CD burner can of worms

[Pirateking]

So this is a pretty basic question about getting a CD-R or CD-RW drive. I'm looking into getting one for my computer, mainly to use for putting songs recorded on 4track from tape onto CD. I'm a college kid, so I'm looking to get a pretty cheap one, preferably under $300.
My questions: is it even worth getting one this cheap, or should I save up? I'm not a stickler for 100% perfect sound, but want it to sound decent.
Are there any particular brands or models that people would recommend? Any tricky things or negative points I should keep an eye out for? Just any basic advice would be appreciated.
Thanks

[Track Rat]

$300 will get you a great burner. There won't be a difference in sound quality between any of them, just reliability. I have an HP in my machine and it gives me good service but I've heard others site them for problems.

[MISTERQCUE]

Check out Plextor burners. Street price 'bout
$270.00

[NLAlston]

I have heard many good things about the Plextor burners. Another good line is the "RICOH" brand. I have had one of their models for about a year now, and can offer nothing but praise for the unit. It is a 6x4x24 CD-RW, and came bundled with CeQuaDrat's WinOnCD mastering software, which I have found to be a very excellent program. I have heard some horror stories about the HP burners (a friend of mine has an 8x HP burner that takes FIVE HOURS to burn a music disk). My maximum speed is 6x, but I prefer to utilize the lowest speed rate when burning music CD's for the sake of heightened reliability (data, on the other hand, will burn without incident at the highest speed rate of the unit). Even at a 2x speed rate, though, I am still under 30 minutes when burning music CD's. Hope this helps.

PEACE

[Julia]

The gentleman who started this thread mentions wanting to purchase a CD burner in order to burn CD's from his 4track tape recording unit.

Can anyone tell me how this is accomplished precisely?

I have a 4 track, and I also have a CD burner on my computer. How do I burn CD's from a 4 track?

Thanks so much, in advance...

Julia

[Slackmaster2K]

Julia,

You're about to stumble down the road that completely changed the way I record. I was in your shoes about 9 months ago. (But I'll save that for the end)

Your 4 track should have some sort of line out or tape out....probably RCA stereo plugs, right? What you need is a an RCA to 1/8" stereo cable. You run the line out on your 4-track to the LINE IN port (not the MIC IN) on your computer's soundcard. You then need to select line in as your recording source in the Windows Recording Volume control (if you don't know how to get there, just ask). Finally, you need some software to record what's coming into the line in port on the card. Any nice wave editor will do this, try http://www.goldwave.com

Once you have a wave file recorded, burning an audio CD is easy, and will depend on the software you're using.

Do you know what kind of soundcard you have? It will really determine the quality of your transfer.

One thing you might think of, as I did when I first transferred audio from my 4-track to my computer is, "hey, why don't i just record on the computer and skip the noisy 4-track step?" The first time I tried it I was blown away by how much better my recordings were, even with a cheap soundcard...plus the ability to record WAY more than 4 tracks and use free DX effects really blew me away. I used my 4-track as a preamp into the soundcard for a few months, but eventually replaced it with better equipment...and now it's my "mobile" recording unit only Check out http://www.fasoft.com/

So, to recap, you need a stereo RCA to stereo 1/8" male cable. You can get one at Radio Shack, they're very common and cheap. Then you need software: http://www.goldwave.com/ http://www.fasoft.com/

Good luck,

Slackmaster 2000