Music CD-R And Data CD-R

People who are new to computers and duplication, will sometimes confuse CD-R music media with CD-R data media. While confusing them is easy to do, the two are different indeed. Even if you have some experience with computers, confusing them is very easy to do.

As you may or may not know, there are differences between music CD-R and data CD-R disks. The obvious difference is, of course, the name. With one named CD-R music and one named CD-R data, you know there has to be some type of difference between the two.

What's known is that there are indeed technical differences in what is embedded in blank music
CDs when compared to blank data CDs. These differences center upon bytes that are within
the sub channels of the blank music disks.

This doesn't affect the quality, as both audio and data can be duplicated onto both music CD-R
disks and data CD-R disks. You can burn data onto music CD-R, and music onto data CD-R media without any problems. Keep in mind, whether or not you get data on a music CD-R will depend on what type of hardware you use to duplicate the CD.

If you plan to use a PC to do all of your burning, it won't matter. A PC doesn't differentiate
between music CD-R and data CD-R. PCs will see a blank media CD and duplicate information on it that pertains to the settings you have outlined in the software you plan to use to burn the CD.

If you plan to use a seperate CD burner, it may or may not let you burn data or music on
a generic blank or data CD-R. Some hardware are funny like that, as they only want you to
use blank media with well known brand names that they have approved of.

If you plan to do most of your CD duplication on a computer, it really doesn't matter which
type of blank CD-R you use. They will both work fine in most cases when you store either
music or data. When storing data, you have a limit of 700 MB, while music will have a limit
of a little over an hour of tunes.

For your duplication needs, computers are the ideal way to copy media. You can use equipment
outside of a computer and CD burner, although you'll need to check the operations manual
and see what they recommend for media. If you have a computer or access to one, it can do
wonders in the areas of music and data CD-R duplication.

Factors In CD Duplication

The process of writing data to a recordable CD can be a complex process, as it demands a lot from both hardware and software programs. Much of this complexity is hidden from the user by the program, although you should be aware of these factors.

Data

The total amount of data you are writing is much less important than whether or not it contains large or several small files. If there are a lot of small files, the system may have problems with
locating and opening the files quickly enough to send them smoothly to the CD recording drive.

The computer

Any interruption that may occur is fatal to CD duplication, so you should ensure that your
CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT don't load any TSR utilities which may interrupt operations. Screen savers, alarms and reminders, or incoming faxes may also kill disc writing. You should also turn off network sharing so no one will access the files that you are trying to write, as this could also kill your disc recording.

Hard Disk Speed

To write an image to the CD, the hard disk from which you are writing must have a transfer rate
that is fast enough to keep the memory buffer full in the CD recorder. This normally means an average hard disk access time of 19 MS or better.

Defrag

If your hard drive has to search everywhere over a fragmented hard drive for the data to be written, it can cause the operation to slow down or even cause a fatal error. Therefore, always be sure to fragment your hard disk drive.

Recording speed

Most new CD recorders and even some older ones, are capable of writing at two (sometimes even four) times the standard playback. It should be possible for you to select the speed; as even though fast recording is a time saver, it can also cause some bad situations.

When you copy an ISO (image file) from the hard disk to a CD, the speed is rarely a problem as the image is already one large file in which the files and structures are already in order and
divided into CD-ROM sectors.

When you write from a virtual image, things can get a bit trickier. In order to copy to CD, the
program must consult with the database to find where each file should go in the image and where
it is actually stored on the hard disk drive.

Then, it must open the file, divide it into CD-ROM sectors, at the same time sending the data in a
smooth continuous stream to the recorder. Locating and opening the file is a bit more time consuming, as writing is more difficult if you have a lot of small files.