Tony Reed Posted February 5, 2001 Share Posted February 5, 2001 OK, I want to burn my own CDR's. 1st: What software would you recommend? I want something versatile. 2nd: What brand of CDR's would you recommend? We're talking high quality here. 3rd: What speed do you record at? (1X, 4X, 8X etc.) Many Thanks, Tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prana-Bindu Posted February 5, 2001 Share Posted February 5, 2001 Tony: The answers to two of your questions (1st & 3rd) depends on what content you'll be burning. If you're just gonna make music cd's (not mp3 cd's), any copying software will do; the software that comes with your burner should be more than adequate. If you're gonna be copying (sorry, backing up) software or Playstation games, you'll need software that will allow you to ignore read errors and maybe burn raw data (as opposed to user data). For purposes of backing stuff up, any of the software that comes with burners that support buffer underrun protection (Burn Proof technology) should do just fine -- Plextor Plexwriter, TDK VeloCD. I don't think the brand of media matters that much, but I've seen many recommendations for the use of the same brand media as the brand of your burner. Speed: music -- fastest speed you have; regular data -- fastest speed you have; copyprotected material -- the slower the burn, the less likely you'll end up with another coaster. If you want to rip and burn mp3's, use and encoder that uses the Fraunhaufer encoder. You can download the code for the Fraunhaufer off the web for free, but you'll have to couple it to a front-end application (GUI), such as Blade. Otherwise, Cool Edit 2000 uses that encoder. Have fun! ------------------ May the bridges we burn light our way.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seb Posted February 5, 2001 Share Posted February 5, 2001 1) Exact Audio Copy to rip audio CDs. LAME encoder to encode/decode mp3s 2) Any brand that makes successful burns every time with your burner. I use Maxell. Also check wheter the cds you buy will work in any and all CD transports (DVD drives, DVD players, CDROM, CD players, car, portable...) 3) Any speed that gives you consistent burning with no wasted cds. I'd like to go back to #1 a little... Exact Audio Copy is a (free) program that makes exact copies of audio CDs or just tracks. you can either rip an image of the whole cd or individual tracks. the program checks several time to make sure the rip is exact. slower but you get exact copies every time. LAME encoder is the best encoder for mp3s. it can encode with variable bitrate, meaning it uses a high bitrate in the complicated passages where it is needed, and low bitrate where it's not. much better than either encoding at low bitrate to save space or encoding at high bitrate to get better sound. you get the best sound and you don't have to have 20 megs mp3s. I will try to look for a site where everything is explained and post the link. /edit/ There you go: http://www.r3mix.net/ it's all there. most interesting: "Since version 3.60 ~> 3.70 the quality of also the CBR encoder has superceded the Fraunhofer codecs available." also, i should specify that you should pick up the Razor LAME front end for the LAME codec. again, it's all in the link. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paragon Posted February 7, 2001 Share Posted February 7, 2001 Ah.. Thanks for the info Seb. Didn't want to be let unknown we appreciate the time you took. I actually read a review on a burner that recommended what you do over what came with the burner and I was recently wondering where to get that. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Reed Posted February 7, 2001 Author Share Posted February 7, 2001 Thanks for all the info. Still have a problem, though. I'm burning audio CDR's at the slowest possible speed (2x I think)using the software that came with the burner. I'm getting buffer underrun errors evertime. Doesn't matter if I burn from the hardrive or the other cd drive. I am lacking in the RAM department. (32 megs) If I bump it up to 128 could this correct the problem? Everthing else exceedes the drives requirements. Thanks again, Tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Posted February 7, 2001 Share Posted February 7, 2001 Tony, 128 megs would be much better. Make sure you are not running any other programs while burning. If you are doing MP3 to .wav conversions on the fly try converting them first. I had nothing but problems when using Adaptec software, have not made a single "coaster" since I started using Nero 6 monthes ago. Over 70 cd's burned perfect with Nero. Was running around 50/50 with Adaptec. Is your burner and hard drive are on the same IDE channel? Derek Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Reed Posted February 7, 2001 Author Share Posted February 7, 2001 Derek: No other programs are running in the background. How much did you pay for "Nero"? Where did you get it? Not sure about the channel. How do I check? Do you want both drives on the same channel or not? Thanks, Tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Posted February 7, 2001 Share Posted February 7, 2001 Tony, You have 2 IDE channels for hard drives, CD, etc. If you open your case you will see a ribbon cable coming to your HD. If the CDR and HD are both on the same cable they are both on the same channel. This willl be the fastest. Think you can get a free demo copy of Nero off their web page. Just do a search. Derek Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paragon Posted February 7, 2001 Share Posted February 7, 2001 Not true.. It is better to have the CDRW on a seperate IDE channel , DVDROM, and each HD - thanks god for onboard RAID] With IDE, each channel can only send or receive to one device at a time so if youhave to have 2 devices on one channel, it would be better to have CDburner on its own channel and HD and CDROM on the other However, the distance between devices is the limiting factor and I could not hook my CDROM and HD on teh same channel from where they were Keep you HD on IDE1 and see where the other devices fit. It sounds to me there is a setting or something thta needs to be changed - make sure you have the correct drivers installed for the burner With older burners it is best to not have anything running in the background otherwise you may get underruns I had no problems with EZCDCreator. Also.. look in your device manager Is DMA box checked? If it is, try unchecking it and see if that helps If it is already uncheck'd.. Id leave it unchecked until you get it working - depends on the burner, some can have it checked.. some can't 1X should be the slowest possible See if any of this helps and let us know Good-luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Posted February 7, 2001 Share Posted February 7, 2001 Paragon and Tony, Messed up, should be on the second channel as a master. You might try www.gamecopyworld.com, they have all kinds of good info on CDR configuration, media and software. Derek Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Reed Posted February 9, 2001 Author Share Posted February 9, 2001 Good news, fellow BB'ers, I'm in business! All I had to do was update my chipset. I'm burning at 4x from the other CD drive and 8x from the hard drive. Life is good again. Thanks to all for the valuable information. Tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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