Copying CD tracks.

[Aggers]

I have, for some time, been successfully using the supplied Roxio programme in my laptop for compiling CDs of music tracks for the music evenings I put on at this retirement lodge.

Recently, however, I have been unable to do so, for although, apparently, it goes through the business of burning, the CD comes out blank. I'm still using the same blank discs (CD-R).

Thinking that perhap the Roxio programme had developed a fault, I then tried using Windows Media Player, but with the same result.

I am still able to transfer files and photographs on to a disc.

Any suggestions?

[Suff]

Roxio should have the ability to show the properties of the CD. Have you tried inspecting the CD that you burned? What does it say is on it?

At first think, I would have said you burned a data disk instead of an audio disk. That is the usual mistake I make.

Other than that, possible laser failure in the write head of the DVD-RW in the laptop. That is the other most common one.

[Workingman]

Aggers, if you put one of the CDs you think you have compiled with music into the DVD/CD drive and then right click for Properties what does the new window tell you about Used Space and Free Space?

If the burning failed then both items should show 0 bytes and 0 bytes. However, if the burning worked to some degree the Used Space should show one figure and the Free Space a completely different one.

[Aggers]

Thank you Frank and Suff.

The matter is getting curios-er and curios-er.

I put the disc in question in and right clicked, but nowhere could I see 'properties'.

While I was playing about a notice suddenly appeared telling me to 'burn', with a list of the tracks.
This list was not the one I wanted, but was an assortment from previous projects. I decided to
click on 'burn' to see what happened. When 'burning' was finished, I ejected the disc and put it
in my CD player. It was blank.

This afternoon I waded through my vast CD collection, noting the number of CDs having a suitable
collection of tracks that I could play in their entirety without having to make up special discs.
To my surprise there were thirty-two - enough for sixteen nights - i.e., for two or three years.
I have therefore decided not to bother anymore about burning my own discs, as I can be quite
happy without them, and I'm sure my blood pressure will benefit!

Thanks again for your willingness to help. It really is appreciated.

[Diflower]

Good plan Aggers, well done

I do know people have said they have suddenly had problems with a batch of cds and have had to buy new ones, so it may be just that, but no need to worry now

[Suff]

It's always a problem when you only have one PC and one writer to find out whether it's the disks or the burner. One way you can tell if anything is written, especially if the tracks are supposed to be less than the size of the drive, is to look at the written disk in comparison to a new one. You should see a darker area of the disk where it's been written and lighter where it has not.

Personally, I haven't written a CD for nearly a decade now. I either plug in my Laptop, or my mobile phone or one of my sundry media players, to the Aux port of whatever sound system I'm using.

I like Mediamonkey for playing my music.

[Workingman]

I have been ripping music since God was in nappies.

If Aggers can still burn spreadsheets and documents and photos, as he says, then he can burn music as well. DRM could be causing problems, and reading them might be an issue. With Vista and upwards Microsoft paid a little lip service to the media industries and snuggled up to them ever so slightly to make ripping things just that bit more problematic. The big commercial players, Roxio, Nero, NTI etc, did the same so it is down to 'open' software to fill the gap - I use EAC for music and ImgBurn for everything else.

It has always been my policy to rip tracks to my hard drive rather than disc-to-disc. That way I can set bit rates etc. and then run the tracks through various softwares for volume normalisation and removal of hiss and so on. It is tedious, I know, but I like the sound of good music.

BTW, good tip about looking at the written side of a disc to catch the physical change between written and unwritten portions. V. quick and easy with only Eyeball Mk1 needed.

[Suff]

If Aggers can still burn spreadsheets and documents and photos, as he says

My point above about disc type. Burn a data disc with audio tracks and it will produce something unexpected I guess. Should be .wav files or .mp3 files or whatever the data format was in the original....

[Aggers]

I can understand some of what you guys are saying, but not all.

Looking at the disc in question, there is no sign of any physical change in the disc surface.

As I said before, I can still burn photographs and text files.

Maybe it's just that it's time I bought a new laptop - These things aren't made to last, are they?

I'm not too bothered about it, as I can manage. I'm just puzzled.

[Suff]

Sorry I wasn't clear.

When you choose to write a new disk in Roxio, you need to choose the disk type. For a music CD, you need to choose a music cd type. If you choose data (files and pictures), then the disk will be unreadable in a standard CD music player.