sony isnt known for their electronics.. like receivers and stereos.. they all break really easily. i havent used their burners but i personally wouldnt buy one of them either.
only decent sony product ive seen it their wega tubes, and some of their tvs. but yeah.. there are even a number of their tv models that are garbage.
ps2 and ps3 are cool though.
id recommend plextor. its probobly regarded as the best quality brand. but i noticed they switched back over to a 2 mb buffer instead of the 8. so id go with the 2005 model and get the 8 mb buffer. It will make a big difference if burning at 4-8 times. not so much if youre burning faster than that. make sure you have a reeally fast computer if youre burning at fast speeds
What about Samsung? Newegg has one of their burners for $40 and its specs are a bit better than the other $40 burners. It has a lot of reviewers and a great rating, too.