From time to time I run into situations where a portable CD/DVD duplicator would be an absolute life saver. Until now, there was no such a thing as a truly portable solution. Fortunately, ILY Enterprise, Inc thinks out of the box and developed the SlimDVDup portable CD/DVD duplicator.

The device is unique in that it is essentially two notebook drives set into a space-saving chassis that is not much bigger than the drive footprints. The total dimensions are roughly 6" (W) x 7" (D) x 1.5" (H). The drives are:

• Lite-On LSC-24082K CDRW+ 8x DVD Combo Drive
• Teac DV-W24EW DVD+/-RW Drive (R.0A)

For this review, our system was an Athlon 2500+ Barton system with 1MB RAM running Windows XP SP1. USB 2.0 was utilized for the SlimDVDup with no other devices present on the USB 2.0 channel.

SlimDVDup comes with a backlit two-line, 32 character LCD display showing the recorders options and modes. It handles several functions, including CD/DVD disc duplicator, track copier, disc tester, disc eraser, and music player. Here are the available options/modes as indicated in the LCD menu system:

1. Copy Disc - Allows the SlimDVDup to copy either a CD or DVD to blank media
2. Test Copy Disc - This checks the source disc and runs through the entire burn process without actually burning to the blank media. This function would be used if, for example, you only had one blank media disc and you wanted to be 100% the source disc was sufficiently free of scratches and errors so as to not make a coaster.
3. Copy Track - This allows you to make a compilation disc using various tracks from one or several discs. Once you are completed burning the compilation disc you can close (or finish) the disc with the next function.
4. Close Disc - This writes the lead out of the disc and prevents further writing.
5. QuickEraseDisc - This erases CD-RW and DVD-RW discs and prepares them to be written to again.
6. Full EraseDisc - This erases CD-RW and DVD-RW discs by overwriting all data and prepares them to be written to again.
7. System - This provides various hardware and software information and functions:
1. Show DVD-ROM - displays model and version info for the DVD-ROM drive
   
2. Show DVD RW - displays model and version info for the DVD-RW drive
   
3. Update BIOS - Allows you to update the SlimDVDup BIOS with a CD/DVD-ROM
   
4. Machine Info - Shows information such as the software version
   
5. Burn In - Burns null info to a blank DVD-R/RW disc to warm up the unit
8. Music Player - Utilizes the SlimDVDup unit as an audio CD player and outputs tracks to the headphone jack. Volume is controlled via the up and down controls (hitting them skips tracks, holding them down activates volume adjustments.)

Using the Unit in the Field

I was able to test the unit in a number of different circumstances and conditions. As a portable device, this unit cannot be beat. It allows hands-free duplication of nearly any format imaginable, including complex custom hybrid Mac/PC discs. I also testing it with fairly easy tasks such as Audio CD copies and making duplicates of in-house DVD-Video projects. In no situation did the SlimDVDup let me down. I brought it on-site to our contemporary Anglican church in Pawleys Island , South Carolina and we used it to make duplicates of the sermon CDs, which are recorded live each week using a Philips CD Audio Recorder. As our church frequently has differing activity and conferences on campus and at other locations, this type of portability is now invaluable. Prior to the SlimDVDup it wasn't even a possibility.

Back home I hooked up the SlimDVDup to a PC and tested whether it could be utilized as a secondary CD burn drive with Nero 6 Ultra Ed ition. Indeed, using the USB 2.0 connection, Nero 6 was able to recognize the additional DVD-RW recording drive and I was burning two discs at once in no time. The duplicator also had no apparent problems with copying commercially copy-protected audio CDs, though it would not, as expected, copy commercial DVDs.

Although the packaging indicates that the unit is compatible with both Mac and PC, I was unable to verify the unit on a Macintosh during the course of this review. ILY has certified the unit to function with Mac OX 10.1.2 or later.

Conclusion

At $699 this isn't a cheap solution for copying DVDs and CDs - but if you are looking for a truly portable solution then the SlimDVDup is hard to beat. I would pay twice that to avoid having to carry a larger set of drives around with me to different venues where DVD duplication would be needed. You have to give ILY Enterprise some credit for coming up with a radical new approach for CD and DVD duplication. This is one product that has earned my respect and appreciation.