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Topic: Quick Cd-r question

Michael Brown
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1522
From: Bradford, England
Registered: May 2001

posted 09-29-2001 01:57 PM

In terms of making audio Cd's. I know that some Audio Cd players can not read rewritable cd's. But is it true than normal write once cdr's can be played in any cd player.

-thanks

I need to buy a new cd player but it will only be worth my while if it can play mp3's writen as audio tracks on a write one cdr.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 09-29-2001 02:04 PM

Two words: "close session". Most burned cds I get from people do not have the session closed, which prevents any further data from being written to the cd. With an "open" cd, older players can not read them. When the cd is "closed", most players can run them just fine.

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 09-29-2001 02:13 PM

Most any new CD player should work just fine and dandy. If you want to listen to MP# CD's you will need a special player for that. You can always convert the MP3's to WAV or AIFF (don't let the CD burning software do it for you on the fly as it can lead to problems) and burn them to a normal audio CD.

Brad is right. Always close the session. I can't think of why anyone wouldn't do just that. You can also make Audio CD/Computer CD-ROM hybrids. Record your audio tracks but DON'T close the session. Then record the computer data and then close the session. People who listen to the audio CD would never know that there is computer data on the disc unless they stuck it into their computer. Just something worthless to do for fun.

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Randy Stankey
Film God

Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99

posted 09-29-2001 03:35 PM

Just toss out that piece of junk PeeSee you have and get an iMac, which comes with a program called iTunes. It'll let you stick CDs into the computer, rip them into MP3s or whatever format you want. Then all you have to do is organize your songs into a playlist and hit the "burn" button. iTunes does the rest.

Yes, iTunes is pretty basic and it doesn't allow you to edit or tweek your songs very much but it does what it does very well. It's a good, "quick and dirty" way to make audio CDs.

Later on you should graduate to other, more advanced programs like Roxio "Toast". (Or "Easy CD Creator" if you have a PeeSee.) But like I said, programs like iTunes are a good start.

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 09-29-2001 07:39 PM

Don't get an iMac... get a G4! After using a G4 I could never go back to G3, which is what all iMacs are. Hell, wait for the G5's, which should be here around the end of the year/beginning of the next.

Avoid Easy CD Creator on Windows at all costs. It does install a nice DLL file that can be used by better apps, but after install delete everything else about it (which is hard). It's one of those apps that takes over your system. I recommend CDR-WIN and Disc Juggler for Windows, with a preference for CDR-WIN.

Toast 5 for Mac is pretty cool as well, but could use some more features, like CD-Text, etc.

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Gordon McLeod
Film God

Posts: 9532
From: Toronto Ontario Canada
Registered: Jun 99

posted 09-29-2001 08:10 PM

What about Nero burning rom?
I have had good luck with it
also CDclone is quite good for a qwick cd copy

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 09-29-2001 08:18 PM

Agreed. NERO is pretty good as well. Forgot about that one. The one I REALLY don't like besides Easy CD Creator is FireBurner. Yucky-poo!

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Randy Stankey
Film God

Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99

posted 09-30-2001 12:03 AM

I thought Easy CD Creator was pretty much the PeeSee version of Toast. I don't use windows very much at all. Only when I have to. So I don't know much about what software is good or bad. (It'a all bad as far as I am concerned.

)

I got Toast a few weeks ago because I wanted to burn some things onto a VCD. I was pretty hesitant about paying $80 or $90 for software. When I loaded it in and checked out the manuals I was totally amazed at all the junk that it does! If you have a CD burner on your Mac, Toast is one of those "must haves"!

Yeah, I know the iMacs only have G3's in them. My DV 400 does everything I have ever asked it to do. Speed-wise, even though it's starting to become anitquated, it's still squarely in the middle of the pack. My G3/400 can still clean a Pentium/500's clock.
The iMac is still a great entry-level Mac. Heck, the new ones have 500's in them and you can even get CD burners built-in.
Not to say I wouldn't like to get my hands on one of those G4/800's!

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 09-30-2001 02:11 AM

VCDs are kinda cool, but they take forever to encode on either a PC or Mac. There are some real time encoders, but they are not as good quality wise. But then again, it's MPEG... how good do you expect it to be? I am still amazed that it takes so long to encode such a low quality format like MPEG-1. I remember when it used to take 5 minutes or more to encode a 1 minute song into an MP3. Now it takes 10 or less seconds to encode that same song and the result is better!

I agree, if you have a CD burner, Toast is a "must have". I only have one CD burner (internal) and I shuffle it back and forth between the PC and the Mac as necessary. I usually just leave the burner where it is unless I NEED to move it. If I need to burn an audio CD, I just edit the songs on the Mac, and transfer them downstairs to the PC for burning as uncompressed AIFF files (which are basically the same thing as uncompressed WAV files)... it takes about 2 to 3 minutes to transfer 800 megs worth of audio through the ethernet from machine to machine.

Toast for OS X stopped working once I upgraded to OS 10.1. Oh well. I paid for the OS 9 version, but the OS X version was provided for free by Roxio. MicroSoft also recently provided a free version of Word for X. What da hell?

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Scott Norwood
Film God

Posts: 8146
From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas)
Registered: Jun 99

posted 09-30-2001 09:21 AM

Note that some CD-R media is better than others. At work, I've been buying the cheapest possible CD-R blanks (the "100 for $20" type) and have noticed that some CD drives can't read them. This is with a good quality burner (Plextor 12/10/32 SCSI drive) and good software (cdrecord on Unix). The better-quality CD-R blanks just seem to be readable on more machines for some reasons.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 09-30-2001 12:20 PM

For whatever it's worth to anyone, I've found the TDK bluecoat discs to be the best in terms of readability. They can be purchased in bulk through smaller computer companies and are available in "shiny top" if you plan on placing your own label on them.

(These are the blank discs used for the manual cds.)

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 09-30-2001 02:12 PM

I've have bad readability problems with PNY discs. They are awful.

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Aldo Baez
Master Film Handler

Posts: 266
From: USA
Registered: Mar 2001

posted 09-30-2001 03:45 PM

If you would like to get the best possible cdr's a company in Japan called Taiyo Yuden makes them. You can use cdr indentifier (search for it on the web) to check what company (and what type of dye) makes and is used by the cdr. If you guys would like probably the best deal, officemax usually sells Fuji cdr's, 50 for about 15 or 20 bux, and they are made by taiyo yuden and are pretty much some of the best you can get. Yes they are a little more expensive, but they last alot longer, and have no compatibility problems. Other guaranteed Taiyo Yudens are Sony, and Kodak cdr's (which are commonly regarded as the best cdr's, but way way expensive.) Another good way to spot good cdr's is check where its made on the package, made in japan usually means Taiyo Yuden, Taiwan and other countries you'll have to use cdridentifier to find out. You can find more info at cdmediaworld.com.

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Randy Stankey
Film God

Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99

posted 09-30-2001 10:22 PM

I started out buying Maxels and I got about half way through a box of them and found that a good 1/3 of them would end up as Frisbees, through no fault of my own. My CD-RW has "Burn-Proof".

I switched to TDK and haven't had a bad one since.

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Josh Jones
Redhat

Posts: 1207
From: Plano, TX
Registered: Apr 2000

posted 10-01-2001 07:04 PM

I have grown to like Verbatim's Data Life disks. They are the only type that will play in my aiwa portable player. even Memorex music only CDR's wont play in that thing. I believe it is the blue dye that works the best. the pale green ones just dont seem to work as well. I have also found that Office Max's brand of CDR's dont work in all CD Roms either. I tried and it took a long time just to re-read the data off the disks, probably because of the pale media

Josh

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