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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
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!
gunbei
2,327 posts
 
I don't feel severly limited with what I can do on a Mac, but then again you just don't see PCs in my profession, so I really wouldn't know what I'm missing out on.

The defensive PCs guys posting here are right about the virus issue though. Those "evildoers" want the biggest hit possible so it makes no sense writing them for Macs. And Macs aren't immune to them by any stretch. I can remember that pesky "restart virus" from seven or eight years ago.

Burning CDs or DVDs can be accomplished with either platform, just choose the one you're more comfortable using. The only reason I recommend Macs is that these days they come with iMovie, iDVD, iPhoto and iTunes, all the software needed to rip and burn music, and edit movies and photos.

Kevziek, if you'd like to stay with the Mac OS a new machine might be the best choice. It's difficult and sometimes downright impossible to get support or repairs for older equipment. Yeah, us dedicated Mac guys have plenty of gripes about Apple and some of the third party developers especially in the world of graphic design.

In the summer of 2001 when the Apple Cubes were discontinued, I bought one on Ebay and have been having a great time editing video from my Tivo and burning DVDs of the movies I Frankenstein together.

I dumped a 1.2GHz card into it and bought a slightly larger custom enclosure for it which allows it to run faster and cooler. Hey, I can even run Maya Complete on the little square guy!

Stay Mac and remain cool!
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,313 posts
 
A new Mac with iTunes is a very effective rip/burn/playback combo. It's very powerful, easy to use and a complete, integrated package (including the optional iPod). And yes, iTunes has error correction during the ripping process.
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