Which CD burner to buy???

[Tatu]

I've been looking at CD-RW drives right now as a little early Christmas present for myself (OK, OK, call me a nerd whatever :) ).

Which one to choose? What brand is more reliable? Is (in)expensive always better? Any things I should look for like compatibility to lots of other progs?

My options advertised by BestBuy in no particular order:

1. Pacific Digital® 4x4x24 Internal CD-RW Drive
[nbsp][nbsp] PRICE: $129.99 (After $30 Mail-In Rebate)

2. Hewlett-Packard® 8x4x32 Internal CD-RW
[nbsp][nbsp] PRICE: $299.99

3.] Memorex 4x2x24 Speed EIDE (what is that?) CD-RW Drive
[nbsp][nbsp] PRICE: $139.70

Help me you guys! I don't know enough about these to accurately make an intellegent decision or compare!
Thanks ;)
-Tatu

[Justin]

HP's are well known. I have a couple of friends with different models of them - one paid around $800 for his about 3 years ago and I believe it's still in service...

I went cheap - didn't see any as cheap as you show though... but mine's an Acer 4x4x32 CD-RW, about 6 months old now, and works great :) Cost me (after digging out the Best Buy receipt) $229 - not the cheapest but not the most expensive either. I know Acer is a well known brand for CD ROM's... I also know Memorex makes crappy blank discs...

As for software compatibility, as long as it's a standard ATAPI drive (refering to reading I believe) it should work... I haven't had any trouble - for burning I just use the standard Adaptec software that came with it (plus Sound Forge CD Architect). For reading it supports direct audio extraction, is fast as heck (previous CD ROM was an 8x) and just plain works...

Oh, and I burned RedHat Linux 6.0 (2 CD's) w/o trouble, which I thought was kinda cool considering Windoze wouldn't even recognize the file format ;)

EIDE means it's a standard Enhanced IDE interface - hooks up like a standard hard drive (unlike SCSI or other interfaces).

Whatever you do, I recomend internal of course, and if you're replacing your old CD reader make sure the burner is fast enough for reading.

Oh, only prob with the HP's is (in my experience) they take a LONG time to scan a disc - whether it's an RW, audio disc, or whatever, you're looking at like 15-20 seconds before you can access the disc...

Hope all this rambling helps :)

PS - Don't feel bad - mine was an early birthday present to myself... ;)[nbsp]
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Justin Nelson
FutureQuest Support

[ubu]

Memorex 4x2x24 Speed EIDE (what is that?) CD-RW Drive


I bought this drive about four months ago and really like it.[nbsp][nbsp]It has worked perfect for me, but it all a matter of whic name brand you like.

Jamie

[Scott]

I have a Aps CD-R 8x20 (8X write/20X read), that performs great.[nbsp][nbsp]Today's price $329.95.

http://www.apstech.com

Their prices have reduced considerably over the past year.

I'm staying away from the re-write models for personal reasons:)

Happy Shopping!

Scott

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Once you connect, people will listen.
www.modbod.com (http://www.modbod.com)
www.ondv.com (http://www.ondv.com)

[Tatu]

Great, I just noticed I posted this therad in the wrong forum... my apologies for not taking use of the General Computing forum. ;)

HP is the expensive but reliable one.
Pacific Digital is the dirt cheap but who knows brand.
Memorex's brand name is a little tarnished but seems to be at the right price.

