Does anyone have any advise on purchasing a cd burner?
Do they really work for recording music and is the quality still there. And what are some good features to have and whats the price.
I can’t give you advice on particular models; when I bought one I went for the lowest priced one that was made by a brand that I was comfortable with. You can check http://www.pricewatch.com for a good place to start.
I have a 4x4x16 drive, which means 4x write, 4x rewrite, and 16x read. If you plan on using the drive with any regularity, I’d recommend getting the fastest one you can afford. Some drives may be listed like 6x4x16. Typically, the lowest number will be the rewrite speed (for CD-RWs), the next lowest is the write speed (for CD-Rs), and the highest number is for read speed (of any format). Other than speed there really aren’t any other features to worry about, except the interface - SCSI or IDE. SCSI’s a lot more expensive and requires a separate controller. The advantage is that it requires less overhead from the CPU. However, you’re probably best off sticking with IDE (actually, ATAPI).
The quality of music you record is not determined by the CD-R drive, but by the source. So, for example, if you’re making a copy of a CD, the copy will be identical to the original. If you’re converting MP3 files to a CD playable on an audio CD player, the quality of the MP3 recording determines the final quality of the CD. The only time you really need to worry about it is if you use the analog input on your soundcard to create MP3s or WAVs and then copy those files to CD. If that’s the case, I’d recommend investing in a high-quality soundcard (not just one that’s good for games, but one that’s designed for low noise and flat frequency response) with a good A/D converter. I believe Turtle Beach makes some decent, reasonably priced cards. You might want to check http://www.deja.com or http://www.epinions.com for ideas for which cards to get.
I screwed up the link for Turtle Beach. Try this one:
When you record a CD from a CD it is an exact copy. There is no loss in data. The best price/performace would be an ATAPI internal CD-R. CD_R’s are so cheap that you don’t need to worry about CD_RW, just burn and toss. Make sure that it comes with burning software or else it will cost you around $70 for it separately.
Plextor is the way to go right now, dude.
The Plextor PlexWriter 12/10/32A is the bomb. Unlike most IDE writers, the Plexwriter uses software control (called BURN-Proof) to interrupt the writing process if there is a buffer overflow. The extra money you spend (about $250 total) will pay off in time and a helluva lot fewer coasters.
I’m sorry. That was Dr. Evil who wrote that review.
***Why do they call copying a CD, “burning?” That slang phrase really irritates me. I’m not sure why, but I just think it sounds bad. “Hey I’ll burn ya a copy of my new U2 cd.” ecch
Because you use a laser to burn the bits into the disc. It’s hardly slang.
Bonus points to anyone who can tell me what LASER stands for.
Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation
This will probably be simulposted:
Light Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation.
Lasers were the offshoot of MASERS, Microwave Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation.
I would point out that if you mainly want to copy from analog sources, it might be better to get a component CD-Recorder, that plugs into your stereo like a tapedeck.
However, you cannot make CD-ROM’s and the disks are slightly more expensive. (Since I you are paying a royalty with the home audio CDR, does that mean that I can legally copy other people’s stuff?)
One big advantage is that anyone in your home, not just the computer geeks, can burn CD’s.
Actually, most CD players have little trouble reading .WAV files. .WAVs can have about the same information density as the original digital recording, so unlike MP3s, there is very little loss in sound quality.
I strongly recommend the Hewlett Packard CD drives for ease of hardware and software installation, and reliability of the drive. But their software manuals, that used to be very good, now suck because they are entirely electronic. And I just don’t care for that. If the computer is off, or dead, you can’t read the damn manual unless you already printed it all out.
Otherwise, it’s been perfect.
The above recommendations have all been good, but I would like to add that Yamaha drives are well-known for being stable, reliable, and well-designed. My old Yamaha 2260 CD-RW is chugging along quite nicely (though slowly by today’s standards) after a few years.
HP and Plextor are also great drives as others have mentioned.
The first one I got was a cheap HP one & I don’t even know which model it was but it was like $129.00 Now they have Memorex for $99 after rebate on the net. So, go & buy one.
Another great thing about CD-R drives is that they aren’t just for music - you can back up 650MB of info on them. Compare that to a 1.44MB floppy…or a 100MB zip disc that you’d pay more than $15 for.