Spin speed/burn speed. In general, the higher the speed, the better a CD-ROM drive will be able to perform, because it will be able to transfer information to your computer more quickly.

Access time. In contrast to spin speed, lower access times are better. Access time is more important if you're planning on running CD-ROM titles where the information you're seeking is scattered and not sequential (for example, a CD-ROM database), because the speed with which the laser pickup moves around the disk determines how long you wait. This is also the case for titles that allow the user to search the whole disk for information (such as CD-ROM encyclopedia).

Bundled software. Many CD-ROM drives are sold with CD-ROM titles that include an encyclopedia, educational software and games. Although these shouldn't be the defining reason for choosing a CD-ROM drive, it pays to compare the titles included with similar drives.

DVD-ROM drives. DVD devices are now being built to include ALL optical formats: CD, CDR, CDRW, DVDR, DVDRW. So, many people are able to have multiple devices on their pc's that perform different tasks. For example, if you have a CD player and a DVD multi-player, conceivable you could be listening to a cd while creating a photo slideshow dvd at the same time! Of course, there are many other possible uses and applications for these devices, but I'll leave that up to you to discover them!