General CD burner question... (1 Viewer)

[Joe Cortez]

I hope this is the right forum for this question...

A friend of mine is looking to purchase a CD burner and was wondering if it was possible to listen to the original source CD while he was burning onto a blank CD.

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Not that I've ever seen. It would require dual lasers, one for burning and one for reading, and I don't know of anyone that makes anything like that.

Besides, what's the point? Most people burn at reduced times (4x, 8x etc.), so it would sound pretty funny.

 

[Andrew Pratt]

True but isn't audio on CD played back at 1X?

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Andrew, how can a CD being burned at at 8x be simultaneously monitored in real-time?

 

[Joe Cortez]

I don't know, it could actually make some music listenable...

Thanks for all the info and help!

 

[LanceJ]

Joe: are you asking about a computer-based burner or a standalone burner?

I don't own any kind of burner right now :frowning: but if recording on a standalone at 1X speed I don't see why you couldn't listen to the playback CD.

Personally speaking, seeing how so many people ask for help with computer-based burners, I have no desire to own this type (and I've seen more difficult-to-play copies made with computer-based burners than, well, I've never seen a copy made on a standalone not play correctly). With most dual-tray recorders, to copy a CD you just load each tray, and push one button to record--that's it. Sooooo easy. And the price of music CD-Rs is barely more nowadays than regular ones so that's no big deal anymore.

Here's a TDK burner deck I've been considering; it has received good reviews. It ain't real attractive but hey, if it does the job......

TDK DA-5900

The above link also has a very informative section on how to record from vinyl.

LJ

 

[Andrew Pratt]

You couldn't I was merely commenting on the fact that CD playback is at 1X.

Actually come to think of it it *might* be possible if the CD player has a headphone jack on it and you ripped at 1X. I tried to test it on my work PC but neither the burner nor CD Rom drives headphone jacks appear to be working.

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Wow, what a goof. I just noticed that Joe's friend wants to listen to the original CD while he's burning a copy. I thought he was wanting to monitor the one that was being burned, like you used to be able to do with a three-head cassette deck. Doh!

Sorry 'bout that! :b

 

[Joe Cortez]

I should have mentioned that I was asking about a standalone CD Burner.

Thanks for the recommendation, Lance.

 

[Cary_H]

LanceJ....I'll start by saying that I don't know the first thing about standalone burners, but I have a couple of things that have me skeptical of them versus computer-based burners.
1) I'd sure want to know just how decent their ripping software is and what the source drives are capable of. Can they create an image of bin. files and it's cue sheet?
2)How do they deal with errors they read on the source disc?
3)What happens when you feed them an enhanced CD?
4)What if you feed them a disc with protection?
5)Are they capable of copying PC game discs?
6)Can their firmware be flashed to upgrade their applications?
7)Can their codecs give you a disc of MP3s? Do their offer a variety of codecs to choose from?
8)Are their burners capable of overburning?

Just wondering.

 

[LanceJ]

Cary_H: Those seem to be all special application things (and #5 I'm not even going to touch!). I, and I suspect most people, just want to make personal copies of CDs for themselves without a lot of fuss. And I personally want a burner mostly for copies for car use and secondarily, for making compilations.

For computer-oriented people I'm quite sure PC burners are the way to go but from what I see most of their attraction is special features that most people would hardly ever use or even want (sorry!). I've seen way too many electronic devices (not just computers) go unused because they are stuffed wth all kinds of specialty features that simply got in the way of the day-to-day "normal" features and the owner just got fed up with the entire machine & shoved it in the corner. And how many basically useful devices aren't bought at all because of this? Methinks this "choice" thing is getting out of hand. Hell, Taco Bell used to be sooooo easy to deal with, but now it's "Ya want that?" or "Ya want this with that but without this?" Oh gawd please just gimmee a couple standard tacos and a beef burrito--anymore of this and I'm involuntarily going to curl up in the fetal position and start rocking back & forth!

Anyway:

1) I'd sure want to know just how decent their ripping software is and what the source drives are capable of. Can they create an image of bin. files and it's cue sheet?

Do you also worry about whether or not your receiver's Dolby Digital decoder has good decoding software? Like any piece of equipment, I am sure if you buy from a reputable company, the copy will be made properly. And the second part, I have no idea what that means. Are you talking about a Compact Disc or another type of disc?

