When my geriatric LaCie CD-R burner sputtered then fell silent as I was finishing a big job, I saw my digital lifestyle flash before my eyes. The old boy had already been on life support for two years via a Microtech SCSI-to-USB converter that had reduced my burn rate from 4X to 2X. Not to mention that it was so large that it annexed almost as much desk space as my flatbed scanner.
Still, at the moment, I hated to see it go.
Because of an upcoming deadline to deliver a CD to a client, there was no time for mail order. I had to replace the LaCie immediately. I logged on to the Web to see what the local stores (BestBuy, CompUSA, Circuit City, etc.) had in stock on a Sunday afternoon. Not much for a Mac. I couldn't even find a Que burner that wasn't back-ordered.
Then I spotted a Sony Digital Relay available locally. I remembered reading a little about it in PC Magazine, and quickly did some online research.
The initial findings were positive. It connected via USB for both Macs and PCs (good). Its footprint was small and weight was light (good). It could burn CD-R, CD-RW, and MP3 discs (very good), and it was on sale (great!).
But there were still lingering questions that always seem to plague me during a rushed purchase. Is it compatible with Mac OS X? Will it work with iTunes? Can I use Toast with it?
Fortunately I did find the Digital Relay (CD-RW CRX10U) listed as "compatible" in the AppleCare Article #75106 for Apple's Disc Burner 1.0.1 software. That was good enough for me -- I was off to the store before it closed!
Before I tell you how darn handsome this portable burner/player is, or how well it works with Mac OS 9, OS X, and Windows 98 computers, not to mention iTunes, here are the major specs from Sony:
For me, two tech companies that consistently deliver good-looking products are Apple and Sony. In the case of the Digital Relay, Sony really outdid itself.
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The Digital Relay is only about two inches longer than a standard portable CD player, it sports a sharp-looking, brushed, silver-like exterior, and it has omitted most of the ugly switches and buttons that plague devices of this type. It's light enough, even with the lithium battery, to serve as a portable MP3 player for MP3 CDs (containing hours of music on one disc). And appears durable enough to sit next to your computer day in and day out serving as your primary CD burner.
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The external power supply, remote control, USB cable, and ear-bud headphones (all included) pack nicely into a small pouch or in your backpack.
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In other words, you can use it for listening to CDs on the train to work, then plug it into your laptop and burn discs while in the office. About the only disc-thing that it doesn't do is play DVDs.
Everything that I just covered doesn't mean squat if the Digital Relay doesn't work smoothly with a Mac. And for me personally, that means for both System 9 and Mac OS X. I'm happy to report that not only does the Digital Relay work on the Mac, it works great.
Let's start with System 9.1 compatibility because that's where you'll have the most flexibility for burning CDs. First thing, make sure you have Apple's Disc Burner software installed (there's a helpful AppleCare ID #75106 article that has lots of good info on this topic). And don't forget to install iTunes 1.1, because there's more to life than just data backup.
Disc Burner can be downloaded via the Software Update Control Panel. If you already have the Disc Burner and the authoring software, you might want to check that it's the latest version. Currently, Authoring Support 1.1.2 is the latest release.
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With this combination of free software from Apple and the Sony Digital Relay drive (or any built-in Apple CD-RW drive, not to mention all the other supported drives listed by Apple), you can burn CDs (that work on both Macs and PCs), CD-RWs, and iTunes audio discs. These tools are integrated right into your system software and are available as soon as you connect the drive.
Sony also provides Mac software for CD burning, Discribe PPC V4.0. But I found it to be more trouble than it's worth. First of all, the two Extensions it loaded into my system folder, CharisMac1 SIM V1.05 and CharisMac1 USBD V1.05, created total chaos with my system and crashed it on every startup.
So I went to the CharisMac web site and happily found a "Charismac OnSpec SIM 1.07c Update" in the downloads section. Unfortunately, the patches refused to update my CharisMac USB drivers even though they were the right version. At this point I decided that I really didn't need to test Discribe after all.
One important point to consider: If you plan on using Apple's Disc Burner software sometimes and third-party software other times, you need to create two different extension sets to do so. The Disc Burner extensions override those by third-party vendors rendering them useless. It's one or the other, and you have to reboot your Mac to switch between extension sets.
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To burn your first disc, connect the Sony unit to a USB port and make sure the power is on. For general data-sharing among Macs and PCs, CD-RWs are very convenient. I tested burning CD-RWs with the Digital Relay on both Macs and PCs, and the discs burned on one could be read by the other platform. I like that.
When you insert a blank CD-RW or CD-R disc in the burner, your Mac will determine its type and present you with a dialogue box that reads, "This disc needs to be prepared for burning. Do you want to prepare this disc?" You're provided with an area to name the disc and a drop-down format box that gives you three options (as illustrated in the screenshot below).
