Dan Smith
07-20-2003, 04:44 AM
What CD-R's should I buy if what I'm after is simple, reliable,
no-problems compatibility, particularly with CD players? I don't care
how fast they record, and I'm not looking for bargains, but, yes, I do
want some "ordinary" brand I can pick up in a Best Buy or a CompUSA or a
Circuit City.
For over two years now, I've had a Teac CD recorder (which requires the
specially-encoded "Music CD-R" or "Audio CD-R") media. And for over two
years, I've experienced no failures at all in playing those recorded
CD's on any player. I've used whatever "name" brand the nearest store
had; TDL, Sony, Memorex being the most common. I've also used some
el-cheapo "K-Hypermedia" disks that cost about half as much, though not
for anything important. Still no problems.
Now, everyone SWEARS that the actual physical media on a "Music CD-R" is
no different from a data CD-R. The only difference is that it has some
data encoding on it that tells a home audio recorder that it should
allow recording, and engages the "SCCS" single-generation
copy-limitation mechanism.
But.
Recently, I bought a CD burner for my Mac (a LaCie Firewire with a
Lite-on LTR-52246S drive, 52x24x52x). And I've been experiencing some
very repeatable, uniform problems with audio disks burned in this
burner.
The characteristic is this. When I burn audio CD's on _data_ CD-R
media, using two different brands, about three tries with each:
--they're NOT playable in my portable boom-box
--they're NOT playable in the LEFT (CD-playing-only) drive of my
CD recorder.
(The drive spins for 30 seconds or so, then reports "no disc")
However: they ARE playable in
--the Lite-on drive that recorded them;
--the Mac's built-in drive;
--my DVD player;
--my wife's PC;
--the RIGHT (CD-burning) drive of my CD recorder,
Toast offers burn speeds of up to 40X or 52X with these CD-R disks.
I've tried cutting the burn speed down to 8X; no difference.
But when I burn two MUSIC CD-R in the Lite-on drive, they play fine.
I've tried to kinds. TDK with bluish-green dye, one is Sony with a
silverish appearance. No problems at all.
What the heck is going on?
Could the industry be currently offering data "CD-R's" that don't really
quite meet standards, knowing that "most good modern" computer CD drives
can tolerate slightly substandard media?
Why can't they just label their product and their players so that I can
tell by looking what will work with what, without having to personally
QA everything?
--
Dan Smith
no-problems compatibility, particularly with CD players? I don't care
how fast they record, and I'm not looking for bargains, but, yes, I do
want some "ordinary" brand I can pick up in a Best Buy or a CompUSA or a
Circuit City.
For over two years now, I've had a Teac CD recorder (which requires the
specially-encoded "Music CD-R" or "Audio CD-R") media. And for over two
years, I've experienced no failures at all in playing those recorded
CD's on any player. I've used whatever "name" brand the nearest store
had; TDL, Sony, Memorex being the most common. I've also used some
el-cheapo "K-Hypermedia" disks that cost about half as much, though not
for anything important. Still no problems.
Now, everyone SWEARS that the actual physical media on a "Music CD-R" is
no different from a data CD-R. The only difference is that it has some
data encoding on it that tells a home audio recorder that it should
allow recording, and engages the "SCCS" single-generation
copy-limitation mechanism.
But.
Recently, I bought a CD burner for my Mac (a LaCie Firewire with a
Lite-on LTR-52246S drive, 52x24x52x). And I've been experiencing some
very repeatable, uniform problems with audio disks burned in this
burner.
The characteristic is this. When I burn audio CD's on _data_ CD-R
media, using two different brands, about three tries with each:
--they're NOT playable in my portable boom-box
--they're NOT playable in the LEFT (CD-playing-only) drive of my
CD recorder.
(The drive spins for 30 seconds or so, then reports "no disc")
However: they ARE playable in
--the Lite-on drive that recorded them;
--the Mac's built-in drive;
--my DVD player;
--my wife's PC;
--the RIGHT (CD-burning) drive of my CD recorder,
Toast offers burn speeds of up to 40X or 52X with these CD-R disks.
I've tried cutting the burn speed down to 8X; no difference.
But when I burn two MUSIC CD-R in the Lite-on drive, they play fine.
I've tried to kinds. TDK with bluish-green dye, one is Sony with a
silverish appearance. No problems at all.
What the heck is going on?
Could the industry be currently offering data "CD-R's" that don't really
quite meet standards, knowing that "most good modern" computer CD drives
can tolerate slightly substandard media?
Why can't they just label their product and their players so that I can
tell by looking what will work with what, without having to personally
QA everything?
--
Dan Smith