CDRLabs.com

Sorry for this long post BUT as follow-up to my first, I thought it should be under a Subject others could find...

Here's the chat session...with a couple of items masked...as not public info...



Todd: Welcome to Live Chat. This is Todd. How can I help you?

you: Bought D522452EU yesterday...NO trace of this product on your web site! And Model Me-320-XX Serial #$$$$$$ by I/O Magic says to me just WHO made this ???? I have heard today of bad things about some drives..
Todd: im sorry, what do you need?

you: Who made the actual drive internals? Lite-On or Plextor or who? And is this just too new for your web site?
Todd: benq

you: That's what I was AFRAID of! Two web site have VERY bad things to say about them, it seems...
Todd: do you need anything else?

you: Are all your drives made by Benq?
Todd: all of the 52x are

you: who makes the 48x externals
Todd: btc and benq

you: Guess I'll may be shopping for another brand then...Unless YOU can convince me!
Todd: I don't know what you heard about Benq and I don't know what truth there is to that.

you: Message boards CDRLabs and CDFreaks that I found today
Todd: I have not noticed any problems specifically with the BenQ drives.

you: Various users of those boards have..it seems..
Todd: I don't know what you heard about Benq and I don't know what truth there is to that.

you: Message boards CDRLabs and CDFreaks that I found today
Todd: I have not noticed any problems specifically with the BenQ drives.

you: Various users of those boards have..it seems..
Todd: I see.

you: BUT at least I was able to get some support rather quickly by this chat! So that is in your favor!
Todd: alright, if you get our drive we will be happy to help you with any problems you have and if you dont, good luck and enjoy your drive.

you: And do any of your drives have NERO?
Todd: yes

you: Is this not one?
Todd: this?

you: the 52x..It had NTI C/D in box..
Todd: we send one or the other

you: Is it random luck?
Todd: pretty much

you: No way to tell before box open?
Todd: no

you: Thats QUITE unfortunate! For your customers...a external sticky would be nice!
Todd: I agree

you: For new user, it may not matter..but I heard for last year from friends..get Nero!
Todd: we can supply nero for those who get nti and want nero

you: OH? Really?? Very GOOD answer!!! And how would one do so? It might make the diff!
Todd: you can go to www.nero.com and download nero
Todd: Try this serial number: $$$$-$$$$-$$$$-$$$$-$$$$-$$$$

you: Is that the common OEM number as I had with my scanner s/w?
Todd: what do you mean by common number?

you: A generic nbr not specific to my ID/name...used for bulk installs...
Todd: no, that is just one of many that we have

you: Ok...so i know how safe i have to keep it..some new protect schemes in TurboTax are very picky, i hear...I was not planning to share it...
Todd: may I ask how it matters?

you: If I lost track of it, some things are hard to re-install with another new number...if i had to...on this machine, of course...
Todd: I could give you a brand new number is you want.

you: Thats only needed IF I have problems!
Todd: alright

you: And i guess I'll have to get a friend to download it...i'm on dial-up so...it might take forever!
you: So I guess I should plug/play this unit and see what happens....and get some more info from various sources...read up on other reviews..etc
Todd: yeah

you: in any case, "talking" with you has eased my fears a bit! Thanks!!!
Todd: No Problem, and if you still need help feel free to come back and chat with us again.

Todd: Thank you for using I/O Magic Live Chat! Have a great day!
Chat session has been terminated by the site operator

Interesting Chat there. Atleast we found out that Digital Research and I/O Magic 52x drives are made by Benq. While the Digital Research 48x drives are made by Benq and BTC. It was also good of Digital Research to offer you a Nero serial # when you got the nti software instead.

Yes, it was an interesting and informative chat. Thank you for sharing it with us. I would suggest, however, that it is better to make this a reply to your original thread rather than a new thread. Starting multiple threads for the same topic clutters the boards, and makes it hard to follow what is happening. For example, someone in the future who finds this thread through a search won't have the context of the posts that preceeded it. Likewise, someone who finds your first thread won't find the answers here to the questions posed there.

As such, I am going to ask you to post your chat transcript as a reply to your original thread, and maybe Ian will then lock this thread so we can keep all further follow-up neatly tied in one thread for ease of future reference.

You can always use the edit button on your original post to change the title of that thread if you feel a revised title is more appropriate.

cfitz

A couple of points to consider about how I posted:

1) Brand new to this board (less than 12 hrs ago) so NOT familiar with features/capabilities...had I known that I could tweak Subject, I might have...BUT the info in this chat applies to some other products/features also (Nero/NTI) so a 2nd thread seems valid.

2) Sometimes it's better to have separate threads so a NEW user might stumble across one that matches their needs...(External .vs. Dgt/Rsh)...if I had to find the only one, I might miss it...they can then look for related posts by same author...or use keywords found in that post to refine looking...that's what I did (as best I could) before I posted original...given that Search doesn't seem to be working...

So based on my experience with 3 other boards, I would suggest that I leave it as two threads..Ok?

