My OEM 16x DVD-ROM drive is failing on me. I'm having trouble loading some cd's and ripping off it. Should I get a new DVD-ROM or just get a new DVD-ROM burner? I will be using this mostly to load cds and ripping off it so I'm mostly concerned about the loading speed. I already have a Plextor 48x CD-RW. Thanks

No contest. Get a burner, they are really cheap now. It'll help loads with backups.

depends on how much use you will give it, dvd burners are still not to the standard that cd burners are, so they wear out the lasers after a few hundred uses, if you dont need to backup dvds then stick with the ROM, that is unless they make good ones where you are