CD Bruning problem (1 Viewer)

[Mike Fassler]

for a really good brand, check out the FujiFilm discs.they are the best ive ever used and I never buy anything else anymore.
Ive been using the fujifilms for about 2 years now and I burn many cd's they are well worth the cost.

 

[Ken Chui]

I'll try to decipher what I can.

ATIP is an acronym for Absolute Time In Pre-groove. This info is encoded into every CD-R disc; without it, the disc cannot be used by a CD burner. The numbers, if I'm not mistaken, refer to the capacity of the disc. In the case of your disc, the maximum capacity is 97 minutes and 26 seconds. The '66f' refers to the lead-in start time frame, I think.

CMC Magnetics Corp. is a Taiwanese-based CD-R manufacturer.

Short strategy is tied to the write method based on the type of dye used, i.e. the length of the write pulse is short for Phthalocyanine-based CD-Rs.

There are five different types of CD dye that are used in the manufacturing of CD-Rs: Advanced PhthaloCyanine, Formazan, Cyanine, Metallized Azo and PhthaloCyanine. The type of dye used and the reflection layer combine to produce the colour at the bottom of the CD-R, i.e. transparent, blue, green or gold. Here is an article link that provides a comprehensive look at properties of the dyes and which manufacturers use which.

One thing I've learned is that brand loyalty, as CD-Rs go, should be set aside. CD-Rs are manufactured by a dozen different companies and then re-labelled for other companies, i.e. TDK CD-Rs aren't necessarily produced by TDK themselves; the last spindle of TDK CD-Rs I bought were actually manufactured by CMC Magnetics Corp. In fact, my TDK 48x CD-RW drive has write problems with this batch of CMC-made, TDK-labelled CD-Rs.

Much in the same way that CD-Rs are licensed for production by other companies, the same is also true of CD/DVD drives. I know that my TDK writer is actually based on a Lite-On drive mechanism, which are generally reliable but are well-documented as being unfriendly towards CD-Rs manufactured by CMC Magnetics Corp. Actually, CMC's track record where discs are concerned is very poor, i.e. they will generate more write/read errors than discs produced by Ritek or Mitsubishi Chemicals Corporation, for example.

There is no way to know who the manufacturer of your CD-Rs are until the shrinkwrap is removed and you run CD Identifier on one of the discs; by then, it's usually an expensive mistake on your part. How do you minimize the likelihood of picking up a bad batch of blank CD-Rs? Personally, I avoid any and all CD-Rs with a "Made In Taiwan" label (chances are, if it's from Taiwan, it's made by CMC). Those with a "Made In Japan" label are likely to have originated from Taiyo Yuden or Mitsubishi Chemicals Corporation, both manufacturers with excellent track records in quality, consistency and reliability. Ritek-produced CD-Rs are also very good; some would rank it just behind Taiyo Yuden.

Taiyo Yuden's reputation is deserved; as such, their discs tend to command a premium over just about everyone else. How do you acquire TY CD-Rs without paying top-end prices? There are companies who license their name on TY discs, one of them being FujiFilm. As a caveat, FujiFilm has their CD-Rs manufactured in both Japan and Taiwan; the ones you want are made in Japan (which are likely produced by TY).

You can also buy the genuine goods from TY. I picked up a 100-disc spindle of TY discs for under $30 shipped from Neato a few months back after a 20% off coupon was applied. You can also wait for a sale on FujiFilm CD-Rs from Best Buy. I've picked up two spindles of 50 each in the past three months for under $20 after mail-in rebates. I'm sure others here can recommend some of their favourite sites for buying blank CD-Rs.

 

[Ken Chui]

burnatonce is freeware and comes highly recommended.

There are 30-day trial programs that I can recommend, but you will need to pay a registration fee once the trial period expires. I still give the nod to Nero; version 5 has all of the features you'll need for an older writer for ~$10.

 

[Dan Mertz]

If I understand you correctly, are you saying that "Music CD-R's" can't be used for data storage? I have used them for data storage with no problems.

 

[Ken Chui]

Music (audio) CD-Rs can be used in the same manner as data CD-Rs in a PC CD-RW drive; however, data CD-Rs cannot be used in standalone consumer CD recorders because they're missing encoded copyright information on the CD-R disc which would identify them as 'music (audio) CD-Rs'. This is part of the reason why you pay a premium on music (audio) CD-Rs than regular data CD-Rs.