Just ordered Lite-on 12x10x32.. NEW TO BURNERS! Nero's the way to go? How about Firmware?

[CuriousAndy]

**for the lack of traffic in GH, I've decided to post here @ OT instead** thx..

I just grab this hot one for $78 shipped from newegg.com... everyone says it's a decent drive with burnproof..

I don't know anything about burners.. My Qs are:

1. It comes with Adaptec CD Creator.. is this good? or should i go Nero? why is one better than the other?

2. Do I need to flash the drive with new firmware to achieve better performance? or is it fine as it is? (i think it's just fine)

3. How do I know what CDs this drive is capable of burning?? what type of media is out there? I heard many confusing things such as, CD protected, Safedisc.. blah blah

4. How do I do mp3 to cd burning so it can play in my standard portable CD player.. how about Cloning CDs?? what is CloneCD.. is it like Nero??

thx for the helping the newbie out

~andy

 

[Impact55]

So can I sell something here if I feel this thread gets more traffic?

 

[351Cleveland]

CloneCD is the ONLY way to go for CD Duplication... with the right burner (dunno if that one is it or not) you can copy Safedisk2 protection. Otherwise I use Nero for archiving and music CD creation.

CloneCD is ONLY for CD duplication. To create an audio CD for conventional CD players, I use Nero, click audio CD, and drag and drop the MP3's in the order I want them. It is fairly simple and self explanatory. Just get a box of blanks... you aren't gonna be able to learn without making some coasters first. As far as firmware, if it ain't broke...

 

[tontod]

1. I've been using Adaptec CD Creator for a while, but I recently switched to Nero and I like it much better. I would recommend Nero. Nero is more versatile, has more features.

2. Good idea to flash it with new firmware. I did mine.

3. Go to www.cdmediaworld.com, it has tons of info.

4. For mp3 to wav, select the waveout plugin in winamp.


Hope that helps.

 

[konichiwa]

1) Adaptec licks a big ol' goat's balls. Get Nero if all you want to do is file/mp3 compilations, there are some other more specific programs out there (BlindSuite/CDRWin for burning imgaes, DiscJuggler, etc) but generally Nero is the best for compilations, plus it does mp3 decoding on the fly.

2) It should be just fine, you could check the Lite-On site and if there are any significant changes or bugs fixed in later firmwares, you could upgrade, but otherwise, don't worry about it.

3) Most drives are NOT capable of copying games that are protected by SafeDisc2. There are lots of types of Media out there, generally I just buy whatever is cheapest. However, good name brands are TDK, FujiFilm, Kodak, Imation. Generally, however, the important thing to notice is the actual manufacturer of the disