Mostly: Classical

[Sexton O Blake]

Funny thing happened on the way to the opera....

(You happen to have me posting on a happy day -- esp after seeing the jewel at Costco last night for the first time)...

First I have membershits at Sams and Costco. To me Costco is "THE" best in the business regarding warranties - without question. Next is Wal-mart.

The problem with Sams - they sell a lot of "old" and/or "US" junk. Both Costco/Sams buy stuff and can sell you the goods without manufacturer warranties. That can be good or bad. Once I was looking for a mini-stereo system - Pioneer sold one - 1 year warranty. Costco sold that same unit, but with 2 years - why? Because Costco bot without warranty and told me if there are problems you take it to a shop on Danforth Ave. (they bot their own warranty and upsold the unit with an extra year).

SAMs doesn't allow you to use VISA/MC/AMEX - so you can't take advantage of the "x2" warranty with those cards. With Costco I have an AMEX that does provide extra warranty. The problem though lies in the warranty. My visa gives me "x2" the manufacturer's warranty. Not good if Costco bot without - and the manufacturer would know because their records would show it was bot at Costco. Anyways - you can see issues that you have to manage.

Anyways to your question. Every optical device is crap. Remember that and make your buying decisions based on that. Worse? Like insurance sometimes you may have to PROVE to someone there are problems.

My first Sony 5 disc had problems playing, of all things one of the 10,000 different versions available of "Queen's Greatest Hits". Happened on the outer tracks. Took it to Sony (3year warranty) and they replaced the optics (that cost they said, was worth - about the cost of the unit).

I bot a Samsung Combo unit for my PC - DVD ROM and CDR/CDRW burner. My problem has been - you burn a disc and the app may or may not do a verify. But regardless of doing a verify - EVERYTHING IS FINE. So you go to read it, and there are errors. (!!!). I use a program (see earlier posts of mine) "Beyond Compare" to verify the discs - always. Does a byte-to-byte. And yes on the one side are stacks of written CDs that were "successful" in their burn, and on the other side are a stack of those same successful burns, with byte-to-byte failure (byte-to-byte is best, but simply put - if you cannot copy the entire CD back to your HD, the disk (or parts) are bad. Byte-to-byte doesn't require copying but simulates that. So I prefer just doing a simple compare using this app).

Had the unit swapped with the manufacturer (I had to MAIL it in for $7). They shipped me back a lower end unit, I had them pay the return costs - they shipped me a better one. Does it ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS work today? Nope. But then neither did the Aopen "CD burner only" I bot when I started developing problems with the 6mth old Samsung. Something after a while happens - after a number of consecutive burns, for me, that discs start screwing up (again - the are SUCCESSFUL BURNS but start failing when you actually try to verify/use them). The last time it worked ALL the time was with my "4x" Yamaha SCSI writer years ago. I think the speeds are so fast and the heat is so high, they fail a lot.

Now if you buy from Futureshit - you can either take a chance and after a year deal with your Visa insurance company - you ship the unit to the manufacturer (your cost) - they have to deem it to be a problem (maybe it is - maybe it isn't).

Within the Year - does Futureshit do a swap for you? What if you pay $40-60 for their extra warranty? Compusmart will sell you a unit and it costs about $20 for a swap (again when do they swap - these failures are not 100% of the time - I can burn 10 in a row one night with no failures, then the next night burn 5 - and it is bad, 6th, 7th 8th and 9th are bad - by this time I say F'IT!).

Costco?

Last night I saw they are selling two units by HP and AOpen.
Both units are (save for software and one company is run by a chick) the same.

4GB - 16x (DVD+R) ;8x (DVD-R) (DVD-RW/+RW) blah blah for DVD writing (4GB)
CD writing and DVD ROM READING.
8GB - DUAL LAYER at 2.4X*
-- AOpen is $119 and HP is $139

-- 1 year warranty - IF YOU HAVE ANY PROBLEMS WHATSOEVER YOU PACK IT UP IN THE BOX, AND RETURN IT TO COSTCO WITHIN THE YEAR AND THEY RETURN YOUR MONEY

-- $119 is probably reasonable for such a unit - but the upshoot is - when it does - toss it and buy the NEXT FASTER unit instead of bothering with warranties. But at least I have peace of mind for 1 year that I can get my money back. If I can get my AMEX to cover the 2nd year - that might be a bonus, but I won't not buy it if this isn't the case.

-- * By the time the dual layer discs are affordable, I am sure the unit will be out of warranty -- but then I will buy a 32-48x DVD writer and a 16x DUAL --- RIGHT?

So I ask you --- Croesus I (btw: I am Sexton Blake the I, my Son is Sexton Jr - if my 2nd son names his son after me, it would be Sexton II; if my first names his son after me, it would be Sexton III) --- why would you buy anything from anywhere else other than Costco?

100% fact - I have had issues with products and Costco backed their words with the cash. But I haven't tested nor asked Sams - so the jury is still out with them. And guess what - Costco employees are LIFERS - and are the best in my books. They don't sit there and hook up a unit to a CPU and test it. They listen to the story and before you are done, they are asking for your bill and how do you want your money back!

So within the next couple of months I will buy that AOPEN. Sams sells 50Memorex (DVD+R or DVD-R) for $37 (I have had most success with that brand of CDRs and nothing but headaches with TDKs -- I will never buy TDK again - and I use to say that about Memorex!).

(And don't ask about what DVD+R or DVD-R is - I haven't got there yet - my gut says the lower speed variety works on most devices .. but I have to read about it first -- unless you know?)

Cheericus..
Blakicus I

EDICUS: Alternatively look for the cheapest 8X SINGLE Layer unit you can get. Costco I don't think sells any now. About $70-80 nowadays? To me the headache with optics - worth getting it at Costco and $120 is good -- if not a little cheaper by Xmas.