Re: External DVD for International Traveler?

On Sun, 01 Jan 2012 14:54:56 -0800, John McWilliams wrote:

On 1/1/12 PDT 12:37 PM, David Empson wrote:

Firewire optical drives are expensive, and I'm not aware of any still
being sold that are designed for easy portability (lightweight and bus
powered), but there may be older ones available second hand.

My LaCie Firewire DVD burner wasn't cheap, but at the time I only had USB
1 support on my iBook, so Firewire was the sensible option.

This one is USB powered, portable and slightly cheaper than the Apple
SuperDrive, but I don't know how good it is:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Lacie/301486/

Includes this feature, which may be old hat to many, but first time I've
seen:

"LightScribe Disc Labeling

This portable DVD±RW drive is equipped with LightScribe, an innovative
technology that allows you to burn silkscreen-quality labels directly
onto CDs and DVDs with a laser instead of a printer. LightScribe uses a
combination of your CD/DVD drive, specially coated discs (sold
separately), and enhanced disc-burning software (included) to produce
precise, professional labels. The result is an impressive iridescent
image composed of art, text, or photos of your own creation."

Sounds pretty cool.

My LaCie has that ability, but the HP software installation that came
with it was, to put it bluntly, a mess.

The discs you need to use LightScribe weren't so cheap either, so I never
got around to buying any. LightScribe is an HP product. I would
recommend that you check to see if the LightScribe software runs on your
version of OS X before buying any of these disks.

--
Paul Sture
.

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