CD-R vs. CD-RW

BrettSelinsky

Is there any difference in sound quality? Just started downloading songs and burning them to CD-R. I thought I could burn one song then later on add to that same CD. I kinda new you couldnt write over the song that was on the CD but didnt know you couldnt add to it. Am I doing something wrong? Or is that just the way it is? Can I use a cd-rw and get the same quality?

One other ? I had was can you burn DVD movies from the rental store?

Thanks for the help.

Brett

faster100

CDR is the same as cdr-w, the W stands for rewritable.. you can erase the whole disk and reburn on it.. a CDR can be left open to add as many songs as will fit.. however you cant use the disk until you close the session.. if you burn a song, songs, cd and close the session its a done deal.. cant add any more.. when you are burning select at the end leave session open, it will burn what you have and leave the disk available to add more data/music.. hope this helps...

BrettSelinsky

Oh. So what your saying is they are the same so the sound quality is the same between cdr and cdrw?
All I need to do is find that leave session open tab. But you say it cant be listened to until session is closed? Should have posted sooner. I've wasted 3 cdr's.:mad:

Thanks
Brett

faster100

what program are you burning with? Nero? Its in the preferences when you get to the final stage before you select BURN,
No you can't listen to it until you close the session and finalize the cd,

BrettSelinsky

Yes It is nero.
Thanks

faster100

just click configure and it should look like this

BrettSelinsky

Thanks again for the help, but is the quality of a recording the same on a cdrw as a cdr? My problem is I have dial-up and it takes forever to get all the songs I need to fill a cdr before I can listen to it. So Id rather use a cdrw so I can listen to the songs I have so far then add more as I go. Does Nero copy/ burn DVD's?

Thanks

faster100

The quality is the same, its just a format.... ones eraseable one is not, nero wont burn copyrighted dvd's unless you use dvd shrink or similiar that uses nero for a burn program... and yes you can rip a few songs on a cdr-w and listen to them and then erase them, however you cant leave it open, or add after the burn is final... you can't do what you want, to be blunt. just save the songs alittle at a time and then burn them all at once...

BrettSelinsky

OHHH! Thanks so much faster 100. I understand now. It takes me a little while longer than most!LOL

Thanks for all the help!
Brett

nadams

Here's a novel idea... go buy your music.

Some players will play open-session CDs without a problem. Others will not.

Strong Bad

OR...

Find a tower of 100 CD-Rs on sale for like 10-15 bucks. Whats the big deal if you waste a few. Oh no, you'll be out of roughly 25 cents!


John

gmorris

Originally posted by nadams
Here's a novel idea... go buy your music.

Amen to that!!!

Your original question of which type of disc has better sound quality is amusing. If you really cared about sound quality, you wouldn't be downloading .MP3's and burning them, you'd be buying CD's, or even better, SACD/DVD-A discs.

I don't mean to sound as if I'm attacking you or anything, but downloaded music is CRAP.

BrettSelinsky

Sorry guys and/or gals Im new to this stuff. Just trying to learn.
I am paying for the music I download. You just taught me Im stupid for doing that and really stupid to actually pay for the poor quality of dowloaded music. Did not no there was a quality difference in downloading? Have no idea what SACD/DVD-A is. And I'd rather not waste money so I can save for the setups you guys have.

Thanks again for the help

gmorris

Brett,

Just stick around this forum and you will be an expert in no time at all.

Crutchfield.com is also another great place to learn about all this stuff. I wouldn't suggest you buy anything from Crutchfield, but read all the info that their site provides, and you will quickly sort thru all the technical junk.

nadams

Any MP3 is a highly compressed form of the song. The lower the bitrate (ie- 128kbps vs 320kbps) the worse it sounds. When MP3s were first popular, 128 was the standard for "CD quality" sound. I've never been able to listen to MP3s encoded at 128kbps. The highs are missing and the bass is muddy. Even at 320kbps, parts of songs will just sound "off". The only real way to listen to music is on original media (IE- CDs, SACDs, DVD-A, vinyl)

That being said, I do have all of my CDs encoded to 320kbps MP3s, just for portability. I can take 'em to work, I can listen to them on my computer at home, and I don't have to lug my huge CD collection around.

Also, DVD-A is DVD Audio; SACD is Super Audio CD. Both are high-quality forms of music media, and both require a special player to listen to them. You can't just pop them in your old CD player. You can, however, purchase players that do just about everything.

Shell

You just taught me Im stupid for doing that and really stupid to actually pay for the poor quality of dowloaded music.

When you download the music is it in MP3 format? Or uncompressed wave? If it is the later then you will not be losing sound quality.

AsSiMiLaTeD

Originally posted by Shell
When you download the music is it in MP3 format? Or uncompressed wave? If it is the later then you will not be losing sound quality.

If anyone knows where you can download uncompressed wave files (an online paid service), then let me know.

All the services I know of just give you crappy mp3 or wma files...or some crappy variant...

PolkThug

more info:

http://www.xciv.org/~meta/audio-shootout/

gmorris

Originally posted by PolkThug
more info:

http://www.xciv.org/~meta/audio-shootout/

I just read that and didn't understand a single dang word..... oh well.

Just two days ago, I signed up at iTunes.com and downloaded the new Ben Folds single, Landed. I did this for 2 reasons. 1, because I was curious to see how all this downloading stuff worked, and 2, because the new Ben Folds album doesn't come out until April 26'th.

The file I received was a ".M4P" file. I don't know what this means. I played it on my computer to make sure it worked, which it did. I then used the iTunes player to "burn" the file to a CD-R.

That night, I took the CD-R home, and played it on my 2 channel rig. Let me tell you, it sounds like total ****. The song is good, but the recording is horrible. There is almost no treble, no high end extension. The bass is also one long, mumbled bloated line.

I know this is the fault of the .M4P file, and not a **** recording from Ben Folds. I own 9 Ben Folds CD's, and everyone is a supurb recording. It's a good thing it only cost me 99 cents to download this song, because I'll probably never do it again.