CompuServe Thread

My understanding is that you need Photo CD Access software from Kodak to be able to read Photo CD's anyway, and I think (I will know for sure in a day or two) that this comes with a CD sampler. It retails for $39.99 for both the software and the sampler. Ask me again Thursday and I will know for sure.

Kevin, as you heard Kodak's Photo Access software comes with a single session Photo CD with 24 photos on it. You can buy it direct from Kodak at 1-800-242-2424 for 39.99 but may find it cheaper through a local store. Just be aware that there are a number of other packages on the market that also read photo CDs. If you have Corel Draw (Mosiac) it works fine as well as Image-In Image Pals. The format is well known and many more packages will support in the future. Kodak's is by far the cheapest although it is not exactly feature laden or well written (IMHO). I own it myself and it has way to many screen draws (making it slow) for me. I never trust anyones first Window package, it always takes a version or two before they learn how to do it right. I own a NEC CDR-74 (internal version of your drive) and it is single session capable and it was my understanding that yours is single session capable also. NEC had a batch of drives with a bad memory chip in them early on and they have a free fix for that (which fixs photo CD access). You are right in that it requires sending it back but they pay all freight and mine was returned in a little over a week. They have another program going where for $229.00 you can EXCHANGE your drive for a new CDR-84-1 which is their new SCSI-2, Multisession, 256k Multispin drive. I personally find this a bit steap but you might want to take them up on it. You can find out more by calling 1-800-NEC-INFO. Jay Cahow Cahow Consulting