Of course now I am wondering why I decided to post yesterday, because I got today's paper with a CompUSA ad with 6 new options! Here they are, all internal:

1b. Yamaha (How's their computing brand?) 5x4x16 CD-RW drive
[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp] Price: $239.99

2b. EXP (Pretty much No-Name-Brand w/ a simple box) 4x4x20
[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp] Price: $279.99

3b. Iomega "ZipCD 650" CD-RW drive, 4x4x21
[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp] Price: $179.99 after $20 mail-in rebate

4b. "CD-RW Blaster 6424" 6x4x24
[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp] Price: $229.99

So far, my top pick is the Memorex one... mainly due to price and the fact that I've heard that SOMEONE out there uses it, so if you use it and you hate it tell me now or forever hold your peace. :)

-Tatu

--
There ain't no way in heck that I'm replacing my super fast DVD-rom drive! :)
--

[Tatu]

Hey guys, I know it is sorta slow around here on Sundays but soon it's gonna be Sunday night and Monday so please give me some advice, comments, and/or reccomendations. ;)[nbsp]

[Justin]

Yes, it's soon going to be Sunday night - and we all know what that means - THE NEW X-FILES!!!![nbsp][nbsp]THE SEASON PREMIER CLIFF HANGAR!!! ;)

Ok, I'll calm down now...

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Justin Nelson
FutureQuest Support

[Tatu]

X-Files? I'm gonna watch the new Simpsons and Futurama! :)

One more question: What are the pros and cons on SCSI CD-RW's and EIDE CD-RW's???

Thanks y'all,
-Tatu

[Leigh]

JUSTIN![nbsp][nbsp]Thank you so much for the reminder!!!!!!!

[Leigh]

And I forgot anyway....sigh....

[Justin]

Well, I caught the X-files (and the Simpsons and Futurama), and it's YET ANOTHER CLIFF HANGER!![nbsp][nbsp]I don't know how much of this I can take...[nbsp][nbsp]It got to be like 9:58 and I though... how is this going to end with only 2 minutes left? It seemed to be more involved than it was when it started... then I saw those three words that made my heart sink: To Be Continued...

AAAAAHHHH!!!

Ok, I'm all better now :)

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Justin Nelson
FutureQuest Support

[Tatu]

Meanwhile I, not being a very big X-Files fan, settle for Homer and his Tomacco and that awesome crab/octopus/alien guy w/ the[nbsp][nbsp](Dr. Zoidberg, I love that guy as much --if not more-- than that Swedish walrus in the new, cancelled Woody Wood Pecker Show) in Futurama. :)

OK, can we help me now?
According to C|Net, SCSI has a pro: It is much faster and EIDE CD-RW's drives would come in second.
As for more cons and pro's of both I am stumped!

Thanks again,
-Tatu

--
"Bender! You've got to spring me out!
I won't survive in here! I'm too pretty!"
--
Hey! I'm a nerd, I know! Can I really help it?!?
--

[Justin]

SCSI is faster - there is no doubt about that. But thinking about how SLOW CD's are by nature anyway - even at 40x, you are nowhere near the speed of an average IDE hard drive... so I don't see any advantage in going with SCSI.

Considering a CD at 1x transfers data at a speed of 172 kilobytes per second. At 40x, you're looking at 6.7 Megabytes per second. This is judging by audio data actually, and a DATA disc is slower due to error correction (if you lose a byte or two reading an audio disc, it's pretty much imperceptible - but lose a byte of data, and you could have serious probs... that's why you can fit 750 megs of audio and only 650 data on a CD :))

But enough with the silly facts - the main reasons I am staying away from SCSI:

1) Motherboard doesn't have SCSI built in, so I'd have to free up another slot for a SCSI controller,
2) Configuration nightmare,
3) They are *very* sensitive to interference etc...

In my opinion, EIDE is more than fast enough for any CD drive - and writing will only be at about 4x (or around 600 kbytes / second).

When it becomes mainstream, popular, proven, easy, and necessary, I'll consider it ;)

-- Be an individual, just like everyone else

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Justin Nelson
FutureQuest Support

[Tatu]

Be an individual, just like everyone elseHey Hench, that is the best advice I have heard all day, or all week for that matter... and judging by my posts in this thread it looks like I've been needing that. :D Although I must come to my own defense as I just had no clue about these thingies and I was looking for all of everybody's infinite wisdom. :þ
[nbsp]
Your probs #'s 2 and 3 speak to me. I heard that the SCSI is harder to install (or rather that IDE's are MUCH easier to) and I have experienced my share of SCSI interfereances and probs. I am gonna go with IDE (thanks, j-man). Plus its seems to always be cheaper!

