dolphinboy

OK, actually, it's 2.

Many thanks to those who helped answer my questions on cd recording in the other thread. It certainly makes me question why I got a stereo cd recorder when almost all the advantages go the computer one. I don't get why you can't make copies of copies. It really only hurts the person trying to make mixes on the stereo recorder. I mean if you are going into the "pirating" business and you want to sell copies of, say, the current No Doubt CD, well, it's not that hard to just keep putting in fresh blanks and recording at 2x speed and for that you get rewarded with fresh digital sound each time. But if you want to make a great mix cd for yourself and then you girlfriend wants one and the buddy you work with, it's too much hassle and effort. That's when you go the computer and the stereo is useless. Makes no sense to me. I mean is there really ANY advantage to the stereo CD recorder that isn't actually bettered by using the computer? I'm thinking that I asked for the wrong gift. Damn.

Ok, to the questions. It seems I'm going to be using the computer CD recorder more than I hoped. I went and made some copies to get the hang of it and there was one HUGE thing that happened I can't seem to figure out. Whenever I'm recording to a CD-R or CDRW on my computer, the program closes the CD after recording. Why?

Ok, I guess that's like the finalizing my stereo does, but the stereo recorder only does it when I tell it to. So if I decide to put 1 song on a CD-R and want to listen to it alone, I can finalize and then unfinalize to record more later. Even when I used the computer to record to the CDRW, which is re-recordable, it automatically closes the disc and doesn't allow me to record again or over it.

Does this mean that you need to only record when you have ALL the songs that you will ever be putting on a CD-R ready to go? If not, and that doesn't make sense, what do I do to allow myself to be the one that decides when to close a CD on the computer. I see no option for that anywhere. I'm using Windows Media Player and my other program is called Musicmatch. The Windows player is A LOT easier in my opinion. Aside from letting me know about the "closing" issue is there a supreme player out there that maybe I should download and use?

Lastly, I'm using an HP laptop with a 20 GB HD and I think 256 memory. This is making me wonder how many songs can I put into the computer anyway. I mean it sure looks like all my copies are going to go through here anyway and song after song is going to be copied. Does that take a lot of space or could I put pretty much thousands of songs in with no troubles?

Thanks for all of your help and I hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

Illinois Enema Bandit

I believe that when you are burning audio CDs on a PC, you HAVE to close the session before the CD is playable in a CD player or car stereo CD. So yes, you need to decide what's going on the disc before you burn it

As far as disk storage goes, 74-minute CDs hold 650 MB and 80 minute CDs 700 MB, so that amount of space will be consumed on your HDD, plus you need space equivalent to the size of the CD (in MB) to store temp files during the actual burning

dolphinboy

Thank you, but that was not my question(s). I need to know how NOT to close a CD that's being burned on a computer. Surely, people must be able to put one song on a disc and come back and put more on it later. Right? The computer program has to have a way of not closing the CD (Audio or just PC discs) or coming back and reopening it later. I mean if you downloaded a song you heard on the radio and wanted to put it on a CD, would you only be able to use the whole disc for that song? Because my program closes the disc after any recording and that can't be right. Or is it? Do you all wait until you have 15-18 songs ready to burn before you ever record using your pc? I mean, it even closes my CDRW and you are supposed to be able to use those over and over again. So there must be a way. I think...

And about the computer space. Simply based on what I have, is there room on my computer for hundreds or even thousands of songs or do you all delete certain songs after you've burned them? I've heard people can store their whole library of CDs onto their computer. Is that really the case? I'm just wondering at what point is it best to start clearing music out or can I pretty much feel good about keeping it all?

Adam Tyner

What software are you using?

Easy CD Creator allows you to burn a disc without finalizing it under "Write Method" in "CD Creation Setup". I personally wait until I have enough songs for a full CD before burning.

kornhead

QUOTE]Originally posted by dolphinboy



Thank you, but that was not my question(s). I need to know how NOT to close a CD that's being burned on a computer. Surely, people must be able to put one song on a disc and come back and put more on it later. Right? The computer program has to have a way of not closing the CD (Audio or just PC discs) or coming back and reopening it later. I mean if you downloaded a song you heard on the radio and wanted to put it on a CD, would you only be able to use the whole disc for that song? Because my program closes the disc after any recording and that can't be right. Or is it? Do you all wait until you have 15-18 songs ready to burn before you ever record using your pc? I mean, it even closes my CDRW and you are supposed to be able to use those over and over again. So there must be a way. I think...

