Introduction

In the past year or so, Lite-On Corporation commenced an aggressive campaign to better expose their optical lineup to the masses. Reviews of their burners, DVD-ROMs and CD readers have increased Internet-wide. Even Dell Computer Corporation uses their optical drives in many of their systems.

Similarly, StorageReview.com has systematically gone through the manufacturer's lineup in recent months. Today we culminate with their latest CD-RW, a 24/10/40 burner competing with flagship models from Plextor, Ricoh, Yamaha, and others for the top spot on today's CD-RW totem pole.

The current boom of CD-RW products has in large part been fueled by the introduction of coaster protection technology from Sanyo: BURN-Proof. Most manufacturers initially licensed BURN-Proof for use in their CD-RW lineup...Lite-On included. However, as time passed, the Taiwanese manufacturer sought to differentiate themselves from their competition. Shortly after our review of their LTR-16101B CD-RW, Lite-On developed SMART-Burn, a system that combines coaster protection and optimum write speed control, and implemented it in a new revision of their 16X burner, the LTR-16102B. With the introduction of their next-generation 24X burner, Lite-On forgoes BURN-Proof entirely, opting for in-house developed coaster protection exclusively; hence the model designation LTR-24102B (the last "2" indicating SMART-Burn where a "1" used to indicate BURN-Proof).

How does Lite-On's latest compare to other manufacturers' top CD-RWs? We'll find out soon enough!

 Specifications...