All electro-mechanical devices have a life span. However the CD Recorders we sell have a 50,000 MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure) with a 25% duty cycle. What this means is that you can expect to record for 12,500 hours before a failure. Of course, this is an average and some drives will go longer without fail and some shorter. Less expensive drives may not last as long of course.

CD Burners are certainly not illegal - we would not be selling them if they were! What is illegal is the duplication of copyrighted material other than for such things as personal back-up etc. Just as copying a video tape of a movie or other copyrighted material is illegal - so is the copying of copyrighted material to a CD.