What do I need to know before I buy recordable CD? (1 Viewer)

[Paul D Young]

I'm thinking seriously of buying a CD player/recorder. Are there any special features I should look for or anything else I should know before I buy one? I will use it mainly for making CD copies from my Minidisc player.
Thanks.

 

[Joe Tompkins]

Paul,
SCMS may be your main concern, I don't know.
If your MD's were made from Digital sources you
won't be able to make a CDr from it digitally.
That being you'll need a deck with a good A to D
section.
Features to look for:
SCMS control
Digital Volume control
Quality AD/DA section
MP3 capability
Dub speed
Ability to use "cheap" recordable media.
Question:
Why abandon the Mini Disc???
Regards,
Joe T.

 

[Brian L]

In addition to issues of SCMS, there are other considerations as well.
There can be some serious compatibility issues between certain brands of recorders and certain brands of blank CD-R. There also appear to be some overall quality issues with some recorders in general.
You might take a peak at audioreview.com to see what I mean.
Best Regards,
Brian

 

[Paul D Young]

Thanks, and by the way, I would never abandon the Minidisc! It is my favorite recorder. I just have a bunch of recordings that I made off of the radio and TV and other video sources that sound great and are nicely edited. I think it would be convenient to make a straight dub of these so I can have the same recordings on CD because there are CD players everywhere I go but I'm the only one with the minidisc player.

 

[John Garcia]

for the price of most decent component CD/RW units, I put together a whole computer to do my burning, and it has a much higher transfer rate. Sound may not be as perfect as a stand alone component, but at least I can use the computer for other things...
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[James Q Jenkins]

Your utility for CD-R is fairly common among MD enthusiasts. I've read other people doing the same thing.
SCMS may be a major concern. Anything you have on MiniDisc that was copied from a digital source will not be digitally transferrable to CD. Only analog copying will work.
However, if your MDs are analog, they will copy digitally to any CD recorder perfectly.
Or alternately you could look at SCMS free professional CD-R machines. That would be an expensive solution though. Another good option would be a sound card with a digital in and a CD-R machine for your PC. This would offer you most flexibility but the least convenience compared to the "press record and forget it" of MD.
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-JQJ

 

[John Garcia]

Sony has a small mini-component MD with a USB port to connect to a PC. That would mean buying another component though.