I'm looking into buying a CD recorder and, thus, CD-R's as well.

Any model recommendations [nicely priced, por favor] and/or brand of CD-R recommendations? [Some CD-R's have been more friendly with my CD players than others....]

Thanks in advance!

Anyway, you should chose the brand of CD-R AFTER you have the burner. Some burners have problems with some CD-R brands, others have problems with others. When you buy a new burner, it will be best to buy a couple of different CD-R brands and try if any of them make problems.

Generally, I tend to stick with cheap CD-R brands, as long as I don't have bad experiences with that particular brand.

As for the burner, you'll have to tell us if you want a PC burner or a standalone recorder before we can give you more hints.

Yowzas! Maybe in Germany, Marian. Not in the U.S.A. Napster is a thing of the past.... the RIAA didn't like my 50 million friends.

Napster is an entirely different issue: On Napster, you shared your mp3 files with EVERYONE, not just with friends. As I understand it (and I've read at least parts of the Austrian laws about that), it is only legal if you make copies for friends.

All legal nonsense aside, I like the Memorex CDRs, and they almost never give me trouble.
And I have no problems with breaking laws I don't agree with (I wonder if that statement set off some FBI warning sirens somewhere... ).

I was just reading up at Best Buy and Circuit City.

Is it really true that I couldn't make copies of copies/compilations of music I make, etc?

Are PC CD-R's not compatible with separate cd recorders and vice-versa?

quote:

---

Originally posted by Bulldog:
Is it really true that I couldn't make copies of copies/compilations of music I make, etc?

---

Huh? Perhaps there are standalone recorders (as opposed to PC burners) that don't allow you to record form a source that has the Copyright flag set. The CD-Audio standard includes a flag that is set if the information on the disc is copyright-protected. With PC burners, some programs remind you that this is the case, but they don't refuse to make a copy.

quote:

---

Are PC CD-R's not compatible with separate cd recorders and vice-versa?

---

There are special "audio CD-Rs" that are labelled "special Audio quality" or something to that effect. In reality, they're just normal CD-Rs with a special flag. Standalone recorders check that flag and won't allow you to use CD-Rs without that flag (="normal" CD-R). PC burners will accept any type of CD-R, and as the only difference between those two types is the flag (and the price!), you'll simply go with the normal type.

quote:

---

Any more suggestions in general?

---

As I said, make sure you get a burner that makes exact digital copies and has a good error correction.

There's a good overview of the audio capabilities of many burners at the Feurio website (click "CD-Writer Database"), where you can also download the audio burning software Feurio for free. It won't burn data CDs (you'll have to install another program for that), but for audio CDs, it's the best application I know.

Like Marian, I'm also not impressed with HP CD-R/W quality. I don't know if quality has improved since I was shopping for a CD-R in late 1999.

For CD-R discs, I've had good luck with 74min Memorex (blue), 80min Fuji ('gold'), 80min PNY ('gold') and 80min TDK (blue). There are really only a handful of CD-R manufacturers out there (like VHS tapes) and other companies just put their brand on them. A good burner software will show you who the real manufacturer of the disc is, not that it really matters. I think the PNY discs I use are really made by Ricoh.

I made a handful of compilation albums that I listen to in my car. All you've got to do is 'r' the tracks off of your original CD to wave files on your hard disc. Then you can arrange them however you want in your favorite burner program or make edits with a sound editing program. You'll need a good amount of disc space though, at least 800 megs for about 70 minutes of CD quality audio. That's not an issue for most people with hard drives so cheap these days.

I pretty much stick with Memorex 80-minute and Verbatim 80-minute CDRs, though I did make the mistake of buying one of these "Music Only" CDRs. oops.

I make compilations and LP transfers for myself all the time, and I've never had a problem with it.

Some CDRs are very expensive. Probably they "life span" (is it the correct term?) are longer but I don't think it can offer you a better audio quality.

My software is Nero. I like this one. I would prefer Adaptec Easy CD Creator but it (or the crack) does not work on my PC.

If you want to know everything about CDRs click here:

http://www.cdrfaq.org/faq.html

quote:

---

Any more suggestions in general?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Soundtracker:
Even the MP3 256 KBps are not perfect audio quality.

---

But unless you are Superman, you can't tell the difference. Honestly.

quote:

---

Originally posted by JJH:
anyone know what the heck these "black CDRs" are to be used for?

---

"Black CDRs"? Perhaps you're talking about CD-RWs, the rewriteable type of CDR. These have a dark gray surface. My first burner had CD-RW support, but as I found out that I don't really need it, my current one doesn't (if Jonathan's burner also doesn't have CD-RW support, then we have the same model .

Regarding the CDR brand discussion, I don't think you can make general recommendations. It primarily depends on your burner and your CD player(s). Some burners have problems with certain brands, and some players have, too. Luckily, my old Yamaha and my new Teac seem to accept pretty much every brand, but I've heard of others that don't like a certain few brands. Also, my CD players seem to accept all brands, but my father couldn't play a few discs on his players.

Therefore, the thing to do is pick a good burner, buy a few brands of CDR, and try for yourself. The only brand I would generally advise you not to buy is "Network". I used to buy their CDRs all the time, until suddenly my burner couldn't write CDRs anymore. I thought it was defect and got a new one - same problem. In the end, it turned out that all my 30 Network CDRs were unusable. My old burner still works fine, I gave it to a friend.