CD Burning Software Question

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by jligon, Jan 31, 2002.

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  1. jligon

    jligon Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Peoria, IL
    Awhile ago, on the old site, there was some discussion concering CD burning software and, I think it was Sckott, mentioned a free program off of the internet that was pretty good.
    Sckott, or anyone else, know the name of this program is.
    The reason I ask, my girlfriend just got a new computer and the only thing that came with it, with burning capabilities, was Media Player 7.1. Has anyone used this? If so, any thoughts?
    Thanks,

    -Jon
     
  2. Sckott

    Sckott Hand Tighten Only.

    Location:
    South Plymouth, Ma
    If she has Windows XP, there's more to the story than just installing CDR software. And if it is Windows XP, she's got Windows Media Player 8, and it stinks as far as software in general. Ya can't uninstall it or improve it, but you can work around it. Report back if this is what OS she's got now.
     
  3. jligon

    jligon Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Peoria, IL
    Yep. That's what she has. What's the best course of action?
    Thanks!
     
  4. Sckott

    Sckott Hand Tighten Only.

    Location:
    South Plymouth, Ma
    Okay. Bad/Good news.

    Bad news is - The phony software ASPI layer is not in Windows XP. Damn. This was the behind-the-scenes software in Windows that communicated between CDR drives and their software, whatever you chose. Microsoft felt that there were too many people making, using and abusing too many CDR softwares that totally messed up VXD (Virtual Device Driver) properties. That led to a lot of bad blue-screen errors and softwares that fought w/one another. Nero and some Adaptec products had issues early on. It's since been rectified, but MS didn't care.

    So, Microsoft nixed their internal ASPI layer and users were confined to using Wmplayer (Windows Media Player 8 for XP) to burn data and audio. Trust me, it's horrible, bulky, code-heavy, advertisement-annoying and clumsy. Plus, it's not reliable. Such as irony.

    The Good news is - A reliable, safe ASPI layer that retro-fits all CDR software can be forced installed safely and easilly.

    **NOTE THIS NEXT PIECE OF SOFTWARE IS ONLY FOR WINDOWS XP USERS** Okay, ppl?


    Find the ASPI force layer for XP
    here.

    Unzip and make sure you read the instructions in the ASPI.TXT file. It's a two step process, and you can check your work with the ASPICHK later.

    Got that done? Cool. Now, if the rest of you Windows users are still curious, you've skipped the above part if you're not a WinXP user.

    Here....
    My favorites are Exact Audio Copy and CDRWin.

    The trick is, use EAC to "image" your CD to the hard drive. Read on the EAC website (www.exactaudiocopy.de) how to use the F7 quicky-feature and how to set some of the parimeters. Now, the CDR software is built in. You'll find it in the TOOLS. Mess around, and learn how! You can load the CUE sheet of what you imaged, and burn to CD exactly what you imaged. Very cool, free, and very high powered. The new version of the software that you'll get, has some neat "wizards" so newbies can get around some of the technical stuff with ease.

    CDRwin, I would use if your CDRW is not compatable with EAC's burn utilities that are built in. Problem is, CDRWin is not free, and has a burn limit of 1X speed unless you purchase it. Still, if you can't burn what you image with EAC, it's worth a try. You'll know that EAC isn't compatable with your hard drive when you get errors that say "Write Error - Send CUE Sheet or Write Parameter Page error". But EAC is friendly with most every CDR drive out there now. Don't forget to log on to EAC's website and check out their FAQ and stuff.

    If you rather use Adaptec or "It came in the box" products to use with your CDRW drive, as long as you've installed the ASPI for XP layer sucessfully, most any CDR software will work now. Again, don't install the ASPI layer software if you're not an XP user.

    See how you do and report back. Enjoy!
     
  5. jligon

    jligon Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Peoria, IL
    Thanks for the informative response.
    You're AWESOME!!

    -Jon
     
  6. Sckott

    Sckott Hand Tighten Only.

    Location:
    South Plymouth, Ma
    Both the force-ASPI layer software and EAC can fit on floppies seperately. Very convenient. Hail non-bulk software that's free and works great!
     
  7. Richard Feirstein

    Richard Feirstein New Member

    Location:
    Albany, NY
    Both Nero 5.5 and several revised versions of Direct CD run great under XP. I was up last night backing up my wave file CD's of unreleased material to my HD to create new CD-R's using Nero. CD-RW writting software is part of XP. Fee updates are available from both venders on the web.:D
     
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