JIM HOLSONBACK wrote in a message to ALL:

 JH> Hello, ALL.

 JH> I see that used DVD/CD reading drives are now fairly inexpensive at
 JH> places like Ebay.

 JH> I'm not much interested in watching a movie or playing games on
 JH> this machine here.  Is there anything else which such a drive is
 JH> good for?

I haven't run across it yet,  but it seems likely that there are some
collections of _data_ that are coming out on DVD.  I know that some of the
newer linux distributions are available that way,  as opposed to a set of
multiple cdroms.  If that's of any interest to you,  it may be worth while
getting a hold of one.

Now that you mention is,  I seem to recall seeing some of these at a fairly
low price ($49 comes to mind?) at the local used-computer-junk store.

 JH> Also, on the DVD side, I see various speed capabilities of the DVD
 JH> side -  e.g. 6X DVD - - -- 16X DVD, etc.  Is there much advantage
 JH> to looking for a bargain on the fast side of this range?

No idea there.

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