Craigslist Score!! oh crap...

[ReissM]

So now I will burn another new disc from mp3 file, converted of course, and see what happens.

Keep in mind that an MP3 file ripped at 128kbps has selectively thrown away 91% of the data as compared to an uncompressed CD file. (about 11:1 compression at 128kbps)

While I'll admit that modern psychoacoustic algorithms that determine what data gets tossed out are pretty good now-a-days, remember that MP3's are inherently a "lossy" compression algorithm. You never get back the 91% that you threw away. You can expand MP3's back up to full size (1440 kbps) but it's not going to have the same sound quality as the original, uncompressed file that you ripped from.

Personally, I find that in a car environment... (with wind noise, road noise from tires, and engine noise...) I just barely notice the missing fidelity. Thus it's a reasonable way to shrink your music files by a factor of 11:1.

I had a head unit in my last car that could play MP3 CD's. I could jam about 180 MP3 songs onto one CD-R with just barely noticable loss of fidelity when driving at 65 mph. I put the player on shuffle and didn't have to change the CD for about a week. (This was before everybody had the capability to simply plug in their i-pods.)

[biscuitbarrell]

+1 on the high compression rates being nasty to your music. Once that music is compressed, it's gone, and burning it as an audio CD doesn't bring it back! I try to keep my mp3s at 320kbs; discs are cheap, and the storage savings are still acceptable. They make nice-sounding audio CDs when needed, but your best will always come from uncompressed originals or lossless formats like FLAC.

Here's a very user-friendly burning software with low resource usage, just uncheck the options not needed on install.
https://dl-web.dropbox.com/get/Publi...exe?w=7f1c3627

[Dirk]

I'm betting it's that reflectivity index. Another vote for CD-RWs.

Also, look for burning software that allows "disc at once" as well as "track at once" burning. TAO is likely responsible for the need to skip track 1.

[GranteedEV]

There is no technical difference between "Music" CD-R's and plain CD-R's.

Not true.

Music CD-Rs restrict your ability to burn anything else on them.

[Dirk]

Not true.

Music CD-Rs restrict your ability to burn anything else on them.

And woofers with progressive spiders will only play back King Crimson.

[awwnuts]

And woofers with progressive spiders will only play back King Crimson.

Baaaahahahahaha...

[Mark65]

And woofers with progressive spiders will only play back King Crimson.

Not true. They will also play Dream Theater and Marillion.


But who's counting?



Mark

[ssyfert]

Well, thanks everybody for your help, turns out it was in fact the quality of the cd's. I did a test this morning, 2 new cd's, one with lossless FLAC files I just ripped, the other a mp3 album I just bought, converted to audio cd format. The conclusion: both work fine.

That means I'm going to have to re-burn a bunch of cd's, and since I'll already be doing that, I'll rip to FLAC format and burn at 16X speed. Truthfully I only own about 1/2 a dozen mp3 albums, but lately when I've been ripping new cd's I've bought I do it to mp3 format because they then go on my phone to listen at work.

Do these look like good ones?

http://www.amazon.com/TDK-Life-Recor...3816162&sr=1-1

[Wolf]

TDK/Sony/Imation/HP
I've not had problems with.

I've even used Memorex for the event discs with no complaints.
Later,
Wolf

[biscuitbarrell]

Here's a better deal, and I think a better choice;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817130953

Always have the best luck with Verbatim, and free shipping on a 100-pack is sweet!

[ssyfert]

That's the brand giving me trouble, but I paid $13 for a 100 pack, so maybe they were lower grade than the ones you linked.

[biscuitbarrell]

That's the brand giving me trouble, but I paid $13 for a 100 pack, so maybe they were lower grade than the ones you linked.

Wow. I'm genuinely surprised at that. Those have always been the most reliable for me, and you can see the customer ratings are absolutely the best. I've burned them on LG, Asus,HP, and Samsung drives without problems. Their DVDs are also a personal favorite. I've soured on Sony CDs lately, as I had a batch that I burned a few months back suddenly deteriorate for no apparent reason!

[ssyfert]

I thought I would report back...

The memorex "music only" disc I bought was hit and miss, some worked and others didn't. They were a 10 pack, so I went another route when they ran out. I ordered some tdk discs, non audio, from Amazon. After taking the input from this thread and researching online I thought it was a good choice. Boooooooooo!

They were worse than the memorex "audio" cd's even burning from flac. So I tried again with a sony "audio" cd - worked great. I even used the same files and playlist from the tdk disc as a test.

So there you have it. Based on my findings I will only buy "audio" cd's from now on. Right or wrong, that's anecdotal evidence for ya!

[aarond]

I've also had luck in the past burning at the lowest speed possible.

That is the first thing I thought of. I couldn't tell you what the difference is but I do remember it was a key to success when CDR's first came out and the current CD players had not been designed to work with them.

[Wolf]

I think you should try Sony music vs Sony data. Then see if it's not just the media in general. FWIW- I've used HP, Iomega, Memorex, TDK, Sony, and others, and only occasionally did I get a burn from HP or Iomega that did not finalize okay. As to sound, I've not noticed since I've not done a direct comparo between the different ones on one certain transfer.

Normally I use Nero or Roxio and do a direct rip from disc to disc via .wav files. I used to use Musicmatch from Yahoo, until I found a track it could not rip cleanly. Could it be the settings in your software?
Later,
Wolf