Wondered if anyone else has had this problem. Last night I installed a
new CD-RW drive in my home PC (made by LiteOn), and burnt a couple of
discs just to check it worked.

I was using TDK 80-min audio CDRs, and the resulting discs played very
grudgingly in my Arcam Alpha 8SE CD player - it took a good 10-15
seconds to read the TOC, and 5 or 6 seconds to find a track. I thought
this might be a problem with the new burner, so I reinstalled the old
burner, and discovered that the same files burnt to the same type of
disk at a lower speed caused exactly the same problem. I then realised
that this is the first time I have tried an 80 minute (well, 79:40)
CD-R in the Arcam.

It has no problems with 80 minute original CDs (or 79:55 anyway, the
longest one I have). It also has never had a problem with 74 minute
CD-Rs, or even with short (~1hr) recordings on the TDK 80 minute
discs.

Is it just that my Arcam doesn't like 80 minute CD-R recordings? Has
anyone else seen this? The Arcam is flawless in all other respects, so
I am not really complaining - I'd just like to know that I don't have
to send the new CD-RW drive back!


A few years back, you had to experiment to find a combination of media
and burn speed that suited your equipment. And a burnt cd MIGHT play
in your audio player, but very likely wouldn't.

Then things settled down, and just about everything worked on
anything, as long as you didn't attempt to burn at the top speeds
offered by some burners.

Now, it's all gone pear-shaped again. Much media is specifically
designed for high-speed burning and fails at lower speeds. A good
burner should only offer appropriate speeds for the particular media
(for those of you who wondered why 1X, 2X had gone missing
recently:-). But this isn't foolproof. I'm currently working through
an batch of media which work best burned at 12X on a Plextor. Until
now, I'd have recommended a maximum of 4X for an audio cd.

So it's suck-and-see time again! I'm sure you'll find a media/speed
combination that works. No need to buy "audio" cds for burning on a
computer BTW. Cheaper ones with similar robust coating are available,
if you don't use stick-on labels and need the protection.

Wondered if anyone else has had this problem. Last night I installed a
new CD-RW drive in my home PC (made by LiteOn), and burnt a couple of
discs just to check it worked.

I was using TDK 80-min audio CDRs, and the resulting discs played very
grudgingly in my Arcam Alpha 8SE CD player - it took a good 10-15
seconds to read the TOC, and 5 or 6 seconds to find a track. I thought
this might be a problem with the new burner, so I reinstalled the old
burner, and discovered that the same files burnt to the same type of
disk at a lower speed caused exactly the same problem. I then realised
that this is the first time I have tried an 80 minute (well, 79:40)
CD-R in the Arcam.

It has no problems with 80 minute original CDs (or 79:55 anyway, the
longest one I have). It also has never had a problem with 74 minute
CD-Rs, or even with short (~1hr) recordings on the TDK 80 minute
discs.

Is it just that my Arcam doesn't like 80 minute CD-R recordings? Has
anyone else seen this? The Arcam is flawless in all other respects, so
I am not really complaining - I'd just like to know that I don't have
to send the new CD-RW drive back!


A few years back, you had to experiment to find a combination of media
and burn speed that suited your equipment. And a burnt cd MIGHT play
in your audio player, but very likely wouldn't.

Then things settled down, and just about everything worked on
anything, as long as you didn't attempt to burn at the top speeds
offered by some burners.

Now, it's all gone pear-shaped again. Much media is specifically
designed for high-speed burning and fails at lower speeds. A good
burner should only offer appropriate speeds for the particular media
(for those of you who wondered why 1X, 2X had gone missing
recently:-). But this isn't foolproof. I'm currently working through
an batch of media which work best burned at 12X on a Plextor. Until
now, I'd have recommended a maximum of 4X for an audio cd.

So it's suck-and-see time again! I'm sure you'll find a media/speed
combination that works. No need to buy "audio" cds for burning on a
computer BTW. Cheaper ones with similar robust coating are available,
if you don't use stick-on labels and need the protection.