CD-R vs CD-RW

  • Thread starter Thread starter Brian Ferrell
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Brian Ferrell

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A friend of mine who is a pro computer operator says that CD-R hardware is better than CD-RW hardware. Is this true? I thought that a CD-RW burner also burned CD-Rs and since you have the option to burn both CD-Rs and CD-RWs, a CD-RW was actually better.
Also, I've heard that burning CDs at 2x is the best speed. Will a burner that's rated at 4x4x32 burn at 2x? That may sound like a stupid question, but if 2x is the best burning speed, then why don't most PC burners on the market have this option?

Brian
 
Most CD burners today do both CDR and CDRW. A drive marked "CDRW" will also burn CDR. A drive labeled "CDR" will not *necessarily* burn CDRW.

You cannot make audio CD's on CDRW, only CDR. Therefore CDRW is only good for data. CDR media is also a bit sturdier and more reliable, but they're both fairly delicate.

If you're writing data files (sound files, picture files, etc) then the burning speed does not matter. The files will be fine or corrupt...you'll know if there's a problem. Once you start burning CD's, you'll appreciate the speed of an 8X burner! It can take 30-40 minutes to burn a full CD at 2X. 8X is 4 times faster (supposedly), so you do the math :)

CD audio is a bit different however. If an error goes to the disc it might be hard to spot. The CD player (which isn't as reliable as your CDROM drive at reading media BTW) will still play it (or try to). The most *reliable* burning speed is of course the slowest speed you can burn at (1X or 2X).

All CDRW drives will burn at speeds slower than their max rating. An 8X drive will do 2X if you tell it to.

In summary, everything you were afraid of is false :) Your friend was incorrect if he was talking about "hardware" as in "the drive"...CDRW drives are not worse than CDR drives...and in most cases they're one in the same.

What you have to worry about and really research are the various brands and models of burners out there. That's the most important thing to look into if you're looking for reliability. I cannot help you there, but others here can. I can say that HP has a slew of bad drives on the market that are generating a massive negative response.

Slackmaster 2000
 
I think this is a candidate for "Best of the BBS"....any seconds?


ametth
 
Yes, I think my friend meant CD-R & CD-RW MEDIA, but even so, neither he nor the Circuit City salesman who I spoke with, know that you can't record audio on CD-RW. That astounds me, because I thought for sure I read some discussion on here that said you could. I've read a lot of stuff on the subject but I've never read anything that said you couldn't record audio on CD-RW. I don't think the companies want us to know that, so they leave out that part when they advertise. But, I have to trust the Slackmaster2K.
I did read a discussion about 2x recording (it might have been on a Plextor site) that said 2x was better for recording pro audio because there was less chance of vibration screwing things up. On 1x there was too much chance of external vibrations causing skips (probably because the time it takes to record leaves more chance for error) and at more than 2x, the vibration from the drive itself can cause error.

Brian
 
Brian,

You can make audio cd's on CDRW media, it's just that they will only playback on your CD-RW, and not consumer/home stereo/car cd-players. (with the exception of one rare case somebody mentioned on here).

CD-R media is cheaper anyways, plus you don't have to waste half your day formating the disk.
 
Brian,

It's not that you can't put some form of audio on CDRW media, it's that they won't play back on many CD players as Emeric said.

If you're STORING audio, then you want to burn wav files as DATA...not AUDIO. That is the only real reliable way to do it. In that case, you can use CDRW media and you'll be fine. If you want to make a compilation audio CD of your best hits to give to your granny on her birthday, CDR is the only choice.

Slackmaster 2000
 
i remember being at k-mart a while ago and they had a cd player that claimed to be able to play cdrw's... whether or not this is true, i wouldn't doubt that something like that will or does exist... however, the points made before hold still, as most people will not have this type of cdrw audio player... but if you burn a lot of cd's for personal listening, writing to cdrw's and then rewriting when you want a change of pace might be cool
 
yknow, I have a cheap assed Sony 5 disc changer that plays my cd-RWs without fail. I used to be surprised when people couldnt play them...
but im not anymore.

xoxox
 
Most all of the new CD players that are coming out can play CDRW.
 
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