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Buying Guide for CD Burners |
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CDs are one of the one of the most popular removable storage media. A CD can hold up to hundred times more of data than a floppy disk. Also, being a stable storage medium, data recorded on CDs are rarely lost or corrupted. These two qualities make CDs an ideal choice for storing collections of music, movies or just about any data. Storing music, movie or data on CDs has another benefit, it can free up valuable hard disk space. CDs can also be used as a means to archive or backup data on your PC. Now that you are aware of the benefits of storing data on CDs, it obviously makes sense in investing in a CD Burner. More so since floppy discs are now almost passé. |
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Getting started | Format | Speed | Compatibility | Dimensions | Buffer | Ripping | Auto-Detect | Price Range |
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1 • Getting Started
Understanding CD Burners
A CD-burner also called a CD-writer, a CD-recorder or a CD-RW drive, refers to the recording equipment, used to
write/encode data on blank compact discs, with the help of a laser beam. This process is called “burning a CD” -
since the laser actually burns the disc’s reflective coating. A CD-burner that connects to your computer can play
as well as burn CDs.
How do you decide on which CD Burner to buy?
The range of CD Burners available in the market makes the task of choosing a CD Burner seem daunting. Is it really a
daunting task? Not really! Once you gain an understanding of your requirements and gain familiarity with its key
specifications, your task should be fairly simple.
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This is perhaps one of the most important attribute one should look for while buying a CD-burner. It is advisable to buy
a multi format CD-burner.
Some examples of CD recording formats are:
A • CD-R (CD-Recordable)
This format allows you to write audio and data files. The data written cannot be erased and rewritten, since it is a
‘write only once’ disc. When you want to write/burn an audio CD, this is the type of disc that can be used to make sure
it will be compatible with car and home stereos.
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B • CD-RW (CD-Rewritable)
This format of CD allows you to write audio and data files, like the CD-R format. However data
can be erased and rewritten about a 1000 times on this type of CD. The sound quality is much better in CD-RW as compared to
the CD-R format. Although the music sounds better in this format, the majority of car and home theatre systems do not
support this disc media type. |
C • CD Text
This is the latest extension of the standard audio CD that contains additional information besides the audio tracks.
This information can be the title of the CD, the name of the artist, song, etc.
D • WAV (wave)
This is an audio format developed by IBM and Microsoft. It is the standard audio file format used in most windows
environment.
E • WMA (Windows Media Audio)
It is an audio format supported by Microsoft and is designed to compete with the MP3 format. It gives a great sound
quality, and compression ratio.
F • ISO
Refers to the ISO suggested storage format that is widely used in Compact Discs.
G • MP3
This is an audio file format is based on MPEG (Moving Picture Expert Group) technology.
H • AVI (audio video interleave)
A multimedia format introduced by Microsoft. Avi files can contain both audio and video file formats and allows for
simultaneous playback.
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3 • Speed
The speed of a CD-burner is represented in terms of “x” units, where 1x = 150 kilobytes/second. CD-burners create or write
information on CDs at various speeds. At 1x, the CD spins at the same rate as it does when the player is reading it. So it
would take approximately an hour to record an hour’s worth of music! At 2x, it would take a burner approximately half an
hour to record an hour’s worth of music; at 3x, it would take about quarter of an hour to record 60 minutes of music and so
on. Faster burning speed would demand an advanced laser control system and faster interface connection between the computer
and the burner. Since CD burners burn CDs, CDs are made available as per the speed of the CD burner, which means you have
to get a blank CD which has a speed compatible with your burner. When you see a configuration that looks like 24x2x12, you
start wondering what those number combinations mean. The number represents different actions; a CD-burner can take. A CD-R
format has two actions, recording to and reading from compact discs. A CD-RW format has three actions recording, rewriting
and reading from compact discs. When looking at the drive speeds, the first number ("12" in the above example) indicates
the speed at which the CD drive will record data onto a CD-R compact disc. So, in the above example, the CD drive will
record data at 12 times 150 KB/second. The second number ("2" in the above example) indicates the speed at which the CD
drive will rewrite data onto a CD-RW compact disc. So in the above example, the CD drive will rewrite data onto the compact
disc at 2 times 150 KB/second. The last number ("24" in the above example) indicates the speed at which the drive will read
data from a compact disc. So in the above example, the CD drive will read data from a compact disc at 24 times 150 KB/second.
Typically, the second number, the rewrite speed, is lower than the first number that is, the write speed, because rewriting
is a slower process than writing. Always buy a CD-burner which supports the CD format you intend to use for recording.
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4 • PC compatibility & interface
As in all pieces of hardware that needs to interface with the PC, CD Burners too need to be compatible with the operating
system on your PC. Most CD-writers are compatible with operating systems such as Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP. Check if the CD
burner you choose is compatible with your system. CD-burners are usually connected to the computer by the ATAPI or SCSI
interface; some also use Parallel, USB or Firewire ports. |
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5 • Dimensions
CD-burners are available as an external drive or as a drive which can be internal to your PC. Most CD-burners are of a
standard size; however some are more compact and weigh around 2 lbs.
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6 • Buffering and Burn-Proof technology
Some CD-burners come with a multi-thread buffering system to avoid or guard against any skips and jumps while writing a
file. Buffer size can be adjusted by the user. A recording/writing error may occur if the stream of data that is being
passed to the burner is interrupted. This could be either due to faulty software, or slow interface speed, or lack of
sufficient memory to perform the task. To prevent such interruptions you need to ensure that your burner has the Burn-proof
feature.
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7 • Ripping
Ripping refers to the process of importing audio or video content from one media to another, in this case from the CD to the
Computer. Also referred to in terms of speed of ripping – which depends upon the speed at which the CD spins as also the
processor speed of your PC.
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8 • Auto-Detect
This refers to the ability of the burner to detect/check such aspects as; if the full song has been ripped on your hard
drive, Finding incompletely transferred songs, detecting optimum write speed for an already used/written upon disc as also
to detect low-quality audio files.
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9 • Price Range
With falling prices of CD Burners and increase in CD writing speeds, the demand for CD Burners has been rising. Most burners
fall in the price band of $30 to $150.
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CD burner links
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Price Ranges
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Popular brands
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