I had a couple Zip drives once. They were great when there was no cheaper alternative for mass backup storage. The last time I checked the price of 100MB Zip disks, you could get 1GB of storage for about $100. Lately I bought a 50 pack of colored blank CD's and a free CD wallet for $30 or less. One blank CD holds 650MB or more, and costs well under $1.00. CD Writers are easily under $200, and routinely come with many new computers. I hadn't used either of my Zip drives since I got my CD Burner 2 years ago. My original external Zip drive developed the "Infamous Click of Death," which meant it had died. My wife's computer had the newer internal Zip drive, but she never used it. When I got a new hard drive, I gave my wife one of my older hard drives... and decided it was time to retire that internal zip drive. I suggest that it's time to retire your zip drive... you will save money in the long run, and you will love the fact that you can store so much more for so much less money. I like the fact that DAZ will burn a CD of your purchases for you. But look at the econimics here: 1.) a blank CD costs well under $1.00 2.) I can burn a CD in my older CD Burner in about 1/2 hour. 3.) I can use that $20 to buy more blank CD's or something more from DAZ, etc.