Verbatim Corporation today announced the release of a high-speed external USB 2.0 52X24X52 CD-RW drive. The Verbatim "VBT522452X" USB 2.0 external 52X is available now at an estimated retail price of $129 at computer and consumer electronics retailers. It comes fully loaded with all the essentials, including media and cables. This new external 52X burner extends the line of Verbatim internal 52X CD-RW drives to provide the fastest speeds on the market with the added convenience of an external form factor. Wrapped in a sleek black casing, the 52X external CD burner compliments the latest PC color schemes. The USB 2.0 interface ensures the drive can be easily moved between PCs, such as in a home office or small office environment. And with integrated support for the Mt. Rainer standard, the Verbatim 52X drive offers easy drag-and-drop CD rewriting and on-the-fly formatting of the disc.

"Whether our customers need a reliable solution to replace floppy discs or would like to make custom CDs and store digital photos, our 52X burners are the perfect PC companion," said Jim Hill, optical product manager, Peripherals Group, Inc. "The plug-and-play nature of the 52X burner along with its sleek, modern design makes it a perfect choice for offices that need the fastest optical storage solution."

The Verbatim 52X CD-RW drive enables tech-savvy as well as novice users to burn a full 700MB of data or digital music files to a CD in less than 3 minutes. To assist the end-user with managing and storing data and digital files, the Verbatim 52X includes the award-winning Nero(TM) CD recording software and InCD(TM) drag-and-drop packet writing software, as well as MusicMatch and the trial version NTI Backup NOW!.