Earning an A in CD-R or CD-RW

Home Office Computing, Nov, 1999 by Don Labriola

How to get the most from your 650MB recordable drive

OVER THE PAST DECADE, THE COMPACT DISC HAS grown into one of the most ubiquitous--and confusing--technologies around. Now available in more than a dozen flavors, there are specialized CD formats designed for just about any combination of audio, video, photographic images, and computer data. But recording or burning your own CD isn't always as simple as it seems.

PC drive shoppers will encounter two popular formats: the write-once medium CD-Recordable (CD-R) and the erasable or reusable CD-Rewritable (CD-RW). Despite the similarity in their names, the two use different types of blank media and are generally used for different kinds of applications. Figuring out what each can do for you can be a challenge, but here are some tips that should make CD mastering easier to understand.

R or RW? You can't alter 650MB CD-R discs once they've been recorded, but they're an inexpensive--depending on rebate or coupon deals, sometimes less than $1 each--way to distribute multimedia presentations or music demos to customers; your clients can then play the discs on almost any CD-ROM or DVD-ROM (or, in the case of music, audio CD) drive. CD-R is also a convenient, cheap way to move very large files between computers or store read-only databases or libraries of multimedia objects.

CD-RW discs, on the other hand, can be erased and reused like hard or floppy disks, but can be read only by fairly recently manufactured CD-ROM and DVD-ROM drives. For these reasons, CD-RW is better used as a low-cost, random-access backup medium than for moving data between computers.

Look for the Loqo Never buy a CD recorder or player that doesn't bear the MultiRead logo, which guarantees compatibility with all major compact disc formats, including the latest flavors of CD-R, CD-RW, CD-ROM, and CD audio. MultiRead compliance is especially important if you expect to play recorded discs in older CD-ROM drives, which sometimes have trouble reading CD-RW and even CD-R media. If you plan to distribute discs to people who own very old players, be prepared for the possibility that some of your audience will experience compatibility problems.

Speeds and Feeds Most CD-RW manufacturers publish ambiguous throughput specifications that usually look something like: 4x/2x/32x. These three numbers describe how fast the drive can read data and the maximum speeds at which it records CD-R and CD-RW discs. Unfortunately, these figures can be listed in any order, which often makes it tricky to perform apple-to-apple comparisons. A quick rule of thumb is that the highest number usually refers to the drive's read speed and the lowest describes how fast it can record a CD-RW.

Pretty as a Picture If you intend to distribute discs to important customers and business partners, it can pay to invest in a CD labeling system. (Pens' and markers' acidic ink can damage discs, and adhesive labels can peel off and jam drives.)

Commercial silk screening is usually too expensive, but it's not hard to find low-priced labeling software that lets you design full-bleed color artwork and print it on circular adhesive labels. If you have extra money, consider a specialized CD printer like Primera Technology's Signature II ($1,295; 800-797-2772, www.primeratechnology.com), which prints onto the surface of optical media.

Don't Forget the Software The most important factor in making your CD-RW both useful and easy to use is its application software. If your drive didn't ship with a full-featured CD mastering package such as Adaptec's Easy CD Creator, bite the bullet and buy one now. You may even want a graphics program that creates jewel-case artwork--a feature included with Easy CD Creator 4 Deluxe ($99; 800-442-7274, www.adaptec.com).

Just as essential is a program like Adaptec's DirectCD ($69), which lets you drag and drop files to optical discs as though they were hard disks. And if you plan to burn audio CDs, you'll also need a good sound file editor such as Sonic Foundry's Sound Forge ($499; 800-57-SONIC, www. sonic foundry, corn).

True Portability If you find that one of your own CD-ROMs can't read the discs you record, one solution is to carry a portable CD-RW drive between systems, instead of simply transferring discs. Most portable recorders have parallel-port interfaces that connect easily to almost any Windows PC. SCSI models give you better performance, but they may be more expensive and can be used only with computers that have a SCSI interface.

True Bulk If you do decide to buy a portable drive, be sure to check its dimensions and weight before making your final selection. Some models are actually heftier than most of the notebook PCs they're usually paired with. If you plan to take your drive on the road to prepare and deliver presentations, look for a lightweight model such as Hewlett-Packard's 1-inch-thick CD-Writer Plus M820e ($599; 800-826-4111, www.hpcdwriter.com), which practically fits the palm of your hand.

Performance Counts If your computer fails to supply data fast enough to keep up with the CD recorder, you'll experience the disc-destroying error known as a buffer underrun. Most PCs and hard disks can keep up with ix (150Kbps) or 2x write speeds, but if you plan to record data at 4x speed or higher, you'll want a system with the fastest CPU and hard disk you can afford, as well as a CD-RW drive equipped with at least a few megabytes of onboard cache.