ORLANDO, FLA. — Yamaha Corporation of America unveiled a CD-RW rewritable CD recorder with FireWire interface, powered speaker systems for PCs and CD-R blank discs during Fall RetailVision, here, while Hewlett-Packard also revamped its CD-RW line this month.
Yamaha’s CRW8824FXZ, a CD recorder with FireWire, is said to be the first external recorder to rewrite CD-RW discs at 8x speed, doubling the current standard of 4x.
In addition, Yamaha said, the deck allows users to rip audio CDs at 24x, up to three times faster than conventional CD-RW recorders.
The deck is designed for both IBM PC and Macintosh-compatible platforms. The unit features a 4MB buffer memory, writes and rewrites on CD-R discs at a top speed of 8x (writing a 650MB CD in nine minutes) and reads CDs at a maximum rate of 24x, the company said.
Shipping now with a software bundle, the deck’s suggested retail is $349.99.
The three-piece YST-MS201 powered speaker system features 30 watts of total output power and Yamaha’s Active Servo Technology for powerful bass, the company said.
The system, which includes two slant-baffled satellite speakers and a wood subwoofer, is shipping now and retails for $49.95.
The YST-MS201 is a two-piece powered system featuring 6 watts of output power and Active Servo Technology. The system is shipping and retails for $29.95.
The CD-R blank media line includes a 10-pack for 16x recording, priced at $14.95, and the 50-pack for 16x recording is $49.95. They have just begun to ship, the company said.
Hewlett-Packard this month started shipping six new CD-RW drives. With prices ranging from $199 to $249, a company spokesman said the line now has a model for the entry-level consumer to the business customer and everyone in between.
The $199 external USB 9150I features 8x write, 4x rewrite and 6x read speeds. The line steps up to the internal 8230e, for $249, with 4x, 4x and 6x speeds, and the top-of-the-line external SCSI 9600se offers 12x, 8x and 32x.
