How to Buy an External CD Burner

There are two types of CD burners available on the market for your PC: internal and external. The external CD burner needs a separate power source and cover. It can be linked to your PC through an SCSI (Small Computer System Interface), USB (Universal Serial Bus) or the PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card International Association) interface. The internal CD burner is kept inside the PC chassis. Here is how to buy an external CD burner:

Instructions

1. Determine the type of files that you intend to store on the CDs. If you require a CD burner primarily for music, a CD-R is sufficient. For taking data backup, you may buy a CD-RW. Many prefer to take up their music collection on CDs to clear up their hard drives and port the media files to other players such as MP3 and Discmans.

2. Check the burning speed of the external CD burner that you are looking for. A 4x4x12 speed burner allows you to burn a CD in 15-20 minutes. If this seems slow, go for a faster burner with a speed of 16x12x32.

3. Find out the interface that you have to attach the external CD burner. The options available are SCSI, USB or Firewire.

4. Remember that the price for a burner with IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) is usually lower than one with SCSI. A burner with IDE does not require the use of an SCSI card as it has the same interface as the HDD (hard disk drives).

5. Learn more about the features and prices of the external CD burners by referring to online buyers' guides. Browse through reviews and compare pricing. Some popular buyers' guides are NexTag, Windows Marketplace, MySimon, Bizrate and Epinions (see links below).

6. Browse through blogs and tech discussion forums. These are good avenues for gathering more information on features, trends and other insights on CD burners.

7. Buy an external CD burner after comparing prices in different stores online and offline. Search for online vendors using search engines like Google or Yahoo. Browse through popular online stores such as CompUSA, Best Buy and Circuit City (see links below).

Tips & Warnings

• Buy a CD burner that includes good software for recording.

• Look for discounts and the warranty period.

• Find the best deal available for buying a new burner. Know that as soon as a new model arrives, the former models undergo a steep fall in price.

• Do not use a speed of more than 4x for burning a music CD. The higher the speed, the more the sound quality will deteriorate.