Hi, I am a newbie here, but I would not say I was a newbie when it comes to CDs/DVDs in general.  I have been searching for the answer to the question "how do I burn flawless, and highly compatible audio cd-rs?" for a long time, without much success.  The main issues for me are which CD-Rs to use, and what speed to burn.  I have tried quite a few CD-Rs for music including TDK, Philips, Sony, Verbatim, Verbatim Audio CD-Rs (which I later discovered WEREN'T called "Audio CD-Rs" because they were better for burning music, but because they were for use in HiFi Audio CD recorders only, oops) and of course, Taiyo Yuden. 
 
Anyway, onto my strange problem, I have read that the best speed to burn CD-Rs at is the max, or close to what it is rated at, because burning more slowly may actually cause more problems.  I have also read that you should burn as slow as possible.  And, or course I have read that you should burn somewhere in between.  If anyone out there can enlighten me as to which of these options is the best for music CDs, I would be very greatful. 
 
So I burnt a CD on one of my new Taiyo Yudens (and yes there are official) at 4x.  Unsurprisingly it skipped in my car CD player, which was frustrating, but not a major problem as it was half-expected.  So I was playing it back here on my PC and it skipped in the same place.  I have never noticed one of my burnt audio CDs skip on my PC before.  So I check the original file on my PC - flawless.  Bad burn I thought.  So I try burning at the max (48x - which is what the CD-Rs are rated at), at this point I was beginning to believe that faster was better...  But my second burn skipped in exactly the same place on my PC.  This really got me!  And just for good measure, a burn at 16x skipped at the same place as well.  As I say, the original source file is perfect.
There are no marks or scratches on any of the CD-Rs.  I really can't get my head round this.  Does anyone have a clue how this can happen?  Thanks

Tom,

    What burning program are you using, because this could be the problem, it sounds like a .dll file could be corrupted.

    Also, I am an avid collector of music, and you would probably faint if I told you how many audio CD's I have, and I have backed up each one.

    On to your question.  I always burn music at 24x no matter what the writer max speed is.  I have never had a problem with doing this, and I have backups that are years old (I test frequently) and they don't have problems.

   

(in reply to tomdrayson)

You didn't mention your burner type or any of your system specs... But a couple of things:

• Defrag your hard disc before burning.
  
• Turn off any on-access virus scanning before burning.

Are your source files mp3's or WAV files?  What application are you using?

(in reply to tomdrayson)

Hi, thanks for your reply, sorry I forgot a few golden rules :S

System Specs
Pentium 4 3.6
2x250GB Seagate Barracuda HDDs
2GB RAM
Pioneer DVR-110 (latest firmware)

XP SP2

I defragged both my HDs last week.  Software is Nero 7, source files are WAVs ripped from a bought CD (I want a backup for my car) which play perfectly in Windows Media Player, Winamp etc.  My OS is on a different HD from the files, could this make a difference?  Norton Anti-Virus Auto Protect was turned on.  I'll try again with it turned off tomorrow.

Thanks

(in reply to SithTracy)

Latest Nero v7.0.1.4b?

Is you page file on the same disc as the source wav files?

Can you try to burn the disc with Winamp or another burning program to rule out Nero?  Don't get me wrong, Nero works fine for me, but a lot of folks have issues with it.  However, I am old school and still burn my audio discs with Golden Hawk CDRWIN and build my cue sheets with David Ching's CDRCue 2004.

(in reply to tomdrayson)

Hi, the version is 7.0.1.4, don't think it's "b".  I have just tried burning with Norton off, and at 24x just for a bit of variation (with Nero).  Same thing again.  I'll try with Winamp or Windows Media Player instead. 
Thanks

(in reply to SithTracy)

Just a thought... change the layout of the disc... move the songs around a bit... My worry is that the rails the laser runs on may not be greased up enough or there is a slight bur or something that the recording pickup is 'hiccuping' on...  Did the problem just start for you or has it been going for sometime?

(in reply to tomdrayson)

That's a good thought.  The problem has only started in the last few days to the best of my knowledge.  If there is something wrong with my burner, what can I do to rectify it?

(in reply to SithTracy)

Tom, were these MP3 files?  If so, I have posted a PLUGIN pack, because there was a problem with a .dll file in Nero 7.0.1.4 series.....  The PLUGIN pack should fix the problem.

(in reply to tomdrayson)

Hi Mogul, the file in question is infact a WAV file, ripped direct from source.  I would download the plugin pack anyway, but I can't work out how to get it from your post!

(in reply to MP3Mogul)

It voids your warranty, but you could remove the cover off the drive and add a white lithium grease to the drive rails.  Some years ago, I saved my first drive by doing that (a RICOH MP-6200S) and one of my co-workers is still using the drive today... He's a nostalgia freak, I guess.  I would try other software first.

One more thought... Double-check the drive in device manager and insure the proper Ultra DMA mode on the IDE Controller.

(in reply to tomdrayson)

@Mogul, I just realised that I missed your first post, sorry!  May I ask which CD-Rs you use to backup your audio CDs?
Thanks

(in reply to MP3Mogul)

Not sure what MP3Mogul uses, but I use Verbatim and Fuji (Taiyo Yuden).

(in reply to tomdrayson)

OK thanks.  As for device manager - I have 2 Primary IDE Channels and a Secondary IDE Channel, which is weird, because both my HDDs are SATA.  Anyway, one Primary IDE channel is "Multi-Word DMA Mode 2", the other is Ultra DMA 5, and the Secondary channel is Ultra DMA 5.  The location of the DVD-RW drive is 0 (0) but I'm not sure where that means!  Page file is on the drive with the file on, although there is also a small page file on my C: drive as well.
Anyway, it's nearly 2am here in the UK so thank you for all your help everybody and I'll talk to you tomorrow!

(in reply to SithTracy)

Not sure what the Pioneer supports, but should be UltraDMA... I assume you are using a 80-conductor IDE cable... make sure you are and go over again with us the devices you have on your IDE (PATA) chains.  We are not concerned with SATA right now.

(in reply to tomdrayson)

Yeh I am using an 80-conductor cable.  I have one IDE cable with a the Pioneer as Master and a Lite-On DVD-ROM as Slave - cable select.  I can only assume one of the other IDE channels is for my floppy drive?  Not sure about the third.

(in reply to SithTracy)