Hey there,
I've been making audio CDs for many years now on Nero, and have never had any troubles.
Quite a few months ago, I upgraded my PC (built from scratch, LITE-ON 52x24x52x + WinXP pro SP1 - that's probably all the info you need to know), and also purchased a 50pack spindle of Lite-On Gold CDRs.
Now, every so often an audio CD that I've written has a great problem seeking between tracks (in fact, even the transition from one track to the next causes a problem - a long pause as the laser does something, and then the song starts a second or so into the song, as well as the same problem when skipping tracks on a CD).
I write them at 52x, so I thought this was the problem.
I dropped the writing speed to 12x (the speed of my old Ricoh burner), and this seemed to fix it for a while - but as this isn't a continual problem, I wasn't so sure. And sure enough, after a while it happened again.
So I was thinking that maybe it was the media - and was going to buy a TDK gold spindle; but then found out (using the medium info dialog box in EAC) that both brands are made by CMC Magnetics Corporation. So I guess that it isn't to do with brands, as I've heard from a few sources that TDK make very good CDRs.
Or am I wrong?
Today I had the idea that maybe it could possibly have something to do with the ASPI layer. From memory I installed the Adaptec ASPI layer when I built the PC - could it somehow conflict with Nero? Am I best off using the Adaptec, Ahead, or WinXP ASPI?
Any more ideas? I've wasted so many CDs on this.
Thank you kindly!

Any ASPI layer above 4.60 with WinXP has been viewed as "unstable" with very many users.

Laffin has been kind enough to provide us a complete package, with an ASPI checker, and a fix. Simply download the file below. One word of caution, follow the instructions "EXACTALLY" as they are written in the zip file, and you'll have no problems. This will return you to an ASPI layer of 4.60 (the one deemed most stable with WinXp)

You can download it HERE

(in reply to JadeMonkee)

Thanks heaps for your prompt reply,
I ran ASPIchk, but it returned that I already had 4.6.0.1021 installed.
Thank you again (I wanted to get a copy of ASPIchk, so thanks for that alone), but have you any other ideas?

(in reply to JadeMonkee)

Have you tried playing the problematic AudioCDs in a non-PC player?
Also check if the DMA is enabled for your LiteOn drive.

(in reply to JadeMonkee)

CMC are just too variable - it has been shown that they ARE capable of making adequate media, they just don't succeed often enough.

Seek out CDR Doctor or KPROBE, and do some C1/C2 error testing.

(in reply to JadeMonkee)

quote:

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Have you tried playing the problematic AudioCDs in a non-PC player?
Also check if the DMA is enabled for your LiteOn drive.

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Regarding playing the CDs on a non PC player, I haven't actually tried playing them on my PC. They screw up on all the different
stereos around my house, and, yes DMA is enabled.

quote:

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CMC are just too variable - it has been shown that they ARE capable of making adequate media, they just don't succeed often enough.

Seek out CDR Doctor or KPROBE, and do some C1/C2 error testing

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Is there any way I can complain to CMC? Coz I shouldn't have to put up with this.
I'm just getting KPROBE now, I'll report back with whatever it comes up with.

(in reply to JadeMonkee)

I ran the test on the CD. Unfortunately, I have nowhere to host the image file, but the summary of the disc is:

   Max.   Total   Avg
C1  12     1263    0.348
C2  0      0       0.000

I don't think this told me anything new. I mean, I already knew the disc was crap.
Does it confirm that it is purely the media's fault?

EDIT: I jsut read this at cdfreaks.com

quote:

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In VERY general terms any C1 average count under 10 might be acceptable, but higher values are not always the end of the world either. But, on CDR's we prefer to see avarage C1 counts under 2, with max counts under 20.

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So judging by that, it's saying that my Media isn't so bad.
I don't think this program is helping...

(in reply to JadeMonkee)

Nero CDSpeed just returned 0 errors.
I'm guessing that it only returns C2 errors.

You know what is weird? If I make a copy of the crap CD in EAC, and burn it, it plays fine. How weird is that?
Also none of the Lite-On discs can play in my friends Kenwood home stereo (From memory it's a Kenwood).
So in short, I guess it's been confirmed. The Lite-On discs are crap.
As they are made by CMC, do you think I should shy away from TDK, as they are also CMC?
Any other recommended brands?

(in reply to JadeMonkee)

AAAAH!!
I just burnt another CD, and now it doesn't play in my CD player witout the annoying scanning between tracks.
The tracks that it pauses between seem to be in teh middle of the discs, and after trying it in my brothers stereo, he doesn't have the problem.
My stereo is about 5 years old and a SONY. I've never had any problems with it or with burnt CDs before these Lite-On CDs and burner.
My brothers stereo is about 3 years old and also a SONY (It also supports CD-TEXT), it has no problems scanning through the CDs. I was so sure that last time this happened that it suffered the same problem, but I guess I'm not so sure now.
I'm really unhappy with this...

EDIT: I also thought I should say that these are home compilation CDs. I don't know if it happens with a straight copy, as I seldom copy albums.

(in reply to JadeMonkee)

Personally I prefer Taiyo Yuden (TY) media, they are manufactured in Japan, and found under "various" names. To be certain, look near the UPC code when purchasing this media, and you will see where it is manufactured at. Usually, the Japan ones are TY, and they also work well with the LiteOn burner.

(in reply to JadeMonkee)

You don't think it's a SW (i.e. Nero) thing?
Definately bad media?
We shouldn't have to put up with this...

Thank you very much for all your info.

(in reply to JadeMonkee)

ok, after giving up and burning another copy of the CD, I'm faced with the same problem.
This is getting ridiculous.
How can so many CDs be duds?
Do they have no quality control?

(in reply to JadeMonkee)

You haven't mentioned if you have tried several different brands of media, or I overlooked... Try several different brands of media, and see if your results are the same.

(in reply to JadeMonkee)

I haven't tried different brands yet, as I haven't wanted to buy any more CDs after buying a 50pk. I now have ,10 left in teh pack, so I'm going to go buy some different brands this week and see what happens.
Thanks again for all you help.

(in reply to JadeMonkee)

purchase some small amounts of various ones, this will give you an idea of what will work for your drive. Please post back and let us know your results.

(in reply to JadeMonkee)

Keep the speed down, some players seen much happier with a slow burned CD, despite a good C1 error rate when you read in the burner - for good audio burns, try keeping to a CLV speed on the writer - eg. 16x maximum.

Finding drive/media/settings to please a particular player can be difficult.

If an EAC copy worked ok, try assembling the tracks in EAC (Burn CD) - there is some debate as to HOW different software could influence the result, but it does seem to be an observed phenomenon that different software does seem to influence the quality and acceptability of the burn - no idea how, but there does seem to be grain of truth in it somewhere.

(in reply to JadeMonkee)