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a VERY sturdy external one? I need something that can stand up to at least a couple years of heavy use (20-50 DVDs/week).
I would lean AWAY from Fantom Drives. I got a few at my old job (hard drive and burner) and had mixed feelings. The hard drive crapped out in a couple years. The DVD burner had strange issues when connecting to the windows machine. I confess, the burner didn't die while I was there, but I have low faith in their gear.
For Mac stuff, Other World Computing is usually a good choice:
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OWC would be my choice for personal shopping, but since we have to order via PO, we're limited to vendors with whom we have corporate accounts. (For something like this, probably B&H or Markertek. Or Apple, but I don't see any DVD burners on their site.)
Macbook Air Superdrive:
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Look to be just a USB DVD/CD drive. Only really slim. Not sure how good or bad it is. $99.
Ha! Markerteck has a section for CD/DVD drives, but no products in it. Love it.
B&H has a multitude of drives here, including usb floppy drives. Dig through and see if there is anything that strikes your fancy:
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Also, it might be an idea to buy an external enclosure and an internal burner and then assemble yourself.
Also, with that high number of burns per week, are you burning copies of the same disc? I'm thinking a duplicator system might be in your best interest:
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We have a duplicator tower (which could probably also stand replacing, but it fails less often than my Mac and so has to stand in line).
I'm really looking more for specific brand recommendations that people have personal experience with.
The MacBook Air superdrive with only work with the MacBook Air. The Air has special USB port that is capable of providing the amount of power needed by the drive that a standard USB port can't do.
I have had good luck with Glyph drives in the past. They are specifically made for audio and video use and can be ordered in rack mount enclosures and similar things. They usually have beefier power supplies than standard drives as well.
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The MacBook Air superdrive with only work with the MacBook Air.
Dude, what is the point of that? If you need to burn DVDs, just buy a Macbook Pro!
Thanks for the Glyph rec, ND. I'll check them out.
Yeah, here in Eastern Iowa we're going as originally planned. Apparently, it's been determined that this area is close to 98% ready.
I honestly can't think of a much bigger way Congress could have fucked this decision up.
