Hey folks, Valkor here back with another edition of TechView, where we tackle some of the latest and greatest of gadgetry. This round we play with an external DVD drive that's definitely travel worthy with one exception stopping it from making it great. Check out Lite-On's eTAU208 DVD player/burner. The eTAU208 is an ultra-slim, top loading player, powered solely by USB from your laptop or PC; that's right you don't need batteries or power cord, just plug it to your comp with the included USB cord and you're ready to go. Play all your CDs and DVDs, plus you have the ability of CD/DVD burning. For burning, you can use your own software or use the included Nero 8 (I'll be reviewing Nero 10 very soon). The device comes in 4 different colors, and its slimness means you can take it with you, especially if you're a netbook user and you need an external drive. The eTau208 is strictly plug and play, no additional software needed so it's ready to go right out of the box.
And after some Val-Cave testing, how did the eTAU208 fare?
The Bang:
It fared very well, a whole lot better than expected. First off kudos to Lite-On for putting together this awesome little player; at first glance you'd swear it was a portable CD player. And the key word is portable people. You can slip the eTAU208 easily into any messenger or carry-on bag with no problem. Plus it sits on your desktop without taking up any space. And if you don't need it, you can slip it anywhere without it hogging much needed space. Next the plug and play works great with no conflict whatsoever; this bad boy is recognizable and ready to go as soon as you plug it in. It works great with all my DVD reading and burning software that I already have installed, plus it's really fast burning even though it's using USB 2.0 and only 8X for DVD. I kinda thought that would make it slower, but no. Finally the eTAU208 has a place underneath for storing your USB cable… which leads me to…
The Slack:
The USB cord is wicked short! Thankfully I have a ton of USB cables lying around, but if you didn't have one, prepare to make a trip to the electronics store because the included USB cord isn't worth its weight in anything. Seriously, it is crazy short. And there's no headphone port.
If you can get past the shortcomings of the USB cable then definitely consider adding the eTAU208 into your repertoire, especially all you netbook users. It's fast burning, highly portable and it's rarin to go straight out of the box. And out of TOV 5 stars, I give Lite-On's eTAU208 3.5 stars and it's been Valkor tested and TOV approved.