Oh my lord, don't you know this forum is 98% plextor zealots? You can't ask a CDRW question in this forum without getting a million and one mindless plextor responses.
I can't stand the new plextor drives. The 8x4x32 was an excellent drive, and it's the newest one I'd use (of the IDE camp, the 12x4x32 SCSI is a great drive to).
A 2MB buffer for a 16x burner? WTF is that? Yes they have burnproof but with a wussy 2MB you'll need it.
I'd much rather a 16x10x40 Yamaha with and 8MB buffer. My 8x8 Yamaha with 4MB buffer has never burned me a coaster (and it has no burnproof).
BurnProof is bad for making "Master" discs because it leaves gaps in the disc nearly half of what a CDRom can correct. If you copy a disc with these gaps the copy will get them as well. So if you get burnproof kicking in at the same place on the copy of the copy then you'll have data loss.
Burnproof is alright, but it would be nice if they put in a Decent sized buffer and just used Burnproof as a fall back.
If you must get one of these silly drives with no buffer and burnproof get the Ricoh, JustLink's gap is about 1/20th the size of BurnProof's gap, or about 1/50th of what a CD can correct. There is still the master disc issues, but you'd need a 40th order copy at least before it started to be a problem. And that's not as likely as a 2nd or 3rd order copy which is where problems can pop up with BURNproof.
BurnProof is overrated, overhyped, something you don't really need, and it can make copying from a copy very difficult.
Plextors are also insanely expensive (comparatively) though you can get around that by buying a TDK or an Iomega which are both apperntly remarked plextors.
ACK! what am I saying! the masses say plextor is the only thing to buy so you better buy that!
PS: I don't have anything against Plextor in specific, it's just burnproof. Everyone who uses BURNproof uses these wimpy 2MB buffers...I'd rather have an 8MB and no burnproof. If Plextor made a drive like that, that'd be great.