Pioneer's DVR-S606 has what a lot of other DVD writers on the market seem to be lacking; substance. While the DVR-S606 is not the fastest DVD writer on the market, you really get a lot for your money. The Pioneer DVR-S606 has a good software package, USB and FireWire cables that support both the larger and mini inputs (found on most notebook computers), and both write-once and rewritable media boxed with the drive; not to mention FireWire pass through for daisy chaining devices. The DVR-S606 looks great, is incredibly quiet and seems to be well thought through. The only improvement we would like to see is support for Apple's operating systems. So before purchasing a DVD writer based solely on its writing speed, ask yourself if an extra minute is really worth purchasing an 8X external drive over the DVR-S606; if it is, then you will be sorry.