AOpen include Nero Express burning software with the 5232 Combo, which should get you started on the right track. Nero is probably one of the more versatile burning programs on the market, and is even able to overburn CD's!

With Nero's InfoTool we see that the AOpen 5232 Combo is capable of reading pretty much any disc on the market aside from DVD-RAM. Since it's only a CD burner it can only burn to CD media but that should be pretty obvious. ;-)

PCStats Test System Specs:

processor: intel pentium 4 3.0c clock speed: 15 x 200 mhz = 3.0 ghz motherboards: gigabyte ga-8knxp videocard: ati radeon 9800 pro memory: 2x 256mb corsair twinx3200ll hard drive: 40gb western digital special ed. cdrom: aopen 5232 combo powersupply: vantec 470w stealth psu software setup windowsxp build 2600 intel inf 5.02.1012 catalyst 4.4 workstation benchmarks cd winbench 99 sisoft sandra 2002 nero cd speed

CD Winbench 99	Source: Zdnet

The CD Winbench99 benchmark runs a series of scripted programs from a special CD in the drive and measures the time and data transfer capabilities as a result. Higher numbers mean better performance.

CD Winbench 99 Benchmark Results
Optical Drive	Results	Ranking
Samsung SW-252B (CD-RW)	1860 kb/s
MSI CR52A-A2 (CD-RW)	2420 kb/s
Plextor PXW4012TA (CD-RW)	2190 kb/s
LG 32-10-40 (CD-RW)	2110 kb/s
MSI CDRW 8340 (CD-RW)	2050 kb/s
Samsung SW-240 (CD-RW)	1910 kb/s
Samsung SW-232 (CD-RW)	1460 kb/s
Samsung SW-224 (CD-RW)	1320 kb/s
Samsung SC-152 (CDROM)	1710 kb/s
Pioneer DVD-500M (DVD ROM)	2440 kb/s
Samsung SW-216 (CD-RW)	1280 kb/s
AOpen 52x32x52x (CD-RW)	2300 kb/s
LG GSA-4082B (DVD-/+RW)	1130 kb/s
Gigabyte GO-W0808A (DVD-/+RW)	2240 kb/s
AOpen 5232 Combo (CD-RW/DVD-ROM)	2510kb/s

The AOpen 5232 Combo is among the fastest drives in CD Winbench, certainly a great way to start off!

SiSoft Sandra 2002	Source: Sandra

Sandra is designed to test the theoretical power of a complete system and individual components. The numbers taken though are again, purely theoretical and may not represent real world performance.

Sisoft Sandra 2002 Benchmark Results
Optical Drive	AOpen 5232 Combo	LG GSA-4082B	MSI X48	AOpen 52x32x52x	Samsung SW-252B	MSI CR52A-A2		Plextor W4012TA
Disc Type	Data	Data	Data	Data	Data	Data		Data
Drive Index	2574	1627	2187	2133	2207	2426		1992
Buffered Read:	6000 kb/s	779 kb/s	1780 kb/s	1600 kb/s	1582 kb/s	1893 kb/s		2300 kb/s
Sequential Read:	2712 kb/s	2362 kb/s	3005 kb/s	2970 kb/s	3284 kb/s	3408 kb/s		2802 kb/s
Random Read:	2336 kb/s	524 kb/s	961 kb/s	877 kb/s	792 kb/s	952 kb/s		776 kb/s
Access Time:	220 ms	761ms	363ms	411 ms	245 ms	194 ms		238 ms

The AOpen 5232 Combo is definitely a very high performance optical drive. The Drive Index score is definitely very high, and the read scores are also very respectable.