I’m putting together a new computer and want to have a DVD-R drive. Do I also need a separate DVD/CD drive?
Best bet if you only want one such drive is to get a combination DVD/CD burner. That way, you can burn DVD’s and CD’s as well as play them both.
But to answer your question directly: no. A DVD-R drive will play both DVD’s and CD’s.
Try a Pioneer a04, tons of people are using them & they do both. Try searching the net for the best price, they should be around $260 & up
On a related note, does anyone know where DVD-R standardization is at this point? Is it premature to buy a burner, like I’ve been told often in the past?
A good question, Slugworth. I’ve been told that there’s a significant difference between DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM, and the like.
To the OP: I’d still recommend getting a secondary drive in order to transfer information between individual discs.
dvd-r is pretty well supported. But check the box too, to see what kind of disks it writes.