Product Description

The CRX10U-A2 is the first member of Sony's new Digital Relay family of computer peripheral products with integrated AV functionality. It is a stylish, portable, battery-operated CD-R/RW drive, incorporating a USB interface for plug-and-play connectivity. When attached to a computer, the CRX10U-A2 enables users to perform common CD-R/RW drive recording tasks as backing up their system, recording digital images and creating original music CDs. When detached from the computer, the drive functions as a CD player that can also playback CDs with MP3 files, allowing up to 11 hours of music to be stored on a single CD. Detached playback can be controlled by a wired remote that features standard playback and volume controls, a battery life indicator, and an LCD display for viewing MP3 music titles in ID3 tag format, or CD Text information if encoded on the disc.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #103584 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Sony
• Model: CRX10U/A2

Features

• 4x write, 4x rewrite, and 6x read speeds
• Plays music CDs and MP3 files as a stand-alone player, using the supplied remote-controlled headphones
• Plug-and-play USB interface
• Playback controller displays both CD Text and ID3 tag information
• Windows and Macintosh compatible

Amazon.com Product Description
Experience the freedom of the new Sony Digital Relay drive. This is a portable battery operated CD-RW drive that connects to your PC or Mac computer through the convenient USB port. Everything needed to begin recording right out of the box is included. Back up your system, publish digital photos, or create your own custom music CDs when the drive is connected to your computer, or detach the Digital Relay drive and use it as a standard CD player. The drive features a unique playback controller that enables playback of CDs and CDs with MP3 files, and displays both CD Text and ID3 tag information. The rechargeable battery lasts up to 2 hours when recording and up to three hours when listening to music.

Included in the box are: a Digital Relay portable battery powered CD-RW drive/CD player, CD Extreme mastering software for Windows, abCD Packet writing software for Windows, Liquid Player for Windows, Retrospect express backup for Windows and Macintosh, Sony's Discribe mastering software for Macintosh, an InfoLithium rechargeable battery, one blank high-speed CD-RW disc, one blank CD-R disc, wired remote control with LCD, earphones, 6-foot USB data cable, an AC power adapter, a user's manual, and a Quick Start card.

The Sony Digital Relay CD-RW drive comes with a one-year warranty on parts and labor.

Customer Reviews

Better than I expected
I needed a CD burner for my laptops, and a USB compatible one was a necessary choice. After a lot of reading and researching, I opted for the Digital Relay: most professional reviews were positive (...), but I was held back by some feedbacks by (...) users. So there was some suspense in the air when I installed it.

The results so far are very positive: software installation (on a thinkpad with win2000) was flawless, and burning audio and data a piece of cake. There is also a backup software utility. Both applications do their job well, although very advanced users will want something better: free/cheap recording software abounds both for Mac and Windows, so this is besides the point of this review. The fact that the digital relay duplicates as a stand-alone mp3 player is extremely useful if you listen to a lot of music; using a tape adapter you can play mp3 in your car -- very cool.

The only drawback is that this unit won't record in packet writing mode on win2000-based systems; the customer service warned me about it before I bought the unit. To me it doesn't make any difference, since I use it for data backup and music recording, not as hard drive substitute.

Another very minor drawback is the remote: it's cute and useful when driving a car. But it looks very fragile, and designed for the hands of a toddler. Something bigger and sturdier would have made for better engineering design.

Poor software!!
Dont buy unless you are running win98SE. Manufacturer indicates W2K support but it does not run with anything but w98SE as you soon find out on SONY web site. "Box information was in error..."

Great CD-RW Drive but.....
This CD-RW Drive is slim and lightweight, it feel fragile, good battery life, easy setup, in few minutes no more than 5 you are ready to transfer your files to a CD. But the drawbacks are the very poor software Sony include with the CD-RW, only two are compatible with Windows 98 first edition and no compatible with Apple Powerbook. The look and the portabitlity is great, as a portable CD player. But as a CD-RW to storaga data and transfer files between computers are no so great because software and hardware (with Apple) incompatibility.