Just to add to this, I bought a Digital Research 40x12x48 that turned out to be an Aopen. I've used it for a few months, it came with Nero. It seems to work OK, but have gotten a few coasters with write errors trying to burn at 40x. No problem at 32x though. This was with AT&T cmc media. Hopefully, this is just a media issue, I haven't tried any other discs yet. I guess buying these drives is like a box of chocolates, hopefully, you'll get a Liteon.

I had no idea that a friendly request to help your fellow forum users follow your thread by simply copying and pasting would devolve into a debating match, but...

j_c_hallgren wrote:1) Brand new to this board (less than 12 hrs ago) so NOT familiar with features/capabilities...

That's why I was telling you about the features - because you are new and might not be aware of them.

j_c_hallgren wrote:BUT the info in this chat applies to some other products/features also (Nero/NTI) so a 2nd thread seems valid.

There is nothing you posted in this thread that isn't a follow-up to an issue already raised in your first thread, including the Nero/NTI issue. You yourself admit that this new thread is a "follow-up" in the very first sentence of this thread. So, no, a second thread isn't valid. It is simply gratuitous and confusing.

j_c_hallgren wrote:2) Sometimes it's better to have separate threads so a NEW user might stumble across one that matches their needs...(External .vs. Dgt/Rsh)...if I had to find the only one, I might miss it...they can then look for related posts by same author...or use keywords found in that post to refine looking...that's what I did (as best I could) before I posted original...given that Search doesn't seem to be working...

No. There are already way too many people who won't even bother looking through the forums for themselves in the first place. Forcing users to first find the questions that match their problems and then find the answers in separate and apparently unrelated threads isn't helpful. Particularly given a search function that, as you note, isn't working well. You may enjoy playing digital detective, but most users just want answers. And frankly, the titles you gave your threads (Just WHAT did I buy as my first CD-RW drive? And CD-R's? and My "Chat" with Digital Research...may help others.) are too vague to be of any use to someone searching the forums anyway.

j_c_hallgren wrote:So based on my experience with 3 other boards, I would suggest that I leave it as two threads..Ok?

Well thank you for gracing us with your vast experience, and sorry to have troubled you with such a minor request. Not so brand new to these boards that you won't tell us how to run things here, huh? And I can only imagine how wonderfully coherent and helpful those boards of yours must be, if the norm is to post questions in one thread and answers in a separate thread, with not even a hint of a link between them.

Never mind. I will do it myself, and then I will darken your doorstep no more.

cfitz

Cfitz, after seeing your reply in light of day and after some rest, I will have to admit I misunderstood some of your request...and agree with your opinion...Please accept my APOLOGIES! I had been on PC way too long looking for info on just how I made a likely bad purchase....your COMPLETE and informative initial reply in the original thread was enough to confirm that!

And my Subjects were not the best...however, I had not had any experience with a board that allows that to be changed after post...Thus...I wanted to get the brand "DR" in title when I made 2nd post...as that was how I manually searched this board for posts over last 3 months of posts before I made first post...unlike some who do NO research first...I try to be a intelligent poster...but also use subj that may get someone to look at them....

And I mentioned other boards simply to show that I was not a complete newbie to any/all board...I simply politely (I thought) asked if it could be left as is...not insisted...or demanded...was NOT trying to tell you how to do it, just asking (after as stated, TOO long a day at PC)...OK?

I have today been in BestBuy and passed onto two other shoppers the knowledge that I gained from you and others on this board (which I quoted as source) about which products are desireable....

I know I sometimes do offend people by what/how I say...but I just tell them what I think...so please give me a chance to redeem myself, ok?

As you may see, I have tweaked the subjects to make them hopefully more findable in "manual" search mode and spaced out the Chat to make it more readable...

And THANKs to the two of you who linked the threads!

j_c_hallgren wrote::cry: Cfitz, after seeing your reply in light of day and after some rest, I will have to admit I misunderstood some of your request...and agree with your opinion...Please accept my APOLOGIES!

Well, j_c_hallgren, you are a better man than I. I knew I was overreacting to your post, but for some reason it just really rubbed me the wrong way and I didn't stop myself. I guess the tone of your reply (which is admittedly easy to misinterpret in written communication) and the actions you took (or more correctly, didn't take) made it seem to me that you were being dismissive, supercilious and even a bit condescending in response to what I thought was a simple and polite request intended to help others. And it didn't help that I also was tired and grumpy this morning due to a long sleepless night. The cause was unrelated to your post but you still caught the fallout. As such, I owe you an apology for being so nasty in my reply to you. I could have said my say without being harsh. I'll accept your apology only if you accept mine.

j_c_hallgren wrote:I simply politely (I thought) asked if it could be left as is...not insisted...or demanded...was NOT trying to tell you how to do it, just asking

I know that you did "suggest" and not "demand". I exaggerated for rhetorical effect.

j_c_hallgren wrote:I know I sometimes do offend people by what/how I say...but I just tell them what I think...so please give me a chance to redeem myself, ok?

Right then, and back at you. Bygones shall be bygones.

cfitz

and if i may make a small suggestion:

fix BarQ -> BenQ.

there's no BarQ.

there's no Moops!

(sorry, could'nt resist it.... )