Hello all… I hope you can answer a couple of questions. I’ve done some looking and can’t find the answers I need.
When burning a CD say from MP3’s converted to waves… is it better to use a lower number of burn times? What I mean is this… My burner is a CD-RW 4 x 4 x 24 burner, will the sound quality be different at 4x’s then if burned at 1x’s??? …and (same question) what about with Audio CD’s burned to disk?
Second… is there any difference in quality or durability between brand name blank CD-R’s and the generic bulk 50 for $20 no name blank CD-R’s??
If you can’t tell I’ve just recently started my “burning desire” as I call it.
OH! …and one more thing… the blank CD-R’s I bought say to use oil based felt tip markers to write on them. I’ve read that has something to do with the protective coating on the CD’s… Are Sharpie markers oil based? They don’t say.
The speed you burn at shouldn’t matter. Just make sure you’re burning with cd’s rated at equal or higher spin rates. For example, if your cd-rw spins at x4, make sure you buy disks rated at x4 or higher.
BUT ABOVE ALL!!! when you are doing the actual recording, make sure you don’t do anything else on your pc and MAKE SURE your screen saver doesn’t kick in. You don’t want anything that might cause a processor “hiccup” resulting in a nice shiny coaster for your next beverage instead of the latest Arch Enemy cd!
With my new Plextor 12X unit with “burn proof” the only thing that going to to “hiccup it” is shooting the computer regardless of how much junk the OS is taking care of.
I’ve found that when you buy the 50 packs at the great rate, a fraction (1/10, 1/8) will burn improperly or mess up. These figures are likely the highest mistake rates you will find because they’re taken from my first 25 or so uses with CD-R burning. I had 3 CDs that messed up, but I’m sure you’ll have far less if you make sure not to hit the Cancel button while it’s burning.
Best cheap CDs? Imation 80 minute 12x CDs. They’re very high quality, and only $30 for 50. Best deal in CDs. Usually, the brand won’t make TOO much of a difference on durability, but they make a huge difference on errors and especially compatibility. I’ve found that those with phylathacine dye (I have no idea if I spelled that right) are the best. CDs that use this dye to store the data include those Imation 12x, and Ricoh Platinum discs. I’m not sure of others, but there are other brands that use that dye. The dye is a very very light bluish green color. It’s almost silver, but not quite.
Well, I found this site: Marking Pens for Labeling CDs that says you should avoid inks that contain solvents. And according to this site, OSU Biological Sciences, Sharpies do have solvents and alcohol in them. It looks like you might be better off buying markers made specifically for CDs.
I don’t know if Sharpie markers are oil based. I do know that I have been using Sharpie markers to write on CDs for well over a year now and have had no problems.
I think it is just a scam to make you purchase a marker that is three times as expensive. I am loyal to Sharpies.
Whammo, don’t buy cheap cd’s. Buy one of the real ones, like Memorex, Sony, etc. 4x is pretty slow. Be sure the cd’s you buy support 4x. They say on the top. Basically, Don’t buy cd’s you can see thru.
I use Sharpie’s on my cd’s but Sharpie says not to. I think that its risky to use them on cheap cds.
Don’t put a label on your cd unless its specially made for cd’s as you can unbalance your cd. Like they do at BB stores.
For labeling I use CD Stomper Pro. It comes with labels that go right out to the edge and an applicator that makes sure that it’s centered right every time. This way I make CDs that astound friend and foe alike with their beauty. Really, it’s wonderful for labeling.
Really, it’s wonderful for labeling.