Now a non-hardware related question:
Can I somehow convert (legal) MP3's into a format that would play in a CD player and burn it onto a CD. Is this simple or do I need programs or what? I've found some pretty good (most are so/so though) independant bands offerring their (legal) MP3's and would like to have them burnt on a CD that would play in a CD player (am I repeating myself?). If I can do this, then (legal) MP3's would really be great and I would start using them with the DSL I hope to be getting before Y2K...

OK, I'm tired...
-Tatu

[Justin]

My comment about being an individual was making fun of myself. My brain (no, not on drugs ;) ):

I mentioned that I would wait until SCSI is more mainstream... and I thought about how non-mainstream my computer is... and I thought that kinda ironic... then I remembered how, every time I see a commecial about drinking a certain soda (just like everyone else) so that you can be an individual, or be "yourself", I would think that was dumb... and I often times make that statement whenever I find out that to be myself, to be an "individual", I have to wear certain shoes, drink a certain soda, use certain software, or whatever... in other words, they are telling me that if I want to be myself I have to do what everyone else does...

So you should now see why my twisted brain sees a connection between that statement and the word "mainstream".

I didn't post this to scare anyone - this is exactly how my brain works (Einstien's brain worked similarly I believe). I remember things by association, but not like most people do - I associate things with other things that most would not understand without such an explanation as above. But to me they come quite naturally.

3 seconds in the brain of the Henchman (what the heck does that mean, anyway?)

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Justin Nelson
FutureQuest Support

[elite]

You are talking about legal mp3's right? (couldnt resist) lol

[Justin]

Hm... while I was exploring my brain I seem to have forgotten to answer your other questions hehe :)

You need something that will convert (legal) MP3's to Wave files - most (legal) sound editors will do this if you have the CODEC installed for (legally) decoding MP3's (eg, if you can play them you can decode them ;) )

A good (legal) shareware sound editor is Goldwave (just noticed while digging out the URL that a new (legal) version is out - 4.11 - woo hoo!) http://www.GoldWave.com/

Or you could purchase some higher end software like (legal) Sound Forge 4.5 or (legal) Cool Edit Pro (I think they have a (tatoo) trial version of CEP)...

Just open and Save As --> Foo.wav

Then your (legal) burner will come with (legal) Adaptec's "Easy CD Creator" (99% of (legal) burners come with this same software). It creates audio discs directly from (tatoo) Wave files - great for making (legal) compilation discs for the car - or "Road Discs" as I call them :)

Hope this (legal) helps ;)

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Justin Nelson
FutureQuest Support

[Tatu]

ROFLRUMBLE on the legals!!! :D :D :D
I just wanted to make myself clear that my (legal) MP3's were in fact (legal) MP3's of (legal) independant bands to anyone (legal) who might be reading!3 seconds in the brain of the Henchman (what the heck does that mean, anyway?)ROFL again!

Ahem! (clearing my throat out a bit as I pompously read the following)

henchman - a faithful supporter, especially that of a political leader or criminal, who obeys without question and may use violent and/or dishonest methods

Hence the dubbed name to thee, "TeRRa's Evil Little Henchman"
:)

-Tatu

PS: "Henchmen" is used to describe numerous faithful supporter no-question-obeyors. I apologize for my incorrect usage of the word in previous posts.

PSS: You can tell I actually looked up this information in a dictionary can't you?

