Bought this writer not so long ago (at a higher price I might add) as I didnt want to go fiddling about with the insides of my PC.
I have had other external writers previously, but never a Freecom - and I can safely say, I am highly impressed.
I plugged in the writer to the USB slot, installed the software, gave it a reboot and off i went, I was writing DVDs within 15 minutes! (I can't understand why other people have had problems with the software - must have had a duff CD?)
I was sad to hear that there is a new model coming out according to the Freecom website (which looks really nice!) but never mind, as long as its basically the same machine, I shouldn't grumble!
On another note, their new HDDs look great too - think I may buy one to back up all of my PC! I feel another review coming on! ;-)