Advice needed for stand-alone CD Recorders

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Over the past 3 months I've bought two CDRecorders on Ebay, only to have them not work properly. Are these components that hit-and-miss??? (Yes, I was reimbursed).
The additional difficulty for both of them was that they used "audio" CDRs only. Can anyone recommend a durable, reliable stand-alone CD Recorder to use for recording from analog sources which uses all kinds of CDRs?

― peepee (peepee), Thursday, 23 October 2003 17:04 (twenty-two years ago)

I believe all stand-alone CD burners use only "audio" CDRs. It's a legal issue. This came up before when I was shopping for a burner (and still haven't bought one).

― Al Andalous, Thursday, 23 October 2003 17:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Yes Im pretty sure all standalones use Audio CDRs only- since the audio CDs are susceptible to the 'media tax' (which is why, generally speaking, they are more expensive than data CDRs)

I have a Marantz standalone- which works admirably. However, the only downside being that it only records in either real time or 2X.

Im glad with the purchase..

― nothingleft (nothingleft), Thursday, 23 October 2003 18:06 (twenty-two years ago)

I've had a couple of Sandisk smardisks that worked well.

― calstars (calstars), Thursday, 23 October 2003 18:13 (twenty-two years ago)

nothingleft, how much do the audio CDRs cost, on average?

― Al Andalous, Thursday, 23 October 2003 18:16 (twenty-two years ago)

They arent that much more than regular CDRs-but these too depend on the quality of the CDRs you buy. But you can easily find them 15 for $15.00 (US)

― nothingleft (nothingleft), Thursday, 23 October 2003 18:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh that's not so bad. I guess I should have kept that burner I bought months ago. (At the moment I am less enthusiastic about sharing mixes with people, or exploring new areas of music, than I have been in a while, so I probably won't be buying one soon.)

― Al Andalous, Thursday, 23 October 2003 18:32 (twenty-two years ago)

my understanding is that it's possible to replace some of the innards (how technical i am!) with a new chip (or something) that will allow the machine to use standard blank cd-rs. obviously this requires (a) someone who can supply the new part and (b) someone who can solder it in correctly.

my system:

i have a philips cdr600 cd-rw player / burner that has caused minimal problems over time. i digitise vinyl (or cassettes) through my hi-fi system onto the burner using a RW disk. i then take it to my PC, burn a wav file, clean up any pops and crackles (and cassette noise) and burn another, final cd on the PC (using best quality silver / gold blanks - unlike most audio cd-rs which use old style blue die). i then use the RW disk for another digitisation.

this system has worked perfectly over the past 2 years for at least 300 digitised cd-rs.

― phil turnbull (philT), Thursday, 23 October 2003 20:56 (twenty-two years ago)

The guy who sold me the Philips CD recorder I had (which worked until it screwed up in the middle of the finalizing process) wrote me a note stating he used regular CDRs by initializing an audio CDR, and then opening the disc drawer with his finger and replacing it with a regular CDR to record onto. (But maybe this is why it dident work properly)

― peepee (peepee), Thursday, 23 October 2003 21:22 (twenty-two years ago)

I believe all stand-alone CD burners use only "audio" CDRs. It's a legal issue.

All consumer machines. You can buy more expensive machines aimed at the studio and professional market that will accept any CD-R. But we're talking 700.00 GBP and up (brand new).

Over the past 3 months I've bought two CDRecorders on Ebay, only to have them not work properly

Two things. I believe CD players and burners have a somewhat limited life anyway so if they had been used heavily prior to you buying them then they might have reached conk-out point. I don't know if reliability has improved of late but I remember reading on newsgroups a few years ago about some burners breaking down after 300-400 burns. The other thing is damage in transit if they weren't packed ultra professionally.

― David (David), Thursday, 23 October 2003 22:39 (twenty-two years ago)

I've had a TDK burner for years now, and it's very reliable. And at this point, the blank music CDR's aren't all that expensive. Mine records at 4X, and I've never created a coaster with it.

― dlp9001, Thursday, 23 October 2003 22:51 (twenty-two years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.