2) How do they deal with errors they read on the source disc?

How well does a PC burner deal with errors?

3) What happens when you feed them an enhanced CD?

I honestly have no idea, but all the regular CD players I use around the house just ignore that section so I'll assume standlones will do the same, i.e. no problems will occur. And that stuff is just bonus material anyway so its no big deal if the burner couldn't copy it.

4) What if you feed them a disc with protection?

No idea yet. Do you know (I'm really asking)? And I think most protection schemes are designed to prevent ripping from PC drives anyway--I don't listen to MP3s (yet--see below) so this is no big deal to me.

5) N/A!

6) Can their firmware be flashed to upgrade their applications?

What applications? I'm just making copies of CDs, a 22 year old format.

7) Can their codecs give you a disc of MP3s? Do their offer a variety of codecs to choose from?

Me no listen to MP3s And if I ever do, it will be via a small player using a solid-state memory or hard drive (iPod, etc) and even my dumpy three old Compaq can do that right now with no burner of any kind needed.

8) Are their burners capable of overburning?

Doubtful. But since a standard store-bought CD won't have content past the CD format's mandated limits this won't be a problem.

Like I said, I just want to make copies of my CDs.

LJ

 

[Cary_H]

Thanks for your reply Lance.
I had put together a rather lengthy post in response....BUT NOTHING PISSES ME OFF MORE THAN LOSING IT AFTER BEING TIMED OUT ON THIS SITE!!!!!
I guess I ought to have copied and pasted it in from somewhere else.
Anyway...it all comes down to what floats your boat. Standalones don't sound all that versatile to me. OTOH, it sounds like yours meets all your needs.
You are who you are, I am who I am.
Fair enough.

 

[JohnnyCasaba]

Well you can pick up a decent PC CD/RW just about every weekend from Best Buy, Circuit City, Staples etc. for $20.00 or less after rebate. Hell I picked up one for a friend on Black Friday for free after rebate.

 

[Pete Gia]

I have a Tascam CDRW4U. Check it out at Link Removed click on CDRW4U in the drop-down box. This is a stand-alone burner that will record from any digital or analog source. Unlike a consumer dual-deck,you can use data cdr`s and make copies from the copy. Record speed is 1x. You can monitor while recording. You can hook to a computer if so desired. This guy never fails. Cheapest price I found was 8th Street Music $389 delivered. Good Luck, Pete

 

[Dave Pobuda]

I have a JVC XL-R5000 Stand alone CD changer/recorder. And yes, I can listen to the CD while recording to a blank disc. Also since it is a 3 cd changer I can put in three disc's and select which tracks I want to rip to my blank. It has digital in & out. I have my Sony CDP-CX400 mega changer using the digital in and can record any of the disc's from that source as well. Works great is real simple. Drop a blank in...select my source...choose the tracks and it works everytime. Unlike the CD burner in my computer

Hope this helps.

Dave

 

[Mike Veroukis]

@LanceJ,

The thing with the stand-alones is that they don't reveal much in terms of the finer detail like Cary_H was inquiring about. On the computer the hardware is more or less as good or better then any stand-alone, and a user can then use the software with the features they need. One computer, with one CD burner could be loaded with several burning software apps, all with different special features. On a standalone, if it fails to copy a CD or a track, you're screwed. On the PC you just keep trying different software and parameters until you get it.

Generally speaking, you could copy most things quite easily with something called CloneCD. It's pretty straight forward and will defeat many copy protection schemes. However, if that's not simple enough, and quality is less of an issue, then Roxio's (used to be Creative) Easy Cd Creator suite of burner apps has a "stand-alone" CD copier. With this you place a CD in the reader drive, a blank in the burner, and then click the "Copy" button and away you go. Couldn't be simpler.

My guess is that all those stand alones are nothing more then two PC drives and a simplified PC with proprietary software built in. I'm sure it works fine, but I couldn't justify the cost when a cheap PC costs about as much!

EDIT: To get back on topic for a bit... Technically it's possible to listen to the music that's being copied, but the software would need to be written to do this. As far as I know, no software supports such a feature - nor do I expect any software to ever support such a feature. The advantage of modern computers is that they can copy a full CD in under 5 minutes. In this case, there's no reason for such a feature since you can be listening to the copy in your car within 10 minutes (as opposed to waiting around for about an hour waiting for the burn to finish up).

- Mike