Moderator: please move if this is in the wrong forum.

So I have this Plextor CDRW that's supposed to be one of the better ones. I decided to try my luck with burning and asked a couple people what to use. Ultimately, I ended up using Sony brand discs and a program called CloneCD. The discs played fine in some players but skipped in others. Next I tried reducing both the read and the write speeds to 1x and copying the CD in data mode in hopes of producing a more exact copy. Still, they skipped in some players.

My goal here is to burn perfect CDs. CDs that sound as close to the original as possible and CDs that play on any CD player. I don't mind reading them or writing them slowly and I'll buy whatever brand and use whatever program in whatever mode that will accomplish this. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Thanks

Kelly

Have you looked into Exact Audio Copy yet? I use it and have not had any trouble with players skipping. You can get it at http://www.exactaudiocopy.de and http://www.ping.be/satcp/ will give you most if not all the information you ever wanted to know about using the program.

I use Exact Audio Copy in combination with CDRWIN. It makes perfect copies and if that's not possible you will know before you waste a CDR. The protocol is described here:
http://pages.cthome.net/homepage/eac/clone.htm

EAC is recognized as the best, and for burning I use Feurio, which is cheaper than CDRWin. It's nagware. CloneCD is best used for, errr, backups.

Info on CDRs:
http://www.cdmediaworld.com/hardware..._quality.shtml


CDR forums:
http://r3mix.net/forum

I use Exact Audio Copy to rip the tracks off, Sound Forge for editing, and Easy CD Creator for burning. Most important IMO, though, is to follow some basic procedures for the burning process:

- Don't run any other applications or use your computer for anything else during the burn. Turn off the anti-virus.
- I never burn directly from a CD to CDR - I copy the files to the hard drive, set up the entire disc in whatever software you're using, then burn slow (4x is the maximum speed I use).
- Besides closing all other programs and copying at a slower speed - turn off your screen saver!!!

I second the use of EAC and CDRWin combination. Easiest and most effective way I've done it. The bin/cue format have proved for me to be the best for data as well.

As for blank media, colorless "silver" dye should be the most compatible. I use 80min KHypermedia CD-R for just about everything. Verbatim/Memorex also makes good silver ones. For my component cd recorder, I use Sony Audio CD-R and have had absolutely no problems.

I've been using Memorex Black CD-R for data archiving. I've used Kodak Ultima 80 (Gold) prior to trying out the black kind.

The two kinds that's given me the most trouble are bulk Sony 80min CD-R (green dye), and TDK Music 74min CD-Rs (blue dye).

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So you're saying the difference is all in the dye??

Kelly

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It may be even possible, but in my case, following the procedures I mentioned before, I NEVER had any problem with blank discs, no matter the color of the midia.

http://www.cdmediaworld.com has some articles discussing the different qualities of CDRs and the dyes associated with them. For the most part, I've been using Kodak Ultimas and Sony Supremas that I've stocked up on and made sure are all from either the Kodak Japan or Taiyo Yuden plant which are reported to have the best CDs.

Edit: Also, my experience with the lower quality CDs that I've had (IE: the type that sells for 10 dollars for 50 discs or what you can commonly get for free after rebates) has generally given me bad results. Many of these low quality CDs I have are manufactured by Ritek and from what I can see, do have a very high fail rate. A lot of the reasoning behind this may be that I keep the CDs in my car where the temperature fluctuates between below freezing and 70+ degrees F everyday. The lower quality CDs just randomly stop functioning (they start skipping or even just don't read anymore) whereas my Sony and Kodak discs have never given me any trouble.

kelly, asuming you copy CDs on the fly (not copying to the hard drive first), do you happen to have your DVD/CD-ROM and CD-RW on the same IDE channel?
For on-the-fly copying I believe they should be on different IDEs (i.e. CD/DVD-ROM on IDE 0 and CR-RW on IDE 1)...




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So that's what it's called

Check the forums for the cdr freaks. I think they're championing some kind of premium Philips brand type right now. For me, I prefer Clone CD over the EAC/ Feurio combo, but then my hardware sucks cork. Clone CD gives me slightly cleaner highs and fuller bodied lows than the combo. I couldn't tell you why but I have a hunch it has something to do with my audio cd player not liking cdr (hence the cdr sound).

As far as cdr color goes, I'm not so convinced that its a fair gauge for quality if there's so many variables involved in production - eg. proper recipe mixing during preparation on that particular day or batch.

EAC is the way to go for audio extraction. I also find it very accurate determining gaps/indexes of some less common CD layouts which cause trouble with many apps (including heavyweights like Padus DiskJuggler).

EAC has a recording module, so I see no use for CDRWin. (Not to mention the fact that some of Jeff Arnold's policies in the past have been... well, let's say.. very unelegant, earning him a legion of people hating him).

In any case.. if you get the correct WAVs, you can use whatever you want to burn them if you maintain the TOC of the original CD.

All Plextors have DAE synchronization features in the chipsets used, so using EAC is really just an extra measure to be sure of quality when the CDs are in bad shape. You can also use PlexTools for simpler tasks (and it also scans disks for C2 errors).

Regarding media, I would advise you to use Plextor recommended brands. The reason is simple, the PlexWriter firmware usually has a list of optimum power calibration settings for several brands, while the others will be "determined" as well as possible when you start the recording. CloneCD is not a good choice for audio.

If the use of Burn-Proof makes you uncomfortable (the dreaded nanogaps) you can use a non Z-CLV speed, like 12x or 16x. Anything above requires Z-CLV and inevitable buffer underruns at the zone changes.

You should avoid doing on-the-fly duplication when not really essential, but if your sistem is well-tuned and stable, you can get perfect on-the-fly copies.

Don't forget you can't really always trust the brand on the box of your CDRs.. be sure to check the ATIP information of the disk to know who is the real manufacturer.

The new PlexWriter 4012 has a few nice new features for audio, including the ability for the user to change the laser power to try to suit the sound/compatibility to his taste.

Finally, the "speed" issue is pretty much a myth. 1x can't get you better copies in most cases, and in fact, with some recorders and settings, some high speeds can result in lower jitter values than at lower speeds. If you pick the right media, and have the digital audio extraction process happening with perfection, any speed will get you excellent results.

I only have one CD drive, the Plextor, so it has to copy to the hard drive and then write from the hard drive to the new CD.

How do I know which brands of CD are recommended for use with my Plextor? I bought an OEM bare drive version so I think I'm lacking that documentation.

Thanks

Kelly

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You can identify your CDs using the CDInfo utility (http://www.plextor.be/download/ftp1/CDRInfo.zip)

The list can be found at:
http://www.plextor.be/English/technical/cdrmedia.html

You Plextor folks sure are lucky. Hey has anyone seen the Plextor burner that writes at 40X? You could burn a cd faster than you could take a whiz!