CDRLabs.com

Hi All,

New to all this. a friend told me to buy a Buslink 52X CDRW from Staples because it was on sale and..... it was really made by Lite On.

He said Lite On was really great for the money.

It turns out to be made by Aopen under the Buslink name & outer box with this "JustLink & Just Speed" technology... not the Smartburn that usually comes with Lite On. (I haven't opened the box yet)

Anybody care to comment on the Aopen unit and whether it's worth another $25 for the same speed Lite On?

Thank much for any replies.

Chase

Just keep the drive you have now. I have an Aopen 48x12x50 and a Lite-On 48x12x48 and there is no difference at all between the two if all your doing is reading and writing cd's. Especially, if your not a cd-r geek like most of us here.

I say just keep the drive.

Since we're not talking about 48x12x drives here, you may wish to return the drive. It really depends on your needs. The LiteOn will produce better quality burns and better reading, not to mention the availability of several good testing tools that only work with LiteOn. LiteOn has better media compatability too.
Head over to www.newegg.com and check prices on LiteOn.
I wouldn't pay more than $20 for the Aopen. If the store has a Buslink drive with "SmartBurn" labels on the box, get that one cause it's a LiteOn.

As far as media compatibility goes, I think they are roughly the same. With all the media that I tried, the Lite-On only wrote to old Memorex 40x TY's better than the Aopen did. 40x vs 32x.

I think the average user would be happier paying the least for a burner, and hence getting an Aopen or anything for that matter.

As I said, we're not talking about 48x12x burners.

It's all the same. One can make a safe assumption that, juding by past drives, how good a future drive is going to be.

One can make a safe assumption that, juding by past drives, how good a future drive is going to be.

This from the person who swears that one cannot do just that, in a number of other threads. Shall I qoute those other threads?
They are completely different drives, and we're also not talking about "future" drives, we're talking about known drives. Let the OP check out the reviews on the 52x drives and make his own decision, since nobody here has compared the 2 drives in question.

Gotcha.

aviationwiz wrote:and there is no difference at all between the two if all your doing is reading and writing cd's. Especially, if your not a cd-r geek like most of us here.

I say just keep the drive.

With all due respect, what else does one do with a CDRW drive other than writing and reading cd's?

Thanks for your replies to my post..... to you and everyone else.

Just for my information, where else might there be reviews on these two drives, if they are not here on this website?

rdgrimes wrote:Since we're not talking about 48x12x drives here, you may wish to return the drive. It really depends on your needs. The LiteOn will produce better quality burns and better reading, not to mention the availability of several good testing tools that only work with LiteOn. LiteOn has better media compatability too.
Head over to www.newegg.com and check prices on LiteOn.
I wouldn't pay more than $20 for the Aopen. If the store has a Buslink drive with "SmartBurn" labels on the box, get that one cause it's a LiteOn.

rdgrimes, am I better off going with a 48 x 12 drive rather than a 52X?

Thanks

am I better off going with a 48 x 12 drive rather than a 52X?

A big NO on that question, the 52x drives are way better readers and writers. Relatively little is known about the Aopens, but it's safe to say that we hear no glowing reports about them. They usually get reviewed as another brand name drive. The LiteOn's are reviewed often, also often as a Cendyne or some other name. As I said, I wouldn't pay more than $20 for the Aopen, but for casual use it might be fine. How good does it have to be for $20? Check the reviews at CDRInfo and CDFreaks, I'm not sure if there are any 52x reviews on Aopen.

There's a review on the 52x24x52 AOpen here.

Also, there is a way to flash the OEM AOpen (BUSLink) firmware so that it can accept the AOpen firmware updates without using DOS. If anyone is interested, send me a PM.

If you want to help fellow consumers out, please return the Buslink drive.

I would love it if everyone would boycott Buslink products.

They have stiffed many consumers out of their rightful rebates!!!!



If you have a potential Buslink rebate with this deal, consider yourself fortunate and forewarned.

Return the Buslink CD-RW ASAP!!!!