Pioneer New Media Technologies Inc. once again leads the industry by announcing that the company is now shipping the industry’s first 16X (max.) DVD-ROM drive, Sweet 16.

“Prices of DVD-ROM drives are dropping, making them a feature of choice in many PCs shipped today,” said Mary Craig, principal analyst, optical disk drives worldwide, Dataquest. “With its backward compatibility to CD-ROM and lightening-fast speeds, customers are learning to appreciate the performance and benefits that DVD offers.”

With speeds that are 16 times faster than first generation DVD-ROM technology, the 16X DVD-ROM/40X CD-ROM is compatible with single and dual layer DVD-ROM and DVD-Video, DVD-R, DVD-RW, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, CD-DA, Video CD and Photo CD media, preserving compatibility with conventional CD formats. Pioneer’s most advanced drive to-date, the 16X DVD-ROM offers random seek times of less than 85 msec for DVD-ROM (70 msec for CD-ROM), and access times less than 95 msec (80 msec for CD-ROM) ATAPI interface.

Pioneer’s DVD-ROM drive features a 512KB buffer memory, audio output, a front panel headphone jack and volume control knob. Compatible with the Windows 9X Plug and Play standard, the drive is easy to install and use. The 5.25-inch half-height drive measures 148×207.5×42.3mm (WxDxH) and weigh 1.0 kg.