hardware - Buyers Guide

Emedia Professional, April, 2000

Ricoh Announces MediaMaster 7080

Ricoh Disc Media and Systems-Center (DMS-C) has announced its MediaMaster MP7080 internal CD-R/ RW drive. The drive features 8X write, 4X rewrite, and 32X read speeds. CD-Audio, CD-ROM, CD-ROM/ XA, CD Extra, Mixed Mode CD, PhotoCD, CD-I, CD Text, Bootable CD, and Video CD formats are supported. Ricoh's 80-minute media is also supported. The ATAPI drive comes with Adaptec's Easy CD Creator and Direct CD, one CD-R disc, one CD-RW disc, and installation equipment. The MediaMaster MP7080 is available at an estimated retail price of $239.

(Ricoh Corporation, Disc Media and Systems-Center, One Ricoh Square, 1100 Valencia Avenue, Tustin, CA 92780; 888/742-6497, 714/566-3235; Fax 714/568-2683; http://www.ricohdms.com)

Plextor Introduces The PlexWriter 12/4/32 CD-RW Drive

Plextor Corporation has made its PlexWriter 12/4/32 CD-RW drive available. The new drive features 12X write, 4X rewrite, and 32X MAX playback speeds. The PlexWriter is available as an internal UltraSCSI (SCSI-3) drive, and includes the Plextor Manager 2000 software suite. Music Video Producer 2000 handles playback of audio and video files, DiscDupe 2000 allows users to duplicate CDs directly to the PlexWriter, Audio Capture 2000 allows users to capture audio tracks from the CD to the hard disk as WAV files, and AudioFS displays audio CDs to the operating system and applications as WAV files. The PlexWriter 12/4/32 is available at an estimated retail price of $399.

(Plextor Corporation, 4,255 Burton Drive, Santa Clara, CA 95054; 800/886-3935, 408/980-1838; Fax 408/986-1010; http://www.plextor.com)

Cygnet Introduces the id 100 Personal CD Library

Cygnet Storage Solutions, Inc. has introduced its id 100 Personal CD Library 10100PL, a storage system capable of accessing up to 100 CDs from a Macintosh browser. The package includes two 40X CD-ROM drives, file management software for the Macintosh, and the ability to upgrade to DVD. The 10100PL id 100 series is available at an estimated retail price of $3,899 for the Mac, and $3,499 for the PC.

(Cygnet Storage Solutions, Inc., 1745 McCandless Drive, Milpitas, CA 95035; 800/729-4638, 408/954-1800; Fax 408/954-9017; http://www.cygnet.com)

Discmatic Releases its Onyx and Tigereye Duplicators

Discmatic has released a range of new duplicators to the desktop CD production market. First is its Onyx duplicator, a standalone, autoloading l00-disc machine. The duplicator supports up to four 8X CD-R drives. The duplicator offers on-the-fly CD-to-CD copying and batch copying. Users also have the option of adding a dedicated CD-ROM drive for CD loading and audio extraction. Files can be stored on the duplicator's internal hard drive, which eliminates the need to load the master every time. Individual audio tracks can also be stored on the hard drive as a single CD image.

Discmatic has also unveiled its new line of standalone tower CD duplicators, the Tigereye series. Though neither is an autoloader like the Onyx, the Tigereye 800 is an eight-drive model, while the Tigereye 1600 combines the 800 with an eight-drive slave unit so that up to 16 CDs can be copied at one time. In addition, both the 800 and 1600 have a dedicated CD-ROM drive bay and a 6GB internal hard drive. The controlling software is stored in flash ROM, which allows the firmware to be upgraded via CD or by downloading the firmware file from the Discmatic Website. Drive management and audio compilation software are also included. The Tigereye units can operate using internal CD-R/RW drives from multiple manufacturers. The Tigereye 800 and 1600 base units, with hard drive and no included CD-R or CD-ROM drives, have list prices of $2,585 and $3,445 respectively. The Tigereye Slave unit, with no included CD-R drives, has a list price of $1,465.

(CBC Corporation, 55 Mall Drive, Commack, NY 11725; 800/422-6707, 516/864-9700; Fax 516/864-9710; http://www.discmatic.com)

Seagate Introduces the Viper 200 Tape Drive

Seagate Technology, Inc. has introduced the Viper 200, a new tape drive based on the Ultrium format of Linear Tape-Open technology, an open-format specification developed by Seagate, Hewlett-Packard, and IBM. The drive will be available in two SCSI configurations (LVD and HVD), with native Fibre Channel interfaces planned for future release. Up to 200GB of data can be stored on an Ultrium-format cartridge at speeds of up to 1.9GB/minute, using 2:1 data compression. Seagate's FastSense technology allows the Viper 200 to adjust tape speed to match the data rate from the host computer.

(Seagate Technology, Inc., 708 Fiero Commerce Park 4-11, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401; 888/732-2021, 407/531-7948; Fax 407/531-7953; http://www.seagate.com)

Maxtor Announces MaxAttach NAS 4000

Maxtor Corporation has announced its MaxAttach NAS 4000 rack-mount server appliance, the newest addition to Maxtor's line of NAS products. The units are 1.75-inches high, and fit into 19-inch racks. The MaxAttach NAS 4000 incorporates Maxtor's DiamondMax Plus 40 hard drive. Configurations are available in 40, 80, and 160GB. Features include RAID-1 data protection, dual power supplies, Soft Update share management technology, and support for unix, Linux and Windows NT/9x. The MaxAttach NAS 4000 is available at an estimated retail price of $2,395 for the 40GB unit, $2,795 for the 80GB unit, and $3,995 for the 160GB unit.