#Philips CM-205
6 messages in this thread
I am still looking for comments about the Tiger Software multimedia package.
Does anybody know about the Philips CM-205 CD-Rom drive? Is it
state-of-the-art technology, or dated? Will it remain current? Is it fast?
slow? XA? Average random access time? Sustained transfer rate? Thanks for
your help. Susan Wms.
You might download CDROMF.ZIP. It contains a CD-ROM drive comparision chart
which list many features you are interested with many different drives.
Thanks for the suggestion–I'll check it out. Susan
Susan,
This drive was reviewed in PC Mag's Dec 22,1992 issue in an article called "27
reasons to buy a CD-ROM now".
Based on that review…the drive is built around the LMS CM-205 mechanism. It
has a 32K buffer, Avg access of 375ms, Avg/Sustained xfer rate 150KBps, Burst
xfer rate 2000KBps,and a no-caddy loading tray.
The article says you can get XA support thru another adapter available from
Philips.
Those are what I'd call "normal" specs…in other words, without spending
around $600, you probably won't find much faster/better than this. For what
it's worth, several different manufacturers offer CD drives based on the same
mechanism.
Hope that helps.
Tracy Wright 76004,1655
Dear Tracy,
Thanks for your message w/info about the Philips CM-205. I'll look up
the review & read it. It is wonderful to be able to get help from people so
readily through this forum. Makes spending money so much easier to rationalize
<g>. Susan
Hi Susan, I am science editor with a german newspaper and had a talk with the
Philips germany people about the CM 205. Main point: At the CeBIT fair (now in
Hannover, GER) they intended to present CM 206 (I hope I got the numbers
right). If they did not, it is bound to come up soon. Main difference: Unlike
the CM 205, the CM 206 will be able to read Multi session Photo CDs. From my
understanding, this is what many people refer to as XA-standard – BUT it IS
NOT. XA is connected with full motion video and MPEG. I may be wrong on this,
and, if so, would like to be corrected by someone here. Anyway, that is what
Pihilps said. Good luck, Thomas