CD Burning Basics Page 3 — Bite the Bullet: Before you run out and buy the best CD burner money can buy, let's make sure your system is ready for one. One of the most important variables in CD burning are the system memory (RAM), which will help send audio data to your recorder. Your processor can be as slow as a Pentium 133 and should perform well as long as you have anywhere from 64 MB to 128 MB of RAM. If your system can't keep up with the data flow, it will cause write failures. The overall condition of your machine will affect its CD-burning ability. If the hard drive is slow, or needs to be defragmented, that can also cause problems. Recorders are touted for certain speeds -- 4x, 8x, 12x -- which is the maximum speed at which they can burn a CD. A mid-range CDRW (almost all new recorders are capable of CDRW) these days is advertised at 8x/4x/24x, for example. This means it writes CDR at 8 times normal speed, re-writes CDRW at 4 times speed, and reads CD's like your CD-ROM reader, at 24 times speed. At 8x, a recorder will finish burning a disc in about 12 minutes, and at 4x it will take about 20 minutes. Your natural inclination might be to scoop up the fastest drive you can find. But remember, CD burning is a sustained operation, and is more often successful at slower write speeds. So unless you have an ultra-fast computer with lots of RAM, a 12x burner may not be worth the extra money. Generally speaking, setting a recorder at 4x or 6x will yield the most consistent results. Aside from write speed, there are four main considerations when shopping for a recorder: Does your computer support SCSI or IDE? How big a memory buffer do you need? Does your CD recorder support your favorite CDR software? Does the recorder support both single session and multiple session burning formats, also called disc-at-once and track-at-once? To answer the IDE vs. SCSI question, the easiest option is to buy a recorder that supports the interface in your computer. So if you have a Mac and a SCSI interface, get a burner with a SCSI connection. Likewise for PC owners with IDE. Until recently, these two options were your only choices: CD writers were internal and had to be connected and configured with SCSI and IDE connectors. But now a variety of external CD drives have cropped up using FireWire and USB connections, which are even simpler to set up and offer an alternative. In general, however, SCSI and IDE write at much faster speeds than USB-ready external drives. When picking your beast, make sure it has a 2-4 MB buffer, which will hold information fed to the laser. The buffer will cover up system interruptions and fragmentation as much as it's size will allow. So the bigger the better here. This is especially important at higher burn speeds, when there is less time to send data to the laser. If you have a favorite CD mastering program, make sure it is supported by the recorder you buy. CD recorders are commonly bundled with "lite" versions of popular programs. These programs will give you the basics, but you'll have to pay to get the full-featured version. Information about supported hardware can be found at the software company's website. Also be sure to check to make sure the recorder supports single and multiple session burning formats. Single session is my favorite method for writing because the laser writes without having to turn on and off for different tracks. This process prevents the CD from being written to again and offers the greatest degree of compatibility with different types of CD players. Multiple session burning turns the laser off and on between tracks, and the disc can be left open for a future data-writing session. Once you "close" a disc, it is ready for prime time, and should be readable in any CD player. In order to read CDRW discs, you will need a multi-read CD-ROM reader. Most new CD-ROMs support CDRW, and all new CD recorders support multi-read. But you probably don't want to use your recorder to read CDs -- save that mundane chore for your less expensive, CD-ROM reader. Some DVD players are multi-read as well. If you are shopping for one of these devices, take a CDR or CDRW disc to the store and test the product. OK, so you've gone out and bought the fastest burner you could find. Now you're ready to find some software to match. To next page of Burning CD's To 2nd page of Burning CD's Back to the Bison HTML Home Page