QPS today began shipping its 8x8x32x external, US$249 USB 2.0 CD-RW drive. USB 2.0’s backwards-compatibility enables the drive to function with USB 1.1-equipped Macs (at a slower 4x write speed). Otherwise, Mac users will have to wait for Adaptec to update Toast with USB 2.0 support. USB 2.0 is a new USB protocol that’s 40 times faster than USB 1.1. At present, the technology is only available to Macs through third-party PCI cards.