PSSS: This is lucky post number 555!
[This message has been edited by Tatu (edited 11-08-99)]

[Justin]

Interesting... I know what a henchman IS, I thought maybe there was a particular henchman, like from a movie or something :)

BTW - www.mp3.com (http://www.mp3.com) has lots of (legal) MP3's from independant bands, although you won't find anything unless you have a high speed connection... for me anyway, I have to listen to a good 10 of them before I find one worth keeping (oh, they have a Real Audio preview for most of them, I just prefer to stream the MP3 for previewing). And they ARE all legal ;)[nbsp][nbsp] Not sure I can say that for the sites on their links and search pages though... ;)

BTW - notice the post time on my last post and Elite's last post... he got that in just before I did...

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Justin Nelson
FutureQuest Support

[Tatu]

Yes, MP3.com is one of a couple (legal) MP3 sites I plan on frequenting when I actually (hopefully) get DSL. A trend I've noticed since 'the beginning' is that finding a *good* (legal) MP3 site can be challenging because alot of them can be filled with a bunch of crap (and don't get me started on "techno" :) ).

Now once you change the MP3 into a WAV file, is the file extremely big??? I mean bigger than the MP3, which is already 2-5 megabytes as it is. Hard drive space won't be a problem with me since I have about nine or ten gigs left (bwuahahaha!), but I am just curious.

J-dude, you spent too much time explaining/typing (although it was very helpful). I give the laugh credit to you because you had to have gotten here first (either that or you are the slowest typer man kind has seen, Elite!).

That time diffence is down right eerie...
-Tatu, who is waiting for tonight's Just Shoot Me

--Oh dear Batman! I hope this doesn't start page 3!--

[Justin]

A Wave file suitable for a CD is recorded at 16 bits per channel, at 44100 samples per second. This works out to 1,411,200 bits per second, or 176,400 bytes per second. This further works out to 10,584,000 bytes per minute of music, or approximately 10.09 megabytes per minute. This is why a 750 megabyte disc holds about 74 minutes of music.

MP3's are compressed at a ratio of anywhere from 5:1 to 12:1 or better - I personally use 256 kbps (or about 5:1) for best sound quality, but most you download will be around 112 kbps (~12:1)...

So set aside about a three-quarters of a gig for a full CD's worth of music :)

As for MP3.com, there are a lot of Metal bands that are pretty good - there are quite a few that try to sound just like Slayer, which gets old (just like all of the Eddie Vedder wannabe's out there hehe) but there are a few decent tunes out there as well...

Hope this helps ;)

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Justin Nelson
FutureQuest Support

[ubu]

I really like MusicMatch Jukebox for my MP3 files.[nbsp][nbsp]I have taken some that I have on disk, and made them into a mixed cd for my car.[nbsp][nbsp]It's easier to take a few CD's with all my greatest hits on them then carry all my CD's in my car.[nbsp][nbsp]This is (legal) by the way.[nbsp][nbsp]:)

It also decodes mp3 to audio files that can be played on your CD player.[nbsp][nbsp]Be carefull though, some CD players will not play CDRW disks, you will have to get what you want, and then burn them into a CDR disk for some players to be able to play them.[nbsp][nbsp]I learned the hard way.

The other kewl thing about MusicMatch is that is can take audio from other sources and make a wav file, and then you can burn it to disk, or you can just make a MP3 file of it.[nbsp][nbsp]Example..[nbsp][nbsp]There is a Techo website that plays the hits on the web, online radio type thing.[nbsp][nbsp]Well I LOVE their music, so I take my HIFI VCR which is connected to my stereo, which is connected to my compuer and I use the VCR tapes to record many hours of music.[nbsp][nbsp]Then I go back and play the tape and using MusicMatch I can record them to wav files, and then burn them to CD's for my car.[nbsp][nbsp]:)

So that is the one I would pick, plus it's only 29-30 dollars and comes with lifetime upgrades.[nbsp][nbsp]:)

http://www.musicmatch.com/

Jamie

[Justin]

I personally don't like MM for several reasons - for one it uses the Xing engine to encode MP3's, which is known for both it's speed (which is good) and it's low quality (which is bad)... For encoding MP3's I prefer AudioActive Production Studio. Much more expensive, but worth it IMO. I encode at 256 kbps, which the Xing engine is not capable of...

