My last entry, which offered details on the possibility of adding a dual-layer DVD burner to an eMac, prompted a flurry of email that ran along these lines:
“Hey, I’d like a dual-layer DVD player too! Will this work in my (insert name of Mac here)?”
Yes, it will. If you have a Power Mac G4 you can replace the internal drive with the Pioneer DVR-108. If you have a PowerBook, iBook, or iMac with a FireWire port you can put the drive in a FireWire enclosure.
To learn how others have fared with such an upgrade, do what I do and visit XLR8YourMac.com’s Drive Compatibility Database. Once there, select DVD+R/RW + DVD-R/RW Drives from the Select a Drive Type pop-up menu, choose Pioneer from the Select an [sic] Drive Brand pop-up menu, enter DVR-108 in the Enter Drive model # field, and click the Search button. The resulting page offers readers’ experiences with upgrading their Macs with this particular drive.
And why the Pioneer DVR-108? The last couple of Pioneer DVD drives are recognized as native devices by the Mac OS, meaning that they work with Apple’s iApplications (iTunes and iDVD, specifically).