The 52X/24X/52X CyberDrive CW099D CD-R/RW is the most basic and commodity-like drive we tested. It's an internal ATAPI drive that plugs into one of the ATA ports inside your PC. At a street price of $50, it's the least expensive drive in this roundup. It comes with two blank discs (one CD-RW and one CD-R), Nero Burning Rom 5.5, and all the hardware and cables you'll need except for an ATA cable, which users replacing an existing drive typically have.

Installing the CW099D is easy for those comfortable with opening a PC. After mounting the drive in the case, you attach the ATA cable, CD audio cable, and power connector. By default, the CW099D is set to master mode, so if this will be the secondary device on your ATA connection, you'll need to move a jumper on the back of the unit. Once you've installed the drive, a Windows 98, 98 SE, Me, 2000, or XP system will automatically recognize it on booting.

In three trials, the CW099D completed the CD-R burn test using 52X media in an average of 2 minutes 31 seconds. With 48X media, the drive actually completed the test in 2:24. We used a different brand of media for each 52X run—Asus, AOpen, and Mitsui. The 48X discs were Memorex. There appears to be little difference between the 48X and 52X media. As noted above, the CyberDrive CW099D CD-R/RW easily outdid its competitors in digital audio extraction, so if that is one of your key applications, this drive deserves serious consideration.