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CD Burning: What Route Should I Go?

I have no experience with CD burning and don't have a burner. I've gathered that some people feel you get best results from a dedicated outboard CD burner than from doing it on your computer. Pardon my computer illiteracy, but I have a Mac from 1998 with only CD-ROM. What would be the easiest route with the best sonic results for me to invest in a burner to make copies?

Are the sonics better from a direct burn than from storing the data on hard drive first?

My other concern would be the durability of the burner. A friend had excellent sonic results with a Philips burner, but the Philips didn't seem very durable, becoming sensitive to which blanks were used, and it finally died out after 3 years. Thanks for all opinions.
kevziek
tobias
1,534 posts
 
I use a La Cie FireWire external CD burner with my PowerBook G4. I previously used a similar SCSI device with a 500 series PowerBook. I use Adaptec / Roxio Toast software. I can confirm that CD copies made at higher speeds sound thin and flat. I always copy music at single speed on high quality blank CDs. The results are very close indeed to the original if not identical.

Your G3 can use an external SCSI burner and you may be able to find one second hand. This would be the cheaper route to take.

If you decide to sell your G3, though, please let me know...
ketchup
692 posts
 
i wasn't specific enough before, but a stand alone burner (dual drive type) is the kind that does not hook up to a pc. those need "audio" cdrs. an external burner that hooks to a pc will, as sfar stated, burn on any disc.

i also agree with Rlwainwright 100% about windows. you're severely limited with what you can use a mac with/for these days. not buying a PC because it can be infected w/ viruses is like not buying a car because you might get into an accident. i would rather be able to drive a car to any store and risk an accident than only be able to walk to a few.

just my .02
kana813
956 posts
 
My friend who burns a lot of disks uses the exactaudiocopy
software and thinks the Plextor Premium drive is the best
for reducing read/write errors:

http://www.plextor.com/english/products/Premium.html
tobias
1,534 posts
 
Gentlemen and possibly ladies, I hope I am not the only one who would like it if we all agreed not to bash the "other" computer platform. I use them both... oops, I forgot the Unix / Linux people ! Anyway, I can make good copies using Mac OS and using Windows. The platform choice does not affect the quality of the copy, as far as I know.
chazro's avatar
chazro
635 posts
 
I used to have a phillips stand-alone CDR and was it ever a pain in the ass!! It would freeze up and once that happened I'd have to start all over again! This would happen 25-35% of the time. I finally bit the bullet and bought a Pioneer Elite CDR. Built like a Cadillac, this machine has never failed me, not once. If you're going for a stand-alone CDR spend the bucks for a "high-end" unit or you'll regret it!
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