Thankyou both. I neglected to mention Win 98 SE.  Will this OS affect my choice?  If you already figured that into your reply, no futher response is nessesary. thanks again.

For pictures, CD-Rs are as good a format as any. DVD±RW drives require a lot more coddling to make them work correctly, although they obviously hold a lot more data. For a good place to shop drives, check this site:

http://www.newegg.com/app/manufact.asp?catalog=5&DEPA=1

Hi again, I checked out the forum's preference and shopped at newegg for Plextor or Pioneer. The Plextors won't do Win98se or P-3 ,but the Pioneer dvr109, (Ithink that's the model #) has minimum specs that match my dell exactly. I hope they built in some "casualuser room for error". Don't like to do much on the bare minimum on anything technical. thanks 

I use a Pioneer DVR-107 in my 4100 and it runs beautifully. I've never had a single coaster with any brand media, CD-Rs or DVD±Rs. So if there's room for user error, the Pioneer has it.

You may want to keep an eye out for Nero, either the OEM Suite or the full Nero Ultra, pretty much considered the best burning program around.

Is that "coaster" to protect furniture from hot or cold beverages?

"Coaster" is the geek term for a CD or DVD that you messed up. They serve no other purpose.

I'm new to the forum. Some of the terminology really makes me laugh:smileyvery-happy:

Ok, the Pioneer dvr 109 (oem) or A09(retail) is the best choice of dvd burner for my computer. On the Panisonic site they are very clear; to achieve the specified performance the drive must be connected via 80 way ribbon to udma 66. My P-3 is early 1999 and has 40 and dma 33. I can accept lower write and read speeds, but I don't want lockups or lost data etc.  In your opinion( and I value the forum's opinions greatly) should I go ahead and purchase this dvd drive and install.(if you say yes and I screw up I won't hold it against you)  The alternative is just settling for a cd burner.   Thanks for sharing knowledge.