external dvd drive

looking at the external dvd drives that owc has for sale and i only see one that is still supported by firewire. i would like to hook up an external drive to whatever machine i am using to keep from wearing out any of my internals. my needs are
1. copying cd's using toast
2. ripping dvd's using ripit and mac the ripper
3. importing cd's into itunes.
will an external dvd burner be able to satisfy all three of these needs? thanks.

well my drive showed up today and you were right. but i got more. i've read that apple's dvd player will not work with externals but it does with this one. cool.

it's listed as owc mercury pro 800/400 + usb3 multidrive. the application dvd player works on a 1.25ghz imac and a 1.33 ibook both running 10.4 and a 2.13ghz macbook running 10.6. dvd player just launches when i insert a dvd. just like the internals. i use firewire 400.