The ten-disc Grundig GMP 1010 CD jukebox is targeted for low-run CD duplication or production, small workgroup network archiving and small imaging applications.
Grundig’s CD-Recordable GMP 1010 CD Jukebox
Hugh Bennett
EMedia Professional, January 1997
CD-Recordable has come a long way in a few short years. Once an expensive, single-purpose technology, CD-R has quickly blossomed into an economical, multifaceted system available to small and large businesses alike for a growing number of applications, including data distribution, publishing, archiving, and prototyping.
One of the rapidly growing areas of interest involves combining the CD recorder with the multi-disc CD-ROM jukebox. A number of high-end solutions currently dot the marketplace, but not every user needs a 500, 150, or 100-disc recordable behemoth from Pioneer, NSM, or Sony. The $5998 GMP 1010 CD ten-disc CD-Recordable jukebox, originally designed by German jukebox builder K&S, addresses more modest needs, and now sells under the Grundig nameplate following the subsuming of K&S into a German electronics giant Grundig GmbH.
Positioned primarily to serve the CD recording needs of networked small offices, the GMP 1010 CD is available either alone or in a multi-platform bundled configuration. The review package includes a Yamaha CDR100 CD recorder integrated into the jukebox, a 50 Centronics SCSI cable, terminator, ten caddies, and Gear, Elektroson’s Multi-OS CD-Recordable software. A one-year manufacturer’s parts and labor warranty covers all hardware components. Because the GMP 1010 currently lacks UL electrical certification, however offices considering installing the jukebox will likely have to undergo a local electric authority inspection to satisfy the conditions of most insurance policies.
Grundig’s GMP 1010 CD features a no-nonsense design with a nondescript, white 12.4″ (depth) x 9.5″ (width) x 18.3″ (height), 42-pound chassis and universal power supply The front of the jukebox contains all the necessary equipment to get it up and writing, from a single mailslot for loading and unloading caddies, to a power switch, an LCD display screen with attention lights, and four function selection buttons. The backplane holds two standard female 50-pin Centronics SCSI connectors, a SCSI ID selector, and power outlet.
At the heart of the jukebox is a single Yamaha CDR100 CD recorder that performs all disc reading and writing duties. Employing a quad-speed read and write system, the Yamaha writes most disc formats, including CD-ROM, CD-DA, mixed-mode, and Enhanced CD. The Yamaha drive also features a 512KB buffer, Digital Audio Extraction capabilities, partial PQ subchannel encoding, Disc-At-Once, Track-At-Once, and multisession writing modes. The Yamaha-equipped ten-disc Grundig 1010 jukebox is targeted for low-run CD duplication or production, small workgroup network archiving, and small imaging applications, although some caddy-jamming problems during testing raise a flag of caution, particularly for unattended duplication tasks.
OPERATIONAL HAZARDS: CADDY-LOAD WITH CARE
Since the GMP 1010 CD employs the Yamaha 4X CD recorder with its minimal 512KB buffer, PC owners wishing to record on-the-fly should realistically employ a Pentium-based computer with at least 8MB RAM, PCI SCSI card, and an A/V SCSI hard drive. MacOS users ideally should be using a PowerPC with 8MB or more RAM and an A/V SCSI hard drive.
The GMP 1010 CD jukebox uses a relatively straightforward caddy-loading design. Caddies are inserted one at a time into the mailslot on the top front of the unit at the request of the controlling software and then pass an optical sensor which activates a rubber roller mechanism attached to a motor that draws the caddy into the main input path. A picker moving vertically through the height of the jukebox grasps the caddies and deposits them in nine storage slots along the jukebox’s front interior (the tenth is stored in the main input path). The CD recorder resides at the bottom of the stack and, when instructed, the picker moves caddies from their resting places to the recorder and then returns them to their respective slots after recording.
Unfortunately, while the process seems straightforward, in testing, execution proved neither as quick nor as reliable as expected. One complaint with the system is that it takes a relatively long time to ready the jukebox because the caddies must be loaded one at a time into the slots using the picker.
