Mac peripheral maker MCE Technologies LLC has released desktop and portable DVD-recordable optical drives. Each drive includes Mac-compatible software for creating video DVDs as well as DVD and CD data burning software.
The desktop model includes both FireWire and USB 2.0 interfaces. It writes DVD-Rs at 4x speed and DVD-RW media at 2x speed. It also burns CD-Rs at 16x and CD-RWs at 8x speed. The portable drive — a lightweight model called the Lucid-SD — weighs less than a pound, and burns DVD-R and DVD-RW media at 1x. CD-Rs burn at 16x and CD-RWs burn at 10x.
Both drives ship with Roxio’s Toast Lite, the OEM version of its popular Toast Titanium software. The drives are also compatible with Apple’s iTunes software and Disc Burner software. What’s more, the drives come with ImageMixer DVD, a Mac-compatible DVD authoring software solution that enables users to create video DVDs containing video clips and slideshows using sources like QuickTime movies, DV video and digital photos. MCE noted on its Web site that this DVD authoring software is Mac OS 9-compatible only, but users will get an OS X-compatible version as a free update when it’s released at the end of April or beginning of May.
MCE Technologies offers the new desktop DVD-R for US$329, while the Lucid-SD portable drive costs $449. More details, specifications and images of the drives are available from MCE’s Web site.
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