EMacines CD & DVD Drives died on me

Hi, firstly please make sure that you are not voiding any warranty you may have with the machine by opening it yourself.
secondly there are'nt any particular brands, as such, that I would necessarily recommend as when all issues are taken into account the average generic unit sold in your local computer shop will give you longstanding value for money. In all my PC's I have only ever had 2 drives fail over the years, usually the PC becomes terribly archaic and dies long before the CD drive. lol
So if you have a fairly up to date machine then my suggestion would be to buy the latest generic DVD burner unit. You can get a very nice duel layer DVD burner for about AU$70 at the moment.
Before you buy open your machine and check the cable configuration just to make sure you have the correct cable types when you are at the store.
Then before you remove the drive follow each cable so that you know exactly where everything goes. Sometimes its a good idea to take photos if your not confident.
Unplug only the ones you really need to and take care to pull in a straight direction when unplugging.
Familiarize yourself with how the cable plugs in before you install the new drive, be VERY careful to align the cable nice and straight with all the pins so as not to bend or snap any.
If you do bend one and you have to straighten it only make one or two attempts to to straighten it, try pushing it back and then use the cable by plugging it in to get the pin back where it should be because the more you try to straighten it the more likely you are to snap it off then you will be in sorts of trouble.
When you have done installing the drive, carefully go all around the PC and gently make sure that all cables and plugs are properly pushed in, also make sure that any installed cards, video or sound etc are nice and secure and straight in there slots and also the memory sticks.
The reason for this is that so many times people install something new and when they start the machine something doesn't work and they panic and think they have wrecked something and all it is is a loose connection.
Hope that helps and let me know how you go.
SeaJade