Yamaha CRW-F1

Being fast is not enough these days and Yamaha has gone to some lengths to add unique features to the CRW-F1, and it stands out from the crowd.

That's not to say it's slow - far from it. With a maximum 44-speed Constant Angular Velocity (CAV), this unit can copy a full disc of mixed data in three minutes seven seconds, which is faster than many other drives.

It can also cope with 24-speed rewriting, which, at the moment, is unique.

However, performance scores were no different from those found in slower drives and results in read tests were nothing special.

Thanks to its Safeburn technology, an 8MB buffer and its ability to throttle-down burn speeds for slower media, you won't make many coasters with this unit.

Yamaha shoehorns some interesting features in to the CRW-F1: it is Mount Rainier-compatible and you can edit audio tracks on a CD-RW - though only 'from the end backwards', which is less than handy if you want to record track 1.

You also get Audio Master Quality Recording, which elongates the binary pits, to reduce jitter and prolong active life, albeit at the cost of shortening recording space - a 74-minute CD-R shrinks to about 63 minutes with this feature active.

The most novel feature of this unit is its ability to 'tattoo' CD-R discs. It can burn graphics onto the unused areas of finalised discs, letting you store text labels or graphics here - a bit like a hologram on a CD.

This is clever, but legibility is poor unless you use dark blue CD-Rs. Much experimentation is required to get the most visible images.

SPECS

• 44x CD-R recording
• 24x CD-RW recording
• 44x speed reading
• 44x Digital Audio Extraction
• CAV writing
• Safeburn buffer underrun plus 8MB buffer
• Mount Rainier Rewrite
• Optimum Write Speed Control
• Disc T@2
• Advanced Audio Master
• Nero Rom Burning software

Price: £125 (£108.70 ex VAT)

Contact: Yamaha 00 49 4101 3030
www.yamahamultimedia.com