Microboards releases affordable CD-ROM writer

Increasing numbers of personal computer users have been standing in line waiting for a moderately-priced desktop box that can press CD-ROMs. Among those biding their time are individuals charged with archiving or distributing large tracts of data in-house and CD-ROM developers who need to create one-off discs for testing and premastering purposes.

With the introduction of the $3,899 PlayWrite system from Microboards, Inc. of America, it looks like the wait may be over for many DOS, Macintosh and Unix users.

New, not first. PlayWrite is hardly the first kid on the block. A little more than a year ago, JVC Information Products began marketing its Personal RomMaker. The system holds a half-height CD-R (CD-ROM Recordable) mechanism and a dedicated 700-MB hard drive that allows you to create a virtual disc image prior to actually burning a CD-ROM. Also included in the system is Personal Publisher, a first-rate software package for the DOS and Mac platforms. Priced from $9,995 to $12,799, the JVC system has proven a boon for a variety of CD-ROM developers.

Other vendors preparing CD-R products are Sony Electronic Publishing, Philips Consumer Electronics, Eastman Kodak and Pinnacle Micro. The advantage of the $6,495 Sony CDW-900E as a premastering system is that it leverages Sony’s long experience as a CD-ROM mastering house; in fact, some users are actually jumping straight from the desktop-created disc to glass master.

Because Sony’s software (particularly for the Macintosh) is fairly sparse, developers generally add third-party software, such as CDogen from CD-ROM Strategies or QuickTopix from Optical Media International. (Both packages are available only for the PC, but a Mac version of QuickTopix may be shipped by the time you read this.)

The CCD-521 from Philips and the PCD Writer 200 from Kodak share hardware technologies and list for about $6,000. Besides being able to utilize the software packages listed above, options for these CD-R systems include Easy-CD Pro from Incat system and Personal Scribe from Meridian Data, Inc.

Again, both packages are PC-only so far. (If you purchase CD-R software as a stand-alone product, it generally runs about $2,500, but a variety of hardware/software bundles that include your choice of CD-R drive bring prices down to more reasonable levels.)

Finally, there is the former price champion, Pinnacle Micro’s $3,995 RCD-202. Based on JVC hardware, the drive has proven most useful for individuals wishing to archive data cheaply and easily.

A VIABLE, BUT LIMITED DEMAND FOR CD WRITERS

The modest but steady sales figures for existing CD-R products prove that there is a viable, if still limited, demand for desktop CD-ROM writers. If the market is to reach full potential within the next year or so, it’s clear that there is a need for reliable, flexible and affordable hardware/software packages that work with a variety of authoring platforms as well as write to a spectrum of formats.

Enter the PlayWrite system. Microboards has been designing high-end CD-ROM authoring systems for some time. It developed the first CD-I authoring units for Philips, for instance. This is the company’s first foray outside its experience as a provider of equipment to other manufacturers, and it brings its experience, connections and price advantage to the table.

Drawing on an exclusive distribution relationship with Ricoh Company, Ltd. of Tokyo, Microboards includes Ricoh’s first CD-R mechanism in the PlayWrite. The system can afford to be aggressively competitive in price because Ricoh’s long history in optomechatronics and in the development of optical storage media allows for in-house design and production of the mechanism.

While several of the previously available CD-R drives are based on 300 KB per second double-speed mechanisms, Ricoh currently offers only a 150 KB per second unit.

Downside, upside. The downside is that it takes longer to create a disc on the PlayWrite system. The upside is that many double-speed CD-R systems choke when faced with keeping up a steady flow of data, particularly when working with older CPUs and slower hard drives or faster hard drives that incorporate sticky thermal recalibration routines.

Also helping to keep things flowing, the PlayWrite includes a 1-MB RAM buffer. (Early CD-R drives squeaked by with tiny 64K buffers; the Sony CD-R drive boasts 4 MB of RAM.) The box can reside anywhere on a SCSI chain and the footprint is a neat 9 by 5 by 13 inches.

Hardware is less than half. Hardware is, not so surprisingly, less than half the story when it comes to writing CD-ROMs. The software for the PlayWrite system, CD-Record 2.0, was designed by Dataware Technologies, Inc., a company known in the high-end CD-ROM reproduction world for its robust authoring and retrieval software. CD-Record allows DOS, Macintosh, or Unix machines to serve as the authoring platform and it writes to an impressive array of formats: ISO 9660, Macintosh CD-ROM, CD-ROM XA, CD-I, HFS, Unix v2.1, Rockridge and Red Book (16-bit, 44.1KHz audio).

Although we haven’t yet tested PlayWrite, the fact that the company claims conformity to true Frankfort specifications for multi-session recording is encouraging. The PlayWrite also supports mixed-mode recording, which allows you to include data for more than one platform or CD-ROM and audio files on the same disc.

The future is the desktop. The PlayWrite’s pedigree and price point guarantee that it will be a strong contender in the CD-R arena, but given the number of hardware and software vendors making noises about tossing their own products into the ring, the obvious winners will be the individuals hooking up CD-Rs to their desktop machines.

Of particular note for the future is an enhanced, lower-cost drive from Sony, entries from Yamaha, Mathematica Inc., and Trace, as well as Kodak’s just-announced PCD Writer 600, a CD-R that promises to record CD-ROMs at speeds six times faster than its single-speed competitors. A bevy of new software packages linger in the wings; Meridian Data’s Netscribe software has been designed to channel data from several sources on a network, for instance.

Suzanne Stefanac