Memorex today announced that it is among the first to launch a 48x CD-RW drive. The Memorex 48x12x48x CD-RW Drive writes at 48x, rewrites at 12x and reads at 48x speeds, burning up to 700MB of data or an 80-minute CD in less than two minutes. The Memorex 48x CD-RW Drive comes bundled with a complete solution for creating, archiving, duplicating and saving information, including Nero 5.5, the world's premiere recording application, and InCD, an integrated packet writing solution to easily write data onto rewritable media, both from Ahead Software. The 48x CD-RW drive also includes one Memorex CD-R disk, one Memorex CD-RW disk, installation hardware, user's guide, service, support and the Memorex one-year limited warranty.

"Drives are a natural product progression to go with our market leading blank digital media," said Michael Golacinski, president and COO for Memorex. "Memorex is committed to delivering a total solution by providing both recordable media and drives that offer exceptional performance. With this new drive, we have bundled all of the software and accessories a consumer needs for simple installation and to make professional recording quick and easy."

"We are extremely pleased to have the opportunity to align our products with Memorex, a leader in digital recordable media technology," said Udo Eberlein, president of Ahead Software Inc. "We appreciate their recognition of the superior quality of the Nero software package, and we look forward to a mutually beneficial relationship."

Later this year, Memorex will introduce progressive products in the drive category including faster CD-RW drives, external CD-RW drives and DVD recordable drives.

The Memorex 48x12x48x CD-RW Drive will be available in early July at various retail outlets at a suggested retail price of $99 after a $30 manufacturer's rebate.