Hi I have never owned a cd-rw until now, and I don't know how to use one,yet. I was just given a rather old one,2x2x6, but I was not given the software suite and/or driver that orininaly came with it. The manufactuer told me that their web site does not have the software available for downloading,just the manual. They did, however, say that it will run with a windows driver. Sure,I figurered that much. But,I am left wondering if I can ever get this thing to burn cd's for me or am I limited to just using it as a cd player since I cannot get the accompaning software. I know I would be REALLY better off with a new one for $45, but hey I have it here on my table, so why not! It's Philips Model 3610 (internal IDE) www.philips.p4c.philips.com Thanks!

You don't need any special drivers, but you will need software. There are plenty of different burning programs available...it depends on what you wanna do. Nero & Roxio are probably the most popular...WinXP has built in burning software. http://www.nero.com/ http://www.roxio.com/ There used to be an excellent little program called CloneCD that made exact copies...it's been pulled from their website though...something about copyright infringement...LOL! You may still be able to find it elsewhere though. If you can find it, I highly recommend it... http://www.elby.ch/en/products/clone_cd/ You can always try KaZaA or another P2P filesharing system...

Try www.tucows.com - you can get all kinds of software - trial/freeware/shareware, and look for cd burning software - you will find some freeware cd burning software for sure.

Also, be aware that drives as old as the one you have may occasionally refuse to read a CDROM; when they get that old, they start to get fussy that way. I am currently ordering parts for a new unit I am building, and I have see CDROM readers going for $16-$20, plus $5 shipping at Newegg.com

there is also a cd writer on sale at bestbuy this week, Digital Research 52x for 15 bucks! after rebates of course.