Just the basics, ma'am
The Lite-On sells for about $99 on the street, and as you might expect of a budget drive, its accessories are minimal. The drive ships with the necessary audio cable and mounting screws but no EIDE cable or emergency-eject tool. Documentation consists solely of a single-sheet installation guide, which is well written but lacks troubleshooting info. You might want to invite a tech-minded friend over for dinner if you're unsure of how to install an internal drive. The Lite-On is compatible with all versions of Windows from 98 on up.
The software bundle is also a no-frills affair, consisting solely of Ahead Software's Nero Burning ROM for CD-mastering chores and the same company's InCD for packet writing. But if we had to pick the two programs we'd most like to see accompany a CD-RW burner, it'd be these two.
Fast in most tests
The Lite-On, with its Zone-CLV technology, performed well in most of CNET Labs' tests. The drive wrote our 43-minute audio image to disc in only 2 minutes, 13 seconds--a mere 3 seconds slower than the current champion, TDK's VeloCD 40/12/48. The Lite-On also packet-wrote a 400MB folder of files in 5 minutes, 36 seconds, only 10 seconds slower than the TDK. Installing Microsoft Office Small Business Edition took the Lite-On 1 minute, 32 seconds--about 5 seconds slower than the best time we've seen. The only test in which the Lite-On truly lagged was the digital-audio-extraction benchmark, where it took 2 minutes, 17 seconds to extract a 27-minute track. That's almost three times longer than the similar QPS Que drive took and more than 40 seconds slower than the next-slowest 40X/12X/48X drive. For anything other than audio ripping, however, this is a capable contender.
