zero2dash

(Warning - long post)

Everyone,

Since this is the most tech-savvy site on the net (not to kiss too much arse but it's the truth), I thought to ask this here.

I just finished reading LP's article on the Plextor 52x drive and the thoughts/facts of his on CDR media and flaws and whatnot and it got me thinkin' to another possible explanation of a problem I'm having...which is:

Certain CDR media and my car head unit CD deck (Alpine CDM-7857) do NOT get along. The cd's will play ok for awhile, and then either skip in the middle of a song, or skip while trying to skip to another track (forwards or backwards) and then have trouble starting the song. I never used to have this issue, then I started realizing that most cdr manufacturers now make their cdrs dirt cheap which makes the quality of them CRAP. So I figure...ok, poor cdrs. Granted, I don't buy the "blank label" ones from like CompUSA, I've always gotten brand names ie Imation, Memorex.

Then, Imations gave me problems. Tons of them. I had 4 spindles, sealed (they were on sale real cheap so I bought 4) and spindle #1 the first one I used - like, none of the cdrs worked in my car whatsoever. Then, mysteriously, spindle #2 worked somewhat. So I figure, ok...bad batch of cdrs. (I still have 2 sealed spindles and I'm wondering what to do with them.)

I buy some Memorex which I had no problems with before. Suddenly, now I do.

So I check the cdrs with CDRIdentifier (nice freeware I've used plenty of times before). Imation + Memorex now use short term dye. So, with buying a couple different kinds, I come across Sony which uses long term dye...and they work ok in my car, no problems. What pisses me off about the Sonys is all the problems I had with them.
1) Branded 48x, they burn at 32x max.
2) Had many MANY coasters/failed burns even with BurnProof/JustLink turned 'ON'
So I figure it's a dye issue...my head unit likes long term, hates short term. BUT if this is true, why'd short term ones work ok before? Weird, I know.

So a few weeks ago I buy a spindle of TDK on sale at Best Buy, hoping they're long term. NO. Short term. Anyway my car deck hates them. Worse than Imation or Memorex combined.

Here I sit...2 sealed Imation color spindles (50 ea), 1 opened Memorex 100 spindle (of which I've used...15 at most), 1 opened TDK spindle (50) (of which I've used 10 of at most)...and I'm wondering what in the world to do next.

I have a LiteOn 48x drive.
Again my car head unit is an Alpine CDM-7857.

Does anyone else (manufacturer) make long term dye cdrs anymore? Is it the cdrs? Or is it my head unit? Aargh...

I beg all of you...
HELP ME
TIA

ceeka

I had a Lite-on 48X drive that started giving me problems. First I noticed that the discs I burned were not readable in other machines. Then I started write verifying every thing I burned I got many bad discs. I tried different media, but that didn't help. I finally just bought one of thes $20 52x drives you can find on sale any time and the problems went away. By the way, some techs I talked to hate Imation and Memorex cdrs.

Devhux

How do you do that write-verifying thing? If my LiteOn 48x is doing the same thing as yours, then I might have a fully working MP3 CD player again.

LPMiller

Couple of things - it could be a dirty head unit.

It could be crappy runs of media.

It could be a bad burn. If the disk isn't properly finalized, normal players can exihibit the skipping and long long long seek times.

You player may be dying, but I tend to think no if it is just a problem with CDRs.

The same thing was happening to my old honda, and it was the media - either the player didn't like it, or the burning was not liking it. Sometimes, you just need to burn at a slower speed, no matter if the player thinks it can handle the top speed or not. One thing you can do is run the Nero CD tool and check for C1 and C2 errors. Some are normal, but if you have a lot of them, then either the burner is failing or the media is just crap at the speed you are burning at.

Finally, try a rom upgrade to your burner, as that usually improves media compatibility.

Before burnproof, media compatibility was a major issue. Then things got better - but with the faster speeds and different styles of spinning up a drive - CAV/CLV - it gets to be important again.

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lpmiller
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ceeka

I use Nero to burn CDs. You can turn on write verify when burning data CDs. The option appears when it is actually burning and showing the progress of the burn.
In my case I know I had a bad burner because I was even burning at 16x speed with 48x rated media and still getting lots a bad burns. With the new drive I have had none that failed the write verify.

zero2dash

Hey LP, could you (or anyone) tell me how exactly to do this? I've tried using the Nero CD Speed tool (I thought this was what you meant) but I can't figure out for the life of me how to test for C1 and C2 errors.

TIA