Need Fastest CD-ROM

[ZMan9854]

Hello -

I have been searching for the fastest available CD-ROM drive. I've seen many forum threads about this, all years old, and the common reply is "why do you want a drive so fast." This time, I do have a valid reason -

What I do is rip Audio CDs into Mp3s for another business that gives iPods in return for a lot of CDs. I have to rip CDs in very large volumes. I have found that some of my fastest computers (Dual G5 Macs) can rip much faster than my CD drives can spit out. I have Lite-On 52x CD drives.

I can convert an AIFF file at a constant rate of around 48x in iTunes. Converting to Mp3 with my LiteOn drives tops out at about 43x, and averages around 24x on a CD. If you looked at the progression of the rip on a curve, you would see that the CD drive is the bottleneck. So, if I could find a drive that could spit out enough information as my computers could convert across the whole CD, I could effectively cut my rip time in almost half. This would be totally great : >.

I am not concerned with making sure my rips are extremely high quality. The CDs I am supplied with are all in tip-top condition and are commercially pressed.

After searching for a long time, I have found all over the internet that the Kenwood 72x multilaser CD-ROM is the fastest drive. The only constant complaint I've read of about this drive is that it has trouble with CD-Rs, and I'm not concerned with being able to read CD-Rs as such as fast rate.

The trouble is, I can't find these drives anywhere today, not even on eBay. It looks like they are about 5 years old, way outdated. I am baffled why this is, and also why the technology was not pursued past 72x. Does anyone know where I can get ahold of a few of these drives, preferabbly new, but if not, used, or if there is a faster drive available?

Thank you!
-R

 

[Alex81388]

Just because you have a drive that burns that fast doesn't mean you'll be able to do it. Good luck finding a CD that can be burned at 72x.

 

[Dark_Sniper*]

yea it may burn at 72x but like alex said is true good luck finding a 72x cd's the best you can get are 52x.

 

[Lonewolf5460]

It is the phisical limit of a cd any faster and it would shatter they did a show about it on mythbusters.My drive usualy get 42-45x (reads about the same) on cd some times it peaks and goes to 52x while burning a cd on roxio and nero.certain things affect the speed,quality/brand name of the cd,condition of the cd,and the drive.You are good if you get 65%-80% of the drive advertised speed on nero's drive test any lower and I think the drive is a dud.

 

[regnak]

Umm if i read correctly he was asking for faster reading. Some of the 56x cd readers default to 48x due to small cracks/scratches in the CD being exadgerated when spinning so fast and then eventually shattering. I do remember that if you want to reach 56x reading ability with some drive (not sure you might want to try with yours though) that you hold down the eject button for 3 seconds and then it will flash and then it will read at that speed. I'm not entirely sure on this though I'll look it up when I have time. Good luck though

 

[ZMan9854]

Ok, a few things to clear up:

I am not trying to burn a disc at all, just to read, which is clearly evident in my post (FYI : >).

The Kenwood 72x drive uses multiple lasers and supposedly reads at rates of 40x through 72x across the whole CD, unlike the regular uni-laser drives found today (like the drives I use). The Kenwood rotates at a rate of about a 10x single-laser drive, which is very cool (not temperature wise) and quiet. I've read many reviews on this drive, and just about all of them have reported that it does read at a dramatically faster rate than even a 52x single-laser drive found today.

I am not looking for a faster-rotating drive, rather one that reads faster, however that can be attained. Any tips?

Thank you,
-R

 

[Lonewolf5460]

sorry the point of my post is you are not going to get the read speeds much higher than 52x at that speed cd's have already shattered.I am surprised they have 72x.But you are not going to read much faster on that drive if any.