I hear ya ScottK, I've heard of that 'click o' death' as well...I guess it's something to keep in mind for all us zip drive owners. Beware..if your zip starts clicking...it may be on it's last legs! As for the DVD-RAM, I hear that's awesome but aren't you afraid it will leave you non-compatible with others who don't have the DVD Reading abilities? I had thought of getting one (a dvd-burner) but changed my mind on that reason. If I was planning to simply store my items for just me...it would be great but since I do a great deal of sharing (of my files etc) I would run into problems if the others didn't have dvd ability. As it is my biggest issues are getting stuff from pc to mac and vice versa! Are you planning on using the dvd for your own storage or to distribute files with others? PAN~