[CUBE] need shopping advice for drive replacement

[Riba]

> Which brings me to my question… Neither Mac has an internal CD burner, 
> so this is an opportunity to replace the internal drive with a disk 
> burner -- but …
>
> Which Mac should get the replacement drive?

I'd go with external firewire again, but don't buy a branded external 
drive. Just get a separate cheap firewire enclosure and the internal 
unit, whichever you want. Speaking of this, you might want to check 
what died on your sony - the mechanism itself, of the firewire bridge. 
One of those can be reused if functioning properly.

> Which type of drive do you favor: CD-R, CD-RW, DVD?

It all depends on your needs. I figured that no matter how attractive 
the DVD recorders are, I'd get CDRW unit any time. DVD recorders record 
regular CD's much slower than CDRW drives, and considering the fact 
that I'd record a DVD only occasionally, and CD's much more often, the 
choice is clear.

> Which manufacturer do you recommend?

Definitely Teac, although most will work just fine.

> And who sells the drive?

Any PC shop in your vicinitiy.