Move DVD Drives Around Easily

To meet laptop users' demand for a portable DVD burner, Apricorn in February launched EZ Writer DVD LS, a lightweight DVD+/-RW drive with LightScribe technology. At 12 ounces, it's easy to shuttle around to burn DVDs or run DVD movies, making it ideal for home use among multiple PCs or on the road.

The EZ Writer DVD LS can write data to dual-layer DVDs, and LightScribe technology enables it to create CD or DVD labels containing text, images, and artwork. It connects to a PC or Mac via a USB (Universal Serial Bus) port and has an 8X DVD write speed and a 24X CD write speed. In Apricorn's own tests, the DVD LS took 20 minutes to burn 8.5GB of data to a dual-layer DVD.

Bundled with the drive is a software combination of Ahead Nero OEM Suite software (for burning DVDs) and Cyberlink Power DVD 5 (for displaying movies). The software will be Microsoft Vista-compatible in the near future, a company spokesperson noted. The $139 drive is available at the Apricorn Web site and through retailers in the United States. For a list of LightScribe-compatible media, visit the LightScribe Web site.

Swapping out an older internal drive in a desktop system is no big deal, yet on the other hand, due to typical space constraints, replacing a notebook drive can be a headache. The best bet for system builders is to integrate an external drive, one that's compatible with all of the latest optical media. A good example of such a drive is Apricorn's EZ Writer DVD LS.

The Apricorn EZ Writer DVD LS is a slim external DVD burner with a USB 2.0 interface. The drive is compatible with the latest dual-layer DVDs and also features LightScribe Direct Disc labeling software, which uses the drive's recording laser to burn custom labels onto the top surface of special LightScribe blank discs. Customers can use this drive with any system, new or old, notebook or desktop, and it's also very portable. The drive measures roughly 5.5 inches square by less than an inch high, and weighs a mere 12 ounces.

The EZ Writer DVD LS can of course play CDs and DVDs, as well as burn CD-R and CD-RW discs. It also can burn DVD+R and DVD-R discs, including dual-layer discs. The dual layer functionality lets users record up to 8.5 Gbytes of data per disc—that's double the capacity of standard single-sided discs. The drive is ideal for storing data, music and video, and for backup and archiving purposes.

In addition to the requisite AC power adapter and USB cable, the EZ Writer drive also arrives with several software suites such as Nero's OEM Suite and CyberLink PowerDVD 5.

The EZ Writer DVD LS is compatible with Windows 2000, XP and Vista operating systems, and its requirements include a PC that's at least a 350MHz Pentium II with 64 Mbytes of memory, 40 Mbytes of hard disc space and a USB 2.0 or USB 1.1 port. The plug-and-play drive works automatically, and the software takes only minutes to install.