Blank CD-R's - 2 questions

Sounds like a dead deal...thanks for the tip.

 

I tried the 99 minutes cds from CompUsa on a whim. I used it with my Lite-On 32x burner. I got about 91 minutes on the cd safely.... but... you have to burn at slower speeds (4-8x) and with the disc I made that actually worked, on my players, after about track 26 or 27 (approximately 85 minutes in to the disc) you could not access the tracks directly. I used Nero to burn the cd. The disc does play all the way to the end with no problems other than the access problem. By the way, in my car it plays perfectly.

The nice part is with 99 min discs you can fit some of those 2 cd sets that are just over the 80 minute mark on 1 cd (for instance... my copy of the MFSL "The Wall" fits nicely and plays perfectly at 84 minutes.

 

I've overburned 80 minute CDs by up to 2 minutes reliably. Beyond that, the last track usually gets chopped--I get nervous once I get beyond 1-1/2 minutes past the end.

Yeah, I forgot to mention that those 99-minute CD-Rs are spotty in what they'll play in. That's what made me hesitate about buying them.

Anyone try those Verbatim "vinyl" CD-Rs yet? Neat little novelty, but pricey. I've also wanted to get some of those black CD-Rs...just because they look cool.

 

The Verbatim "vinyl" and black CD-rs are the same as all else.

 

I probably can't use 90 or 99 minute CD'Rs. I read in an other newsgroup that Easy CD Creator does not support overburning.

 

There are many other programs that will if you have the need.

 

Nero does, but your burner has to as well. Even then, you take a chance on damaging your burner.

 

That is correct. Overburning are for people who know they're pushing it. It's nice to have Pink Floyd's "The Wall" MFSL all on one CD though. Nice for the car!

Nero is a wonderful tool...

 

Even if your burner and the software supports it, you are still at the mercy of the blank you use.

Let's not even forget that some players may not play the end of the disc.

Overburning is probably more trouble than it's worth.

 

CDRWIN will as well. I have a few 90 minute blanks given to me by a co-worker a while back. I ought to try them out.

 

I've only had a problem with overburning when I've gone more than a couple of minutes past the end. If I stay under 81:30 on my burner, I never have a problem in any player I've put them in. That's nice for when I make that perfect compilation and find the timing of it to come out as 80:22.

I haven't overburned using CD Architect, but I think it's possible there as well.

 

I think the Red Book specification is 90 seconds of lead-out. So it looks like you can use it up with an 80 minue blank with your writer/software/blanks. Have you ever tried to overburn more data with media of higher capacity?

 

That's interesting. I have burn protection on all the time, and so far I've had no problem with errors. Can you elaborate on your point a little more, Grant, and tell me more about your experience here?

 

It works by making the laser pick up right where it left off if there was an interruption in the data stream from the buffer. Because of the way a CD-R is written, it actually writes errors onto the disc until the buffer is filled again. Since track-at-once works in essentially the same way, having the laser turned off and on between tracks, the discs written in either fashion are not red-book CDs. The Red-Book standard requires that the disc be written in one long spiral. This is also why a standalone burner cannot create redbook CDs if one does this one song at a time. Some consumer models won't even do red-book if just making a straight copy.

I never use burn-protection, and never burn faster than 8x for music, and 12x for data, and I never have buffer underruns as long as I keep my music drive defragmented.

If you use burn-protection and/or track-at-once, you are not making a red-book CD.

 

Sorry to be so dense here, but if the laser picks right up where it left off (that's certainly been my understanding of the process), how can it also write errors onto the disc until the buffer fills again?

 

It's the same as the laser turning off and on again. Errors are created at the point. This shouldn't matter in practice, but some players cannot negotiate the errors. That is why any CD not written with compliance to the red-book standard is not fully compatable with all CD players.

All burn-proof type technology does is allow people to burn CDs faster than what their computer may be able to handle. You might say it is all because of the speed wars and the user's impatience to have to wait for anything.

The Yamaha F1 gets points for having a 8 MB buffer, larger than most others on the market. It helps.

 

I see that Best Buy is offering a spindle of the AT&T CD-R's for $.99 after rebate this week.

I'm not going to do it, but maybe someone needs cheapo test discs.

 

Many people will buy them because they don't know any better and they want to save a buck. They will buy them because of the name AT&T. The discs will act up in some PC burner when one of these people try to burn it at top speed. Then the user will blame the CD burner or the PC.

 

I found the following companies using the same stampers and dye (exact) as AT&T:

Staples Brand CDRs
TDK
Sony

Grant's right; they suck at high speeds. Many CDRs do though, now'days.

 

Just another reason not to burn at the highest speed your burner can do, and pay attention to the burn speed rating on the disc!

But, as sad as the news is about who makes Sony blanks now, I do not have any problems with them at all. they seem robust and not one has failed me yet in the least. I hope they are wrong.

TDK still sucks, though.

 

I feel kinda stupid about this, but I can never find the recommended burn speed on any discs I buy. I know to burn at 8x because my drive will not go any slower.

 

I've burned all CD-Rs at 16x since the day I bought my CD-RW drive...never a problem. I still have a stash of older CD-Rs that need to be burned at a lower speed though.