivers for this thing buy something other than Pacific Digital.
Rating: 
Summary: My two cents (This should get 4.5 stars)
Review: I would say that I am pleased with this burner. You should know that the label may say "pacific digital" however it identifies itself to my machine as a "Lite-On" which is another brand. This is not necessarily a bad thing, though since the Lite-On is decent brand, and lots of my friends use them. The price on this thing was prohibitive when I bought it, but it has since been reduced. Be sure you check for rebates!!! I found that rebates for this item were only available through Amazon.com when I made my purchase...NOWHERE ELSE (Good job, Amazon). If you find one, it may make this purchase a little more palatable. So how does it function? It performs great for me! We've burned many discs on it, and just this morning, I burned 73 minutes of audio material onto a disc in 4 minutes 20 seconds. This isn't exactly a blazing speed, but it is fast enough for my purposes. As a matter of fact, the only real problem I have with this product occurs when you open the burning software on your machine. If you put the blank disc in the drive BEFORE you start choosing the files you want to burn, it will lock up....every time, no exceptions. It took me a while to figure out what was causing the hang up, and at first I thought the burner was bad. However, if you pick out your songs and put the disc in only when you're ready to burn, you will be fine. Aesthetically, I like this burner. To me it looks cool, and I'm pleased that it's not made out of that cheap, flimsy plastic. It feels solid, and the loading mechanisms operate smoothly. Be forewarned that this thing is rather large. I would say it's at least twice the size of an internal CDRW. In the pictures it looks like the size of a portable CD player, but it is actually about the size of a 12 ounce box of cereal. I'm not kidding...it is big. Make sure you have the space for it before you buy. As far as connections, there are four: Power, USB, Left-Audio-Out, & Right-Audio-Out. The included Left and Right Audio out cables terminate into a single small stereo jack. Also included in the package are a USB 2.0 card which has two jacks (you only need one) and the software with all the drivers and stuff. I know there are faster drives out there, but I chose this one because of price and aesthetics. The only reason I didn't give it five stars is because of that cheesy software that locks up if you have a blank disc in the drive. That however is a software issue. If you have access to better software, I would use it before I use the shoddy program that came with this one.***8/2/2002***
I should warn you about one more thing. The included NTI software will only let you rip 30 songs or rip for 30 days (whichever comes first). After that, if you want to rip songs, you better be ready to shell out ...for the software upgrade. This software is HORRIBLE, and I think that arrangement is very unfair to the customer. The hardware is great though, and I love it. I went and got some different software, and I recommend you do the same. It's still working great.
Rating:
Summary: Good product - reliable - easy to use
Review: I've been using the Pacific Digitgal U-301 on all sorts of CD's and backups of disk drives, unsing Nero 5.0 software, with remarkable success. Installation was a snap, and operation has been consistently easy and reliable. This is one of the best CD burners I've used. There are faster ones out there, of course, but you'd be hard pressed to find one so easy to install and consistent in producing good CD's.
Rating:
Summary: Good product - reliable - easy to use
Review: I've been using the Pacific Digitgal U-301 on all sorts of CD's and backups of disk drives, unsing Nero 5.0 software, with remarkable success. Installation was a snap, and operation has been consistently easy and reliable. This is one of the best CD burners I've used. There are faster ones out there, of course, but you'd be hard pressed to find one so easy to install and consistent in producing good CD's.
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