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Make your format selection then hit the "Prepare" button. In a matter of seconds you have a new CD disc icon sitting on your desktop ready to accept data.
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Burn a MP3 disc
So let's have some fun and burn an MP3 disc for playback on the go with the Digital Relay. To make one, here's what you do:
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Now a word of advice. Figure out all the songs you're going to want on your disc ahead of time and make sure they don't exceed 656 Mbytes, because even if you use a CD-RW disc, you can only burn once for MP3 discs. For this reason, you'll probably want to use the much cheaper CD-R discs for MP3-type discs.
The combination of Apple software with the Sony Digital Relay creates a great system for burning CDs or all types. The best part is that it's all done right there on your Mac's desktop without any special third-party software to fool around with.
The only down side that I encountered is that the process seemed to take a little longer when I used Toast for burning, but that's just a perception.
Burning data discs for cross-platform reading
Apple's Disc Burner software uses an advanced ISO9660 format for creating standard data discs. What this means is that regardless of which platform you burn your disc on, Mac or PC, either platform can read those discs. This is a very handy feature if you are delivering discs to customers or if you work in a cross-platform environment.
The procedure is essentially the same as I outlined earlier for creating these CDs except this time you prepare the disc by selecting the "Standard (HFS+/ISO 9660) 656 MB" format. Drag your files from your desktop to the prepared disc, then choose "Burn CD" from under the Special menu.
Burning audio discs with iTunes for standard audio players
To create an audio CD, simply launch iTunes, create your play list, then hit the Burn button in the upper-right-hand corner of the player. iTunes will ask you to insert a blank CD, then prepare it to accept your play list.
You then click "Burn CD" and the application will convert your MP3s to standard audio format and burn them on the CD.
All you have to do is find some way to entertain yourself while iTunes and the Digital Relay burner do all the work. You can read Apple's iTunes overview for more information if you're desperate for entertainment.
The good news is that the Sony Digital Relay is compatible with Mac OS X. The bad news, at least for the moment, is that Apple is still working on its CD burning software for Mac OS X and all you can create are audio CDs via iTunes.
I successfully burned an audio disc with iTunes on Mac OS 10.0.4, and it sounds great. According to the Apple site, complete CD burning flexibility will soon follow in upcoming updates. When they do, I'll be ready to test those updates with the Digital Relay.
The Digital Relay also works smoothly with Windows 98 SE. As you can guess, there's a bit more work in setting it up though.
The strangest aspect of the setup is that the software CD that Sony includes with the Digital Relay doesn't contain the Windows drivers on it. So when I launched the CD Extreme application, it didn't recognize my burner.
I rifled through the original packaging looking for a second CD, but there was none to be found. What I did discover, however, was a floppy disc that appeared to have the drivers I needed.
So then I was forced to dig though my junk box to find the floppy drive that came with my IBM ThinkPad, and connect it so I could load the drivers. After doing so, the Digital Relay worked smoothly burning both CD-Rs and CD-RWs with equal ease.
(Remember when we used to use floppy drives on Macs?)
To be honest, my time of mourning for the deceased LaCie CD-R burner was short-lived at best. It was bulky, non-portable, single platform, non-MP3, and quite frankly, a little on the homely side.
I love the fact that I can tote the Sony Digital Relay in my backpack and use it one moment for listening to MP3 CDs, and then another for burning photos on to a CD-R disc for a client. The Lithium battery provides lots of juice in-between charges, and the clever remote control has an LCD readout that provides all of the playback information I need while serving as a handy way to navigate the tracks on the CD.
The Digital Relay is also very quiet as it goes about its business. My old laCie burner, may it rest in peace, was so loud that I often had to leave the room as it grinded away at its work.
Kudos to Apple for supporting cool devices such as the Sony burner. Sure, when I buy my next laptop, it will probably have an Apple burner built-in. But in the meantime I'm glad I can tap the power and ease of iTunes and Disc Burner software without having to buy a whole new computer.
And when I do buy that new computer, I'll still have the Digital Relay for portable playback and burning CDs with other units such as the ThinkPad.
At $299, I think the Digital Relay is a bit pricey for a 4X burner -- and that's after the recent $100 price drop from $399. Sony equipment often comes at a premium price. But to their credit, they have designed a beautiful tool that works equally well on both Macs and PCs.
On the whole, I find the Digital Relay remarkable.
Derrick Story is the author of The Photoshop CS4 Companion for Photographers, The Digital Photography Companion, and Digital Photography Hacks, and coauthor of iPhoto: The Missing Manual, with David Pogue. You can follow him on Twitter or visit www.thedigitalstory.com.
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