CD-RW shows new colors with first USB releases

Emedia Professional, April, 1999 by Peter Schworm

In late March, QPS, Inc. released Que!, the first CD-R/RW drive designed specifically for use with Apple's iMac system. While QPS hopes its drive's stylish contour and bright color schemes will attract new CD-RW users infatuated with iMac aesthetics, the drive's use of the Universal Serial Bus (USB)--achieved through an inbox EIDE-to-USB converter--may prove a harbinger of things to come in CD-R. Since nearly all CD-R/RW drives are SCSI or EIDE/ATAPI models, the new architecture could drastically alter the present CD-R skyline, although it remains to be seen if USB's function will live up to its form.

Although Que! has not yet been bundled with any Apple products [or given special pricing deals for iMac users like high-density floppy and Zip drives), QPS Vice President Pierre Abboud believes the market iMac has so shrewdly tapped into holds a fertile potential for CD-R/RW. "We think that area should expand quickly," he says. "It's a growing, price-sensitive market." Despite Apple's small market share in the overall desktop market, the iMac's demonstrable consumer appeal as an "Internet box" could outweigh power-user disinterest. "I think the iMac has good momentum going," says Felix Nemirovsky, vice president at Plextor. "So it is not without merit that these companies are introducing the iMac-type drives. Still, it is not a volume-oriented business at this point."

Robert DeMoulin, marketing manager at Sony, believes the iMac offers "a viable platform" for CD recorders. "Even though they are marketed as Internet PCs," their lack of the built-in floppy drives creates an immediate "need for removable storage," DeMoulin continues. "The contenders--as I see it--are the high-capacity floppy devices, or CD-R/RW." In this mass-appeal vein, Que! promises the user-friendly "plug-and-play" feature as a vastly preferable alternative to installing SCSI cards on these USB-only systems.

While some USB naysayers question the technology's ability to handle CD-R speeds over 2X--particularly for audio applications especially popular with consumer CD-R users--Que's debut drive uses a 4X recording mechanism. "USB is by nature a slow interface," Abboud acknowledges. "But with the design of this drive, it can reliably perform reliably at the 4X speed." Nemirovsky disagrees: "It is impossible to burn an audio disc with USB at a higher speed than 4X, and even 4X may not be possible." Some experts suggest that rapidly improving recorder speeds could soon render USB anachronistic. "USB is not an effective interface for CD-R in the long run, since everything's going 4X and faster," says Adaptec marketing manager for CD-R products David Ulmer.

Even if a USB drive is able to read at the same speed as SCSI, it limits a host's multitasking capability, due to heightened demand on system resources and bus throughput. "4X only works if you lock up the chain," Ulmer says. Mike Mihalik, marketing manager at LaCie, which is currently marketing a 2X/2X/6X USB drive in Europe, says LaCie chose 2X recording for exactly those reasons. "Our customers need to share bandwidth with other products on the USB bus," he says. (LaCie's Mac/PC USB bundle is scheduled to begin shipping stateside in Q2 '99.) Abboud says that clearing the 4X hurdle allows the QPS product to carve out a coveted market niche, with its $299 list price offering "greater power at less cost. Making that jump differentiates us from the other 2X drives," he says.

And where do CD-R's core manufacturers stand on USB today? While acknowledging "significant performance differences between SCSI and USB," Sony's DeMoulin sees a bright future for USB and CD-R. "It's an ideal alternative to parallel port interface CD recorders," he says. "I would expect USB to become standard equipment on most PCs by the turn of the century." Plextor's Nemirovsky disagrees. "I do not expect USB drives to be used on PCs for a while. With inherent performance limitations and higher costs than SCSI, it's just not viable."

(QPS Inc., 23671 Via Del Rio, Yorba Linda, CA 92887; 800/559-4777 or 714/692-3588; Fax 714/692-5516 Sony Electronics, Inc., 3300 Zanker Road, San Jose, CA 95134; 800/352-7669; http://www.sony.com/storagebysony. Plextor Corporation, 4255 Burton Drive, Santa Clara, CA 95054; 800/886-3935, 408/980-1838; Fax 408/986-1010; http://www.plextor.com. LaCie, 22985 Northwest Evergreen Parkway, Hillsboro, OR 97124; 503/844-4500; Fax 503/844-4501; http://www.lacie.com. Adaptec, Inc., 691 South Milpitas Boulevard, Milpitas, CA 95035; 800/442-7274, 408/945-8600; Fax 408/262-2533; http://www.adaptec.com)