Sony cd-rw drive ...which one?

[randompurpleness]

At CompUSA they have 2 Sony cd-burners. One is the "8x4x32 INTERNAL Erasable/ReWritable CD-RW Drive" and the other is the "4x4x6 EXTERNAL Erasable/ReWritable USB CD-RW Drive. Both are $200. What are the pros/cons of each? Which is the better deal? Is Sony even a good choice? Are there any more dependable ones for the same or better price? I only wanna have to do this once and get it right the first time. Do you need to know stuff about my computer to answer this? Anyway, I have a VS880EX which has a SCSI thing, but I don't know if I can connect it to my computer...I'd like to get an editing program like Sonic Foundry Sound Forge 4.5XP, but I don't know anything about how to get my music from the VS to the computer, and if I should just stay there w/ an internal cd drive or go back to the VS then burn to an external. PLEASE HELP ME!! Thanks.

[Emeric]

Well the internal one burns a lot faster than the external one. Twice as fast.

Do you have a USB port on your machine? (I would assume so if it's less than 2 years old).

I would go for the internal one. What kind of machine do you have? If it's a clone your fine, but I've run across many compaq pc's that I couldn't even install a CD-ROM in because I didn't have the stupid proprietary brackets to do the job.

I havn't had any bad experiences with SONY. There the only other brand I've used a lot of besides Mitsumi and Yamaha. The only ones I don't like much are smart & friendly, richo, and Hewlett Packard. And anything pre-fixed with "Cyber".

Good luck

[gordone]

Randompurpleness,
I've been using the Sony USB burner for almost a year...From the CompUSA catalog, it looks like the one they're selling is the next generation. BUT, I haven't had any problems with mine (except for the burning software that came with it, I switched to Adaptec CD Creator which worked fine). I think I only got one or two failed burns. I chose the USB because I don't like messing with the innards of my Computer (a Dell 450Mhz, 128Megs of RAM). I mixdown from my Minidisc multitrack to my PC with Cool Edit 96. I then burn from the WAV files.
The internal one will burn faster than the USB, but I have no problems burning at 4x, takes about 20 minutes for a full disc.

Re. your VS880EX, I don't know too much about the output options, but the easiest thing for you to do is to take the main outs (probably RCA/Phono) and plug them into the line in on your soundcard (you'll need a stereo RCA -> 1/8" Stero phone plug adapter, Radio Shack should have these). You can than record the WAV file using Sound Forge, or Cool Edit. Feel free to email me with more specific questions.
Good luck!
-Evan

[Krystof01]

With the external one you do not have to get it installed. The other thing is that if you get a slower speed the it's just the extra time you have to wait. If they are the same price the faster option would be preferable.

[randompurpleness]

Thanks everyone so far for your input. I just ordered Sound Forge XP4.5 from www.zzounds.com for $39.99. I'll go pick that phone plug adapter at Radio Shack later this week. Thanks Gordone, I really wanted to hear from someone who owned one of them to get the best perspective. I don't mind the extra time it takes to burn and I don't wanna mess with my computer's "innards" either, so I'll probabaly go with the external. One more question though: What is the chord/cable called that I need to get to connect the main outs to the line in's soundcard?

[gordone]

Glad I could help!
I'm assuming you have your standard "came with the computer" soundcard. The line-in will probably be a 1/8" stereo phone jack (similar to the headphone jack in a discman)
The outs of your Roland will probably be two RCA/Phono jacks (your home stereo or VCR probably has these) So your cable will have to have 2 male RCA plugs on one end, and one male 1/8" male phone plug on the other (hence the Y-cable). You may already have one of these...The discman I bought (a few years ago) had one of these so I could hook it up to my stereo (or something like that).
If not Radio Shack should have it...
Just print out this post and bring it to the store, they should be able to find it for you...
-Evan

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by randompurpleness:
One more question though: What is the chord/cable called that I need to get to connect the main outs to the line in's soundcard? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

[randompurpleness]

whoa! ok, I know what that "y" chord is, so do I still need that 1/8" Stereo phone plug adapter too?? What is that anyway? Sorry to keep bothering you but I'm just lost now.