LGElectronics LG DVDRW (R DL) / DVD-RAM Drive - External, Gold (GP65NG60)

UPDATE, April 2022: So now I've lost count of how many times I have used this LG Electronics External Drive, for copying CDs to my computer and also to burn computer files to CD media. If I had to guess, I would say it's been used a thousand times minimum, probably more. Still works like new, never a problem reading or burning anything. Lots of miles on this thing now, and performs flawlessly. I'd recommend this one and would definitely buy it again.FIRST UPDATE: After using this LG Electronics External Drive for a couple of months, I just could not be more pleased with it. I've already used it several hundred times. The built-in CD/DVD drive in my desktop computer stopped working after less than 3 years, although I did use it a lot- and I mean a whole lot. I wanted something simple to replace it with, easy to use, and with no bells and whistles and no internal storage.INITIAL REVIEW: When I received this, I plugged this drive into a USB port, and that's all there was to it! Windows Media Player immediately recognized this drive, and my other downloaded CD ripping program just needed one simple settings change click to recognize the drive. I would say this LG Electronics External Drive is comparably fast at ripping and burning CDs as the old one that came on my computer. I have not and likely will not use it to play or burn DVDs, so I cannot comment on that, however my guess is it will work fine for DVDs as well. It does sound a bit louder when operating than my computer's built-in CD/DVD drive, which I expected, as it is an external drive without the metal computer housing around it to pad the sound. I would not say operation is excessively loud, it is perfectly acceptable.The size is nice and small, and although it is light weight the 4 rubber pads on the bottom do a decent job at keeping it from sliding around on the top of my desk. Another review said this comes without a USB cable, which is not the case- included in the package box is a 2 foot mini USB cable. I bought a 3 foot cable thinking it would not come with a cable, but rest assured it does come with one. One cable is plenty powerful to both operate and power this drive with- no second USB connection is needed. There is also a programming CD included, which I'm not sure what is on it, and I doubt I will ever use it because this drive is doing everything I need it to do just out of the box.So, so far so good. It is working great and has been reliable so far. Who's to say whether or not it will last for years, or may not develop problems in the future. Most electronics do. But for less than 30 dollars, it was a good investment, and for ease of operation I feel it would be hard to beat. I know some of the reviews are negative, but so are several reviews on every external drive offered on Amazon. My initial impression is to give this one a try, I think You'll like it. I ordered it one day, and it arrived the next day, which is also a plus.

I grabbed this when the Superdrive in my eight year old iMac bit the dust. I didn't have the $80-odd dollars an external Mac drive costs, and was hoping that for the price I'd at least get SOME good use out of this one. And so far, so good.Admittedly, I've only had this burner for about six weeks. But in those six weeks, I've already burned over a dozen disks. The drive is reasonably quick and pretty quiet. And every disk so far has burned perfectly. I've also used it to watch a couple DVDs and to upload a couple CDs to iTunes. Again, so far everything worked fine. I haven't needed the included software as it was plug-and-play with my Mac.It is basically all plastic, so it's probably not realistic to expect a long life. But I'm one who usually treats his toys with kid gloves, so I'm hoping to get a decent run out of it. If I don't, I'll let you know!UPDATE (1/25/18) --- Approximately a year has gone by since my review. In that time I've burned roughly 200 DVDs (far more then I had planned on) and watched maybe a dozen movies. To date, I haven't had a single burned disk fail, and my little LG burner is humming along like nobody's business!! My initial thought with this burner was to pray I'd get six months out of it, then get another one. I certainly didn't expect this. This is undoubtedly the best $26 I've ever invested. On anything. I'd add another star if I could!UPDATE (12/12/18) --- Not quite to the two year anniversary of my purchase, and my LG drive is still running like new. I haven't used it as much the second half of this year, but it still answers flawlessly when called upon. My daughter started college this fall, and got one for herself to use with her MacBook. So she's a believer as well.UPDATE (02/02/20) --- Over three years on, and going strong! To be fair, as a general rule, I'm not working my burner too hard. But between my daughter's wedding and some other uses, I've probably burned 50-odd disks the last six months, and have had zero issues. In fact, I've probably burned 350 or so disks total, and I've had maybe two disks that didn't work. And frankly, in both instances, I think I had suspect disks.The best money I ever spent. Period.