Buying Guide - The CD/DVD/BR Optical Drive
CD/DVD Drives are also known as "Optical" drives because they "read" the medium with a laser. As with every component, there are a few different types of optical drives: CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs, CD-RWs, DVD-RWs, and new format Blu-Ray DVD-ROM and Burner. ROM stands for "read-only media" and can only read information from a disk. RW's are also known as "burners" or "writers," and can always read the type of media they can write (i.e. a CD burner can also read from CDs, you don't need two separate drives to perform those functions). Here's a little chart to help you remember what different drives can do. 
Based on the current market prices for DVD-RWs, I can't justify buying anything else for my computer. For around $40 or even less, you can have one drive that can perform all of the popular optical functions. If you really don't have a need to burn DVDs, you can buy what's called a "Combo Drive" for under $30. The combo drive will read DVDs and CDs and will also burn CDs. If nothing else, it is a very handy backup feature. I have yet to have an issue with LiteOn brand optical drives and I use them in virtually all the systems I build. They're an excellent combination of price and quality, and I highly recommend them. Sony and Samsung also produce good products in this area, while Plextor is consistently the Mercedes Benz of optical drives. If you want to be able to play or burn Blu-Ray discs, you'll need an appropriate drive. A BR-ROM will play your Blu-Ray discs for about $150, whereas a BR-RW (Blu-Ray Burner) will run you upwards of $400. All of these drives will plug in either using a SerialATA or IDE cable. If you're using an older operating system, go with an IDE version, but for Windows Vista, get the SATA model. The cost is usually the same.
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