Nuggets: CD-RW gets Blaster treatment

Stoopid names from Creative (and Sony)

Creative Technology -- provider of some of the coolest kit around -- has stepped into the burgeoning CD-RW market with the launch of its Blaster CD-RW 4224 drive, a name you're sure to remember for life.

Writing speeds are 4x for CD-R media, and 2x for CDRW -- which really isn't good news for Creative because Sony's latest model, the CRX120ERP, writes to CDRW at 4x and only costs another £14. Reading speed is 24x, and pretty standard as is its ability to write up to 650MB of data. It supports Direct Memory Access and reads most types of CD format.

The software Creative has deemed fit to be included with its new baby is Nero 4.0 recording software and Prassi abCD for laying down your MP3 files. The best thing about this drive is the price -- at £199 it beats Sony, Teac, La Cie et al hands down.