I have read lots of discussions about this subject in different parts of these forums, and I will be buying a DVD-ROM for my second computer soon and I will tel you what I have decided based on what I have read and heard. There are tree main contenders in my mind - Pioneer, Toshiba, and Lite-On. They all make 16X DVD and 48X CD drives and the performance for the most part is almost identical and costs are pretty similar as well. Key differences:
Pioneer - the slot loaders look cool but are supposed to be slightly louder than their tray conterparts. Also not so good at ripping copy protected CDs as some of the other drives.
Toshiba - good at ripping copy protected CDs, but has a DVD-rip limitation of 2X for some reason, so if you plan on ripping movies to your hard drive there are better options.
Lite-On - good at ripping copy protected CDs and no DVD-rip speed limitation. This is the drive that I am going to get.
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