# Some questions about DVD-R's **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 28, 2001, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-about-dvd-rs/78545 "2001-08-28T16:43:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2001, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-about-dvd-rs/78545/1 "2001-08-28T16:43:52Z")
I’ve seen a lot of advertising for DVD burners lately. 1. Do they work well? 2. It says it can hold 4.7 gig of data or 650 minutes of music. If you put music on there, can a cd-player read it? Can you convert mp3’s to cd-format and play the discs in a normal player? 3. Can you make spare copies of DVD movies you own? I’m just curious about the new technology. I’m not actually going to buy one until I get a new computer, though. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2001, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-about-dvd-rs/78545/2 "2001-08-28T16:50:08Z")
> [@](#): > > 1. Do they work well? Pretty well. I have one and have used it a little, for both video and storage. > [@](#): > > 1. It says it can hold 4.7 gig of data or 650 minutes of music. If you put music on there, can a cd-player read it? Can you convert mp3’s to cd-format and play the discs in a normal player? No. It will store music as data files on the DVD (e.g. MP3s) but you cannot play it in a CD player. You can record video to the DVD (with video authoring software like [iMovie](http://www.apple.com/imovie/) or [DVD Studio Pro](http://www.apple.com/dvdstudiopro/) and it will play in a normal DVD player. It’s pretty cool. > [@](#): > > 1. Can you make spare copies of DVD movies you own? No. Commercial DVDs are obnoxiously encrypted for this purpose\*. ---
**Author:** ![bernse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2001, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-about-dvd-rs/78545/3 "2001-08-28T17:10:49Z")
Can you record audio (like a CD - not MP3) and then play it in your DVD player as audio? ---
**Author:** ![Kamandi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5daacb/32.png) [@Kamandi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamandi)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2001, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-about-dvd-rs/78545/4 "2001-08-28T17:20:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bernse \* > \*\*Can you record audio (like a CD - not MP3) and then play it in your DVD player as audio? \*\* Don’t see why not. Aren’t songs recorded on commercial CDs just WAV files? If so, you could record your music on a DVD-R as WAV files and play them on your stereo’s DVD player. You couldn’t get as much music on the DVD, though, because MP3s are compressed, and WAVs are not. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2001, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-about-dvd-rs/78545/5 "2001-08-28T19:10:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kamandi \* > Aren’t songs recorded on commercial CDs just WAV files? Not exactly. They are uncompressed samples audio, yes, but not really the same thing. But you could certainly record music on a DVD as an audio track with no video to go with it and you could then play that on your DVD player.