During testing, the GMP 1010 CD’s mechanical functioning proved prone to physical jams and some sensor malfunctions. For example, properly oriented caddies inserted into the jukebox were on occasion identified as being inserted backwards and ended up being rejected. Caddies seem to jam the mechanism if the power fails at an inopportune time, and unreadable discs occasionally eject partially from the recorder, which requires powering the unit off and on or removing the disc manually to get the system running again. At one point during testing, an off-specification caddy jammed and required an operation on the inside of the jukebox. Unfortunately, the unit’s configuration offers no easy access to the inside mechanism to clear problems. No fewer than nine screws must be removed before the sheet metal case lid can be liked and appropriate action taken. An access door would save a lot of hassle and time.
SOLID SOFTWARE SUPPORT: GRUNDIG IN GEAR
The stock GMP 1010 CD configuration includes Elektroson’s Gear general-purpose, CD-Recordable software for Macintosh, OS/2, and Windows 3.1, 95, and NT. The Macintosh software version used in testing is full-featured and powerful, recording most common disc formats including ISO 9660, HFS, mixed-mode, XA, Enhanced CD, shared hybrid, CD DA, CD-i, Video CD, and multisession. The software also enables recording on-the-fly, works with prebuilt physical images, and offers Disc-At-Once recording when combined with the Yamaha CDR100 recorder included in the Grundig unit. However, Elektroson notes that version 3.2, the iteration of the Gear software included with the Grundig jukebox, lacks many of the features of the currently shipping version 4.0, which the company claims eliminates several of the problems typically encountered with version 3.2, particularly its often difficult-to-use user interface.
Gear provides control over the GMP 1010 CD and some other CD-Recordable jukeboxes through a simple graphical interface. Each magazine in the jukebox can be selected and instruction given for loading and moving discs to the recorder. Discs can also be directly loaded into the recorder and ejected through the jukebox interface. No group feature exists, however, so discs must be loaded or unloaded individually rather than as a group.
When the time comes to record discs, users specify the disc position numbers to be used as well as the number of copies to be made and the software automatically loads and unloads discs as required during the recording process. A log file is maintained to provide an audit trail for verifying successes or trouble shooting problems.
Regrettably, Gear’s error handling capabilities are less robust than is desirable for software used for unattended duplication; for example, if any error is encountered in a recording sequence, the software generates an error message and terminates the process. Generally speaking, Gear for the Macintosh performs as advertised, although the sophistication and relative obscurity of its interface carries the usual caveats for novice and occasional users.
THE TESTING TALLY: FAITHFUL 4X WRITING SLOWER READING
Since the GMP 1010 CD is designed to be used in duplication and archiving applications, the readability of discs recorded on the unit was verified by recording fourteen 74-minute discs of different manufacturer types at quad speed and testing the discs for data integrity and interchangeability. Physical analysis was performed using Audio Development commercial grade CD CATS SA3 Advanced test equipment for standard criteria, and interchange analysis was conducted using 12 CD-ROM drives of various speeds and from a range of manufacturers.
Results showed that the GMP 1010 CD produced discs of reasonable qualify but not as good as most discs written by some 2X and 6X recorders currently on the market. These results correspond with other more comprehensive tests performed by various industry groups. This means that the GMP 1010 CD is good enough for many duties but probably not the best choice for highly critical medical or legal applications.
Since the Yamaha CDR100 recorder is the sole device available for the jukebox, in addition to its write performance, its CD-ROM reading capabilities also figure into a comprehensive assessment of the product. Although the CDR100 offers quad-speed transfer rates (600KB/sec), its 500ms average access time makes data retrieval on the unit a bit on the slow side for many applications. Testing of the Grundig jukebox demonstrated that the GMP 1010 CD performs archiving duties effectively but is hampered by read-speed limitations inherent to the Yamaha CDR100 for data retrieval functions.
