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Of all the gobbledygook associated with buying a CD or DVD recorder, nothing is as foreign to a normal human being — or affects the price of a drive as much — as the X factor. You encounter these X numbers in every description of every drive you see, so here's what these numbers mean.
In plain English, the X factor is the speed at which a drive can read and record data. For CD recorders, these speeds are typically expressed as three numbers, such as 40X/12X/48X. The order of the numbers is important and is as follows:
- The first number indicates the CD-R recording speed.
- The second number is the CD-RW recording speed.
- The last number provides the read-only speed for all pre-recorded discs (both commercially-manufactured and the discs you've recorded).
 | Therefore, when you apply these conventions to the example, you're looking at a drive that can record a CD-R at 40X, record a CD-RW at 12X, and read a CD-ROM or CD-R at 48X speed. Naturally, higher numbers are better, so follow this general rule: The faster the X factor, the faster the drive performs at either recording or reading data. |
On the DVD side, you typically see only one X number — that's the recording speed for the drive. (Of course, because a DVD recorder can also burn CD-R discs and CD-RW discs, you can see the familiar three-number X-factor combination in the specs as well.)
Most internal CD drives on the market today record a CD-R disc at 24X speed or faster, and most external CD drives record at a minimum of 16X speed.
If you're considering a drive that's slower than 8X, don't pay much (if anything) when you buy it. A 2X or 4X recorder is an antique now — of course, it works fine if your Uncle Milton gives it to you for free. Scavengers forever!
 | For those who care about such arcane measurements, the CD recording X factor is technically a multiplier of the original read-only speed of the first drives that appeared in the early 1980s. (You can call them 1X drives.) These drives could send data to a computer at 150 kilobytes per second. Therefore, a 2X CD-ROM drive can send data to a computer at 300 kilobytes per second. Read-only drives can now reach blinding transfer rates of 52X, or 7,800 kilobytes per second. The same holds true for the DVD recording X factor, which is based on the original 1X DVD recording speed. |
The X Factor general maxim (or, in the acronym-happy world of computers, the XFGM) seems to recommend that you shell out every possible penny for the fastest drive around. If you were Bill Gates, you would be right. However, common folk have things called budgets, so buying the fastest sports car of a recorder may not always be the best road to take. Consider the following examples:
- If your computer already has a 40X or 48X CD-ROM drive — in the DVD-ROM world, a 16X drive — you don't need to spend anything extra for faster read-only speeds. Play your games and video in the read-only drive and choose a lower-priced recorder just for burning discs.
- If you plan to use your new drive exclusively for recording audio CDs, why pay extra for a drive that records CD-RWs, DVD-R/Ws, or DVD+R/Ws faster? A faster rewritable speed is better suited for you if you plan to use the drive to back up your computer's hard drive.
- If you plan to record once or twice a week and you can wait the extra 4 to 5 minutes per disc, an 8X CD-RW drive works just as well as a 40X drive that may cost twice as much.
| In the end, the drive performance that you should choose depends on how many discs you record, how fast you want to record them, and how much you're willing to pay for a faster drive. |
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