CD ROMs and CD writers and media

ATAPI CD ROM drives and CD re-writer packages for all models. Most can be fitted either to the built-in IDE interface on a RiscPC, A7000, etc. or to one of our IDE cards or a Unipod.

Although we can get SCSI drives we normally only stock ATAPI (IDE). As with most things SCSI is much more expensive, so ATAPI is usually a far more cost effective choice.

All the drives listed below are suitable for connection to the motherboard interface on any RiscPC or A7000, but a much better (and faster) solution is to use one of our IDE interfaces or the Unipod.. This is especially recommended for CD writers as this speeds up data transfer to the CD drive and also from the source hard drive and makes writing CDs not only faster but more reliable. For mor information about CDburn see the CDburn website.

At APDL we produce all our in-house CDs in this way, so we know what we're talking about. We've almost certainly burnt more CDs on RISC OS machines than anyone else. In fact, we've probably burnt more CDs than everyone else put together and we use the products that we sell to you.

You may think you can get something better/cheaper from a PC box shifter. That might be the case, but what do you do if it doesn't work as a CD reader (not all will on a RiscPC, and we supply drivers with our drives if necessary) or there are problems with CDburn? If you buy from us you know it's going to work and if you do have problems we're here to help.

CD ROM drives

Please add £6 UK carriage.

Our APDL CD driver software is available separately for £4.50. It works with many ATAPI CDs including some faster drives that don't work from the 'built in' software.

CD and DVD Re-Writers

You can use these as an internal drive connected directly to ADFS on a RiscPC etc, but it's a lot faster and more reliable with our IDE interface, either the ARCIN, Blitz or Unipod. Experience shows that with a drive connected to ADFS for reliable CD writing at 4x is usually possible, but you may have to drop to 2x for music CDs. With our ARCIN interface 6x is 100% reliable, if the drive supports it, and 8x is almost always OK. With the Blitz interface there's normally no problem up to 16x.

In the past CD writers were not recommended for everyday use as CD readers because the read/write heads were heavy and the fast head movement required during reading data CDs caused rapid wear. This is no longer te case. Modern drive have much lighter mechanisms and all these drives are perfectly suitable for sustained use as CD readers.

If you've got RISC OS 4.39 or better then you can read data DVDs so you may prefer a 'DVD Combo' drive. These are CD writers which can also read (not write) DVDs.

Options	48x32x48x	52x40x52x	52x40x52x DVD Combo	52x40x52x16x DVD re-writer
Bare drive	£17	£19	£24	£28
With CDBurn	£67	£69	£74	£83 *

* Supplied with DVDburn in place of CDburn.

Please add £6 UK carriage for bare drives and £7.50 UK carriage for drive + interface.

You should be aware that DVDwriting is very unreliable using a RiscPC, mainly because of the slow speed of the IDE interface. Results are better using our Blitz interface but you'll almost certainly still get more faillures than sucesses. It's rather better on the Iyonix, although still very sensitive to the media used (we've had greatest sucess using Sony blanks). With the RiscPC although we can supply a suitable drive we will not guarantee that it will write DVDs.

We do not normally recommend using a CD writer on the A7000 because of the very small power supply in these machines. If you do fit one then you should ensure that you have a fan fitted (ask if you don't have one) and give the computer a few minutes to cool down after writing a CD before writing another. If your power supply dies don't blame us, you've been warned.

CD-Burn

The only RISC OS CD writing software still being actively developed and supported. Works with most modern SCSI and ATAPI CD writers and re-writers and also, as well as drives connected to the motherboard IDE interface, works with drives connected to the Unipod and APDL (ARCIN or Blitz) IDE interfaces.

Can make ISO images, copy or create data or music CDs in various formats including CDFS and with Joliet extensions.

Note that although we guarantee that CDburn will work with any drive we sell we cannot guarantee that it will work with any CD writer you may buy elsewhere.

Price is just £55 though you save £5 when you order it with a drive (see above).

CD media

CDR media prices are rather volatile and margins are small so although we normally do keep stocks we are no longer publishing a list as it's best if you phone or email for the latest prices. Carriage costs are also likely to be significant if you aren't ordering a drive at the same time so it will almost certainly be cheaper for you to go to your local PC World or other store (even some supermarkets sell them now).

We also stock slimline CD cases and plastic CD enverlopes (with flap). Again if you're interested in these phone or email for latest prices.

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