GRUNDIG’S CD-R JUKEBOX: WELL-SUITED FOR SOHO
There is much to be said for the utility of a small CD-Recordable jukebox, and Grundig’s GMP 1010 CD answers the call adequately. The jukebox is essentially a light-duty machine most appropriate for small network archival applications abetted by network-capable software such as Celerity’s Virtual CD Writer. But those operations requiring low-capacity unattended duplication equipment, however, should consider as well all available products in that ever-growing genre, such as MediaFORM’s 25-disc CD-2500 autoloader or other competing products before deciding what to buy.
Nonetheless, the Grundig GMP 1010 CD fills a definite workgroup and small or home office market niche for a moderately sized CD—R-enabled jukebox.
CD-R-Capable Network Management Software
CD-ROM and CD-R jukeboxes are only as good as the software that controls them. Knoxville, Tennessee-based manufacturer Celerity offers mass data storage and retrieval system products for video-on-demand applications, the imaging market, and CD-ROM network management. Several of their products support most major CD jukeboxes.
Celerity’s principal product is Virtual CD Manager, a Netware Loadable Module (NLM) that provides network access to information stored within any CD-ROM jukebox connected to a Novell network, including the Grundig GMP 1010 CD. Connected to the GMP 1010 CD, the Virtual CD Manager resides on a 486DX file server running Novell NetWare 3.12 or above equipped with an API-compliant SCSI card and 16MB RAM. Once operational, the software allows CDs within the jukebox to appear to client workstations on the network as subdirectories under a master CD-ROM directory on the server. Virtual CD Manager also allows multiple file accesses from multiple-drive jukeboxes and queued access from single-drive jukeboxes, and provides hard drive file caching to allow shared file access.
Another Celerity software solution is Virtual CD Writer, which produces single or multisession ISO 9660 images and records them, as with the GMP 1010 CD’s Yamaha CD recorder connected to a Novell network. Like Virtual CD Manager, Virtual CD Writer is an NLM that operates on a NetWare server.
Virtual CD Writer is accessed through a special Windows interface that allows any client workstation to specify a directory on either a server or local storage device for either CD image creation or CD production. It also lets users produce CDs from previously created images. For customized applications, an Application Programming Interface (API) toolkit is provided to allow programmers to use the software’s recording capabilities to create images, write CDs, and monitor the status of both processes.
– Hugh Bennett
Grundig GMP 1010 CD
Synopsis: The ten-disc Grundig GMP 1010 CD jukebox is targeted for low-run CD duplication or production, small workgroup network archiving, and small imaging applications, although some caddy-jamming problems during testing raid a flag of concern, particularly for unattended duplication tasks.
Price: $5998
For More Information Contact:
Anyware Distribution
1261 Guerrero Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415/821-1788
Fax: 415/647-6633
Grundig USA (Division of Revelation Products Corporation)
1200 Valley Forge Road, P.O. Box 2225
Valley Forge, PA 19482-2225
610/933-5875
Fax: 610/933-6190
Companies Mentioned
Celerity
9051 Executive Park Drive Suite 400
Knoxville, TN 37923
423/539-5300
fax: 423/539-5390
Elektroson, Inc.
2105 South Bascom Avenue, Suite 160
Campbell, CA 95008
408/371-4800
fax: 408/371-4895
http://www.elektroson.com
MediaFORM, Inc.
Eagleview Corporate Center
400 Eagleview Blvd.
Exton, PA 19341
610/458-9200
fax: 610/458-9554
http://www.mediaform.com
About the Author
Hugh Bennett, editor-in-chief of Hugh’s News, is president of Forget Me Not Information Systems, a reseller, systems integrator and industry consultant based in London, Ontario, Canada. Hugh is author of The Authoritative Blu-ray Disc (BD) FAQ and The Authoritative HD DVD FAQ, available on Hugh’s News, as well as Understanding Recordable & Rewritable DVD and Understanding CD-R & CD-RW, published by the Optical Storage Technology Association (OSTA).
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