Apple will not be adding a second optical drive in the current case configuration. The way it stands now, you get one optical and then one 3-1/2" device bays that can be accessed from the outside. I you REALLY want to get a second optical drive/burner, just pick up an external FireWire burner. You can get a 24x burner for under $200 these days. I would wager that Apple would charge more then that for one close to that speed as a second drive.
As for duping cd's, when I don't attach a second drive to my Mac, just use Disk Copy, make an image file (you can also make it so that you can modify it). Then mount the image and use Toast to burn a copy. Once you have the image file, you can burn as many copies as you want. I have image files of the utility cd's that I make for both sites and just alter them as I need to and burn fresh copies. Once you do it once or twice, it becomes very easy.
You never know, Apple might offer the combo drive for the towers again, but then again, they might not. For me, it's a non-issue, since I already have a fast external burner, for when I want to do duping. I also have access to a stand alone 6-up cd duping station. Although, it is faster to use the burner inside the G4 I have at work.
As for duping cd's, when I don't attach a second drive to my Mac, just use Disk Copy, make an image file (you can also make it so that you can modify it). Then mount the image and use Toast to burn a copy. Once you have the image file, you can burn as many copies as you want. I have image files of the utility cd's that I make for both sites and just alter them as I need to and burn fresh copies. Once you do it once or twice, it becomes very easy.
You never know, Apple might offer the combo drive for the towers again, but then again, they might not. For me, it's a non-issue, since I already have a fast external burner, for when I want to do duping. I also have access to a stand alone 6-up cd duping station. Although, it is faster to use the burner inside the G4 I have at work.
, i had my eyes open back in january looking out for lots of new products when i went to the apple.com site non stop when macworld was going on earlier this year, n it was a huge disapointment for lots of my friends who were hoping for lots of new mac items (since they said that there wont be any disapointments or something on the website)