And about the computer space. Simply based on what I have, is there room on my computer for hundreds or even thousands of songs or do you all delete certain songs after you've burned them? I've heard people can store their whole library of CDs onto their computer. Is that really the case? I'm just wondering at what point is it best to start clearing music out or can I pretty much feel good about keeping it all? [/QUOTE]

there should be an option somewhere that says "finalize disc after completion" or something like that, you just gotta uncheck it. BUT if you dont finalize the disc it will not play in any stero, but yo will be able to add to it later. and about the CD-RW, I havent never used them but I'm pretty sure if you wanted to add something to it, you first gotta erase the whole CD and start over. I'm not sure about that so dont hold me to it.

and about your hard drive space. with a 20G you will be able to hold 100's maybe even a thousand or two. but it all depends on what else you have on your harddrive. A quick and easy way to check how much space you have left to to double-Click on 'My Computer' then click on you harddrive and it will show a pie graph thingy on the left showing how much is used and how much is left.

hopes that helps

kornhead

but I also wait till I get enough songs to fill a CD

dolphinboy

I'm new to all of this (duh) and honestly I'm 5 years out of college and never got much into it then and really find it mostly maddening. Couldn't you tell? I feel stupid. I really wish all of these things weren't so hard.

I'm so surprised that you all wait until you have enough songs until you create new cds. But, then again, what do I know?

How do you get CD creator? Can I download it from a site?

Thanks to everyone who has helped me through this. Maybe next year I'll get a car. I know how to use one of those.

Adam Tyner

I have gigs of mp3s (subscription to eMusic Unlimited), so I usually don't have to wait long. It's more of a matter of picking out mp3s I like.

If you'd like to demo Easy CD Creator, visit http://www.roxio.com/

einTier

If you're going to be doing a lot of CD making on the PC, I recommend getting a copy of Nero from http://www.nero.com . You can get the evaluation version which is fully functional, and use it for 30 days and decide then if you want to buy it.

If you want to store music on the hard drive, I'd use Musicmatch jukebox to record into mp3 format at 160kpbs. Musicmatch uses the original Fraunhoeffer mp3 converter, which is widely considered one of the best. Windows Media Player will default record at 64kpbs and call this "cd quality" -- it's not, and you need to set that higher under Tools, Options if you're going to use it to make mp3s. I don't see how to record with it (or MusicMatch)... so I can't tell you where the setting is for not finalizing the CD. In Nero, there's a little checkbox right before you go to burn that says "Finalize CD?"

I believe on the computer, once a CD is finalized, that's it, no more recording, though CD-RWs can be erased (not unfinalized) and recorded to again. And yes, most of us wait until we can fill up the CD before we burn -- though we could certainly add one song at a time until we filled the CD, then finalize.

Closing a session is a bit different. The computer thinks of CDs like data, and sees sessions like this. You open a session to begin recording. You close it to stop. At this point, the table of contents is written and the disc can be read. It can also be written to again at this point, and data added or "changed". Finalizing means the CD can never be written to again. Unfortunately, audio cds require this before they can played in a normal CD player. It does sound like you're confusing closing with finalizing.

Now, for future advice, you don't want to keep opening and closing sessions (adding one track at a time). Each time you do this, the table of contents must be re-written and a bit more space that could have been alloted to audio is eaten up. It's not much, granted, but it can add up, and some very early players cannot see past the initial first session.

And Dolphinboy, the RIAA has made this whole thing difficult for you, not for the hardcore pirates. They sell it congress and the public at large as stopping "hard core pirates", but these pirates don't use the same technology that you or I use to pirate. No, this legislation is about stopping you. Making it so difficult to copy copyrighted information that you will cease to do so and just buy another copy. They want to make it impossible for you to share with your friends without paying a fee or preferably, buying another copy. They certainly don't want you trading "mixes" with your friends. In their ideal world, you'd pay everytime you wanted to hear something, and if anyone around you wanted to hear it, they'd pay too. You'd never own anything, you'd just keep "renting" the stuff you wanted to hear.

Sorry to turn this into a political debate, it's just that I've been talking about this for years, and every time I bring it up people always ask me: "why should I care about copyright law? I'm not a pirate." Then four years later, they come and ask me why they can't make a copy of their new Creed CD. Unfortunately, by the time Joe Sixpack realizes he's been inconvienced, the screwing is already done. You really should check out the SSSCA and see what kind of copyright laws your congressman would like to ram down your throat.

monkey

Would it be out of line for me to suggest ....

[inappropriate suggestion re breach of copyright snipped]

.... If this is inappropriate, mods, feel free to remove this post.