The latest entry in a long line of portable DVD rewriters, the Micro Solutions Backpack DVD±R/RW is 30 percent smaller and 40 percent lighter than the Memorex. In most other ways, though, it's no match for the faster, cheaper, and more flexible Memorex offering.

Chief among the Backpack's shortcomings is an underwhelming software bundle that includes Sonic Solutions' MyDVD 4.5, an older version of this disc-production application. The program lacks the many video-editing, titling, and effects capabilities that were added to MyDVD 5 last year.

The Backpack also includes Micro Solutions' SpeedyCD premastering software, which lets you burn audio, data, and mixed-content CDs and DVDs and perform one-click disc-to-disc copying. Although capable of creating the most common types of disc formats, SpeedyCD can't compete with the enormous feature sets and streamlined interfaces of more mature programs like Nero Express.

The Backpack burns DVD+RW media at 4X speeds, but it's the only 8X drive in the roundup that doesn't support the DVD Forum's new 4X DVD-RW specification. It can rip audio CDs to WAV files, but its software doesn't supply the encoder needed to record MP3 files. The drive's lack of DivX support and packet-writing software prevented it from completing our DVD±RW and VCD-creation performance tests. And unlike the Memorex drive, the Backpack has neither a FireWire interface nor a power switch.

To its credit, the evaluation unit turned in competitive results on our DVD-R and CD-R recording tests, and it actually bested the Memorex drive by 7 seconds on our DVD+R measurement. But it was solidly in last place on our DVD-ripping performance test, requiring 19:32 to rip an unencrypted 4.3GB DVD-Video disc to our hard drive.

Though it performed poorly, the Backpack is a rugged 8X drive that can handle many applications with aplomb. The biggest problem is that less expensive models can do an even better job.