need suggestion for external CD ripping drive

FYI, I think the max read speed on most externals is 24x

thanks, I'm seeing a lot of external DVD writer drives, but no CD/ROM drives, I guess that is a sign of the times. I like the Seagate brand, I use one of their external hard drives to hold all my rips...

You're not likely to find a new CD/ROM-only ripper/burner but as far as I know all DVD drives will also handle CDs.

I have an external DVD drive from Other World Computing with a Pioneer mechanism that's been completely reliable ripping and burning hundreds of CDs and is very heavily built. It has both USB 2.0 and Firewire ports.

The only downside is that the fan is noisy during the burning or ripping process but since I'm using it almost always just during the time I'm transferring music that's not a big concern. It also comes in handy for software installations on a laptop with a flaky optical drive.

I do agree with the Seagate recommendation, I've bought dozens of their products at work and never had a problem.

Lacie external firewire drive - the best way to go.

I just finished ripping 600 cds to my computer using a Samsung SE-208AB/TSBS external drive. It has solid C2 error correction, which is key for getting secure rips. Runs quiet and has never given me any problems.

Only drawback is that it might require two USB 2.0 ports, depending on the power supplied by the USB ports in your computer. I only needed one, though, as I had it connected to a USB 3.0 port.

Best part is that it only costs $35!