But MM has another flaw - when you install it, it overwrites some DirectX Media drivers that other programs may need - regardless of whether the existing driver is newer or not (this may have been fixed by now, as it's been almost a year). This caused me lots of troubles with users of VDJ, as it requires DX 6.0 or higher, and MM replaced it with 5.2 without notifying or asking or warning (5.2 is not capable of playing more than one MPEG audio stream, thus crossfading does not work)...

But that's a personal issue of mine I guess :)[nbsp][nbsp]AudioActive is expensive, MM is cheap... and you do in fact get what you pay for...

Sound Forge CD Architect is pretty nice, but it's a little harder to configure it for your drive (and I think it requires Sound Forge to be installed - neither program is cheap...). SF will open/edit/save Wave, MPx, RA, AVI (yes, does movies too), and a any other sound/video file you have the CODEC's installed for.

GoldWave 4.11 I find to be much faster than previous versions - although trying to edit files better than 100 meg gets annoyingly slow at times (just drawing the waveform on the screen slows it down). SF and Cool Edit Pro are extremely fast when working with full CD's worth of wave...

Geez... I get too long winded sometimes when talking about audio software... I'm gonna leave this thread alone for a while ;)

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Justin Nelson
FutureQuest Support

[Tatu]

UBU: Thanks for the CD-RW compatibility tip. It'll prove helpful when I get into the CD-RW, but first I will be more into the plain 55%-cheaper CD-R discs and just toss 'em when I either get tired of the music or mess up.

Justin: So it's about 15 5-minute 50Mb files or 20 3.75-minute 37.5Mb files. That sounds pretty good... and it I figure I could get 2 or three wav files on one Zip100 disk.

UBU again: Now that we're discussing software, I have another question (I know, I'm full of it)! Aren't we so happy?!? Now did the Memorex 4x2x24 CD-RW Drive you bought come with Adaptec's Easy CD Creator also? I was thinking they could skimp out on software because of the low price and I really want Adaptec's software. So many people have told me to update it to Pro version 4.0 when I get it and how much they love it.

*Dang! This thread has grown!*
-Tatu
[This message has been edited by Tatu (edited 11-10-99)]

[Justin]

I forgot to mention - I'm pretty sure an RW disc only plays in a CD ROM drive that supports RW's - most newer ones do, but older ones do not. Also, I don't there there exists an audio CD player that will play an RW disc (with the possible exception of a home DVD player) - the burn is extremely light and thin, non-standard... but a regular one-time CD-R can be played in any CD player I've tried.

Also - when you burn an audio disc you have to "close" the disc - there is an option to leave a disc open so you can write some now and finish up later, but they won't play in a standard Red-book audio CD player until it is closed (and thus the TOC (table of contents) is written).

HTH

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Justin Nelson
FutureQuest Support

[JoelM]

Donna and I are on our 3rd and 4th CD-ROM burners.[nbsp][nbsp]Both are HP now.[nbsp][nbsp]Allthe rest failed within a month of their 1 year warranty expiration.

WHERE did you see the 8X write for $299 .... maybe we'll be on the 5th.

Joel

[JoelM]

RW disks need a drive that can read that type, usually only a R/W drive.

[Tatu]

The 8x write HP was last spotted in LAST week's online paper ad at www.BestBuy.com (http://www.BestBuy.com) under "Peripherals." But THIS week it isn't there anymore. If I was you I'd just take a trip to the yellow and blue building to comb some of the shelves.3rd and 4th CD-ROM burners.[nbsp][nbsp]Both are HP now. All the rest failed within a month of their 1 year warranty expiration.Eeeek! Are you serious? You must be doing some heavy duty stuff right??? What brands where your 1st and 2nd brands and what was their failing ailment?

-Tatu


PS: Hey UBU, my question's still on (scroll up). Don't make me mail ya! :)