Sony CRX160E/A1 12x8x32 Internal EIDE CD-RW Drive

by Sony

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00004YKHX
• Item model number: CRX160E/A1
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #7 in Electronics > Computers & Add-Ons > Computer Components > Internal Optical Drives > Internal CD Drives
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 4, 1999

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Sony's Spressa CRX160E/A2 32x12x8 internal IDE CD-RW drive stores up to 650 MB of critical data quickly and safely on CD-R and CD-RW media. Working at speeds up to 32x read, 12x write, and 8x rewrite, the drive has quick disc-access times of 150 milliseconds and data transfer rates up to 4,800 Kbps. Utilizing a 4 MB buffer, the drive is capable of disc-at-once, track-at-once, multisession, and packet writing methods.

The drive uses an enhanced IDE (ATAPI) interface and is compatible only with PCs. It comes with Sony's CD Extreme software for recording audio CDs, data CD-ROMs, and CD-to-CD copies. Also included is Sony's abCD software for formatting a CD-RW disc for use like a floppy, letting you "drag and drop" files and folders from the drive letter icon to the CD for storage. To erase files and folders, just drag their icons from the CD-RW to the Recycle Bin.

The Sony CRX160E/A1 32x12x8 internal drive comes with a one-year warranty.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Software and Tech Support are really bad., January 13, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Sony CRX160E/A1 12x8x32 Internal EIDE CD-RW Drive (Personal Computers)

The hardware itself for this CD-RW isn't bad but everything else is terrible. The software needed to produce discs comes with little to no documentation and has multiple problems writing files. abCD (one of the packaged software tools) is suppossed to let you drag and drop files like a floppy disc but many times won't write to my CD - RW. The tech support advertises a toll free 1-800 number but after hitting re-dial on my phone over a hundred times (I kept getting busy signals) I was then put on hold for over 30 minutes - Then automatically hung up on because Sony had a high number of calls. RUN don't walk away from this bomb.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent driver with disappointing software...!, February 6, 2001

By 

Yejin Kim (Ann Arbor, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sony CRX160E/A1 12x8x32 Internal EIDE CD-RW Drive (Personal Computers)

This is my 4th CD burner. So far, I have not been very happy with Sony CD burners since other similar burners such as Recoh and Plextor are simply better with small price differences. Anyway, I decide to give another chance to Sony, and I see a lot of improvement over past Sony CD burners. Although its recording speed is little bit slower than its competing burners, the difference is not significant, just few more seconds. It has no Burn-Proof technology, but 4Mb buffer is good enough, and I have burnt more than 30 CDs without single error. Its audio extraction rate and reading speed are excellent. However, its bundled softwares are disappointing since they are not easy to use and not as convenient and speedy as Adaptec's Easy CD Creator. I would more stick to Easy CD Creator. You should upgrade your Adaptec's Easy CD Creator to version 4.03 to work correctly with this driver. Overall, the dirver itself is excellent without Burn-Proof technology.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This drive is awesome!, February 6, 2001

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sony CRX160E/A1 12x8x32 Internal EIDE CD-RW Drive (Personal Computers)

Great drive! When used as a reader it is the quietest 32X drive I have ever heard - it's audible, but doesn't vibrate the case screws loose. As for burning, I was tempted by 16X drives, but 12X media is cheaper and more abundant, plus the time difference on burning a full CD is only about 2 minutes when you do the math.

I can't comment on the bundled software, since I'll never look at it. What I can say is that the drive works like a charm with Adaptec Easy CD Creator 4.

It used to take over 20 minutes to burn a 700mb CD with my old 4X SCSI burner, now it's about 7 minutes with the 12X Sony! Haven't had any buffer underruns either, all you need is a source that can sustain a 2mb/sec read speed, which is easy to do with any 16X+ CD-ROM or modern hard drive. Who needs burn-proof these days anyway?