Yamaha Corporation of America, which seems very keen on FireWire, has rolled out the LightSpeed CRW2100FXZ. Yamaha claims that the new drive is the industry’s fastest external rewritable CD recorder with a FireWire interface.
The multi-platform CRW2100FXZ records on CD-R discs at a top speed of 16X, writing a 74-minute CD in under five minutes, rewriting CD-RW discs at a top speed of 10X, and reading CDs at a sustained maximum rate of 40X, according to the folks at Yamaha. That read rate allows the new drive to rip a 74-minute audio disc to MP3 in less than three minutes, said Yamaha.
The CRW2100FXZ is due within the next few days at an estimated street price of US$399.99. It comes with Roxio’s Toast software for the Mac.
Tom Sumner, general manager, Consumer Products Division, Yamaha, said that the CRW2100FXZ achieves its CD-R write speed because it was developed to take advantage of partial Constant Angular Velocity (CAV) technology, a combination of CAV and standard Constant Linear Velocity (CLV), for optimum performance. To rewrite a CD-RW disc at up to 10X speed, the LightSpeed recorders use the full CAV recording method.
This method keeps the disc rotation speed constant while adjusting the data transfer rate, depending upon the portion of the disc being recorded, Sumner said in a press announcement. Using partial CAV and full CAV recording methods for writing and rewriting CDs enables a “significant increase” in the data transfer rates while minimizing the load increase to the drive’s mechanism, he added.
Yamaha has also equipped the CRW2100FXZ with Optimum Write Speed Control. By checking a disc’s capability and the recording conditions, this new technology allows the LightSpeed recorder to select the optimum writing speed to further improve reliability, said product and marketing manager Allen Gharapetian.
The CRW2100FXZ recorder also incorporates Yamaha’s Waste-Proof Write Strategy, its own implementation of burn proof CD-R technology. Yamaha says that the new drive provides a “robust, stable recording environment” by combining an 8 MB buffer memory, CAV writing support for on-the-fly data backup, and specific fine-tunings to the recording software. This eliminates buffer underruns and prevents wasted media, said Gharapetian.
Also, as we reported in December, Yamaha Corp. has made its mLAN Licensing Program available to developers who have interest in manufacturing products to be utilized in conjunction with mLAN. Yamaha mLAN technology is based on industry standard IEEE 1394 (also known as FireWire to Mac users and iLINK to Sony fans), that provides a technologically advanced solution for the high-speed transmission of digital audio and music, according to company spokesperson Steve Massinello.
Yamaha mLAN hardware and software devices work individually, or cohesively with other computers or mLAN devices in conjunction with built-in FireWire ports. For computers that don’t have such ports, a standard FireWire card may be installed to become mLAN-ready. mLAN technology provides the ability to route digital audio/music from one device to another without physically changing the cable connection, said Massinello.
“We expect this technology to be widely accepted wherever data transmission of digital audio and music is utilized,” said Masatada Wachi, an executive director on the board of Yamaha Corp. of Japan. “In order to generate momentum for mLAN technology, Yamaha is making the mLAN Licensing Program available to all developers of digital audio hardware and software”, he added.
Apple feels that Yamaha’s mLAN will be the “ideal way” to handle audio and music over FireWire, said Clent Richardson, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations.