| Gaming and Electronic Entertainment | |
| October 2000• Vol.8 Issue 10 |
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Burn, Baby, Burn How To Record Your Own CDs |
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BURN
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CDS
] A few years ago, if you were talking on the phone to a friend and mentioned you were “burning,” you would probably have earned a visit from the local fire department. Today, you’re just on the cutting edge of technology. Making your own CDs , which is also know as burning, has become the latest big thing in the computing world. The surge in popularity of burning CDs is partly the result of a considerable decline in the price of recorders and media (blank discs) during the past few years. In addition, full-featured software packages now make it possible to not only create high-quality audio CDs but also data, photo, and video discs. Best of all, burning CDs is easy to do. Although some aspects of audio-CD creation are confusing, the deeper you get into it, you’ll see that creating simple audio CDs that sound great is easy. In the following, you will find what you’ll need in terms of hardware and software and some of the various ways you can create CDs. We’ll also give you an overview of the technology behind audio-CD creation and alert you to some of the problems you might encounter and how you can avoid them. Hardware. First, CD recorders are not like regular CD players or CD-ROM drives. The CD-ROM drives most computers ship with just play CDs (data and audio), period. To record to discs, you’ll need a special item called a CD-R (CD-recordable) drive or a CD-RW (CD-rewriteable) drive. We won’t get too deeply into specific brands of recorders and rewriters because there are dozens to choose from, including selections from companies such as Yamaha, Sony, Kodak, and Philips. Different people will have different needs when it comes to burners, so it’s a good idea to do a little research of your own to get an idea of pricing and features. However, when looking for a CD drive to use as a burner, you will encounter several options from which you need to choose. CD-R vs. CD-RW. There are two types of recordable media: CD-Rs and CD-RWs. With a CD-R, you can write to the disc only once, but you can read the CD multiple times. Because you can write to a CD-R only once, you can’t erase or writer over its data. However, you can play the disc in almost any CD player. A CD-RW, on the other hand, works more like a diskette because you can write to a CD-RW, erase it, and then write new information to it. However, there is a downside to CD-RWs: They are a bit iffier than CD-Rs when it comes to compatibility with CD players. Some players will read the format fine, but others will refuse. CD-Rs are much more dependable for use in home and car stereo systems. Obviously, a CD-R drive uses CD-Rs, and a CD-RW drive uses CD-RWs, but you also can record CD-Rs using a CD-RW drive. (CD-Rs are generally cheaper than CD-RWs and more compatible with most regular CD players.) With either type of drive, you can read CDs and CD-ROMs, though. (In other words, in addition to writing CDs, they also work as CD players for audio and data CDs.) Internal vs. external. Many will find that getting an external burner/drive is preferable to an internal one. Not only is it easier to install, but it also tends to last longer. (Externals shut off and stay cooler.) One of the biggest selling points for an external drive is transportability. With an external burner, you can hook it up to other computers and even other platforms (such as a Mac). SCSI, IDE, USB, or parallel? One other main thing you need to consider when purchasing a burner is how it will connect to your computer. If you buy, say, a USB (Universal Serial Bus) burner and don’t have a USB port on your computer, you’re going to have a problem. Make sure your system can support the type of device you want to purchase—make sure it has the proper port. At the moment, many experts recommend the use of SCSI (Small Computer System Interface) burners; SCSI ports are faster than parallel ports, which could make a big difference in terms of performance (more on this in a bit). Media. Once you decide on a drive, you will need to buy some CDs. CD-Rs are quite cheap and readily available, particularly over the Internet. Because the prices range quite a bit from retailer to retailer, you might do well to compare them at a few stores. Many different brands exist, and they come bundled in many different ways. Two of the most popular bundling methods are in small batches with jewelcases or in packets of 50 to 100 without cases. This last method is a great bargain in terms of money, but the discs don’t store as nicely. Most recordable CDs can hold up to 74 minutes of audio or 650MB (megabytes) of data. CD-Rs are not certified above the 650MB mark, although you can find media that hold 80 minutes or 700MB of data. One more thing to keep in mind with CD-Rs is that they are easier to damage than traditional CDs. To minimize the threat from random scratches or other damage, consider going with media from a company such as Kodak, which offers a hard coating on its discs called InfoGuard that can help offer extra protection. Software. When it comes to successful CD burning, the software you choose will have the biggest impact on your finished product. There are a great many packages out there, and one probably came with your recorder. However, the application that came with your drive is probably just a lite version of a program. You should consider upgrading to the full-featured program because it is usually a good bargain (it will probably cost you less than $100), and it will definitely pay for itself with its added features. Burn , Burn, Burn. As mentioned, programs vary considerably in how they go about burning a CD. Most do a fantastic job of walking you through the process, but in general, they are all doing almost the same thing. When it comes to audio CDs, they all must follow the same format, called the Red Book standard: 44.1KHz (kilohertz) stereo, 16-bit. For Windows systems, this basically means you must convert audio tracks to WAV files (on Macs, AIFF files) before you can copy them to a CD. If they aren’t in WAV format, most commercial packages will convert tracks for you. If you’re using a lite version of a package that doesn’t convert audio files, you’ll need a utility to do it. (For MP3s, Acoustica’s MP3 to Wave program [free to try, $14.95 to register; 877/353-7297; http://www.mp3towave.com]/ is a great way to get all your MP3 files ready for recording.) If this is your first time burning CDs, you’ll probably want to make one using a disc-at-once process. This method lets you burn an entire CD, start to finish, in one sitting. This gives you a great deal of control over the disc creation (you can choose gap length between tracks) and is quite simple to do. On the down side, you’ll need 650MB on your hard drive to hold the to-be-created CD. Once it’s burned, you won’t be able to add additional information. The track-at-once process, or multisession, is another way to burn discs. With multisession, you can lay down a track at a time and keep the session open so you can add tracks later. With this method, you don’t need a large amount of disc space. However, you also won’t be able to use the disc (probably) until it’s closed because many CD players don’t get along with open CDs. Again, your individual software can help you a great deal in this area, and you should make sure your recorder can support both these recording methods. How long it takes to burn your CD will depend on how fast your burner is and how fast you’re burning. CD devices are rated according to speed. A CD recorder at 1x will take one minute to record one minute of audio. At the moment, 4x seems to be the standard for CD recorders (although they can record slower, such as 1x or 2x). At 4x, it will take you 20 minutes to record a full CD. You should make sure the CD-R you use can support the specific speed you’re recording at. Buffer Underruns. The primary problem you’ll run into while burning a CD is the buffer underrun. CD recorders are a bit like creative geniuses: They hate to be bugged while doing their thing. CD recorders set up a buffer, a temporary storage area in a computer’s memory, so it can ensure a steady stream of music is constantly coming in. If your computer processor is suddenly pulled away to do something else, the buffer runs dry, which is called buffer underrun. When reading CDs, it’s best to get it going and then walk away. Make sure you close all other applications and disable antivirus and screen saver programs (and any other program that wakes up on a semiregular basis). It’s also helpful to keep your hard drive defragmented; fragmentation will scatter bits of files to various parts of the drive, making the burner work harder to find them and threatening your buffer. In addition, you can try recording at a slower speed (an option that should be available on your software) and making sure the files you’re burning are on your hard drive (as opposed to a slower CD drive, which may not be able to write fast enough). Hiss & Click Removal. Your buffer ran fine, and you have your first successful burned CD. You slap it into your stereo and music struggling against an array of hisses and clicks. There are many reasons (and many parts of the process that could be responsible) why you might experience poor audio quality in your recordings. First, check out the WAVs on your hard drive that you are waiting to burn. A bad WAV will make a bad CD track 100% of the time. If the WAVs are fine, then it’s something in the recording process. Try defragging your hard drive. In addition, make sure both the CD you’re recording to and the CD you’re extracting from (if applicable) have a clean surface. Try extracting/recording at slower speeds or try a different program. If the problem continues, it may be a laser misalignment problem in your recorder, which means you will have to have a professional repair your drive. Legal Issues. As you’re probably aware, there has been a flurry of music lawsuits over the past couple of years concerning everything musical, including mobile MP3 players to Metallica music on Napster. A great many legal issues swirl around the music industry, and the laws vary considerably from country to country, situation to situation, and even song to song. In the United States, the 1992 Digital Home Recording Act makes it legal for people to make a copy of a recording they own as long as it is for their use. However, as the Internet continues to muddy the waters of this issue, it’s always good to check before doing anything. Two excellent sources of information are the Home Recording Rights Coalition ( http://www.hrrc.org/ ) and the Recording Industry Association of America ( http://www.riaa.com/ ). 
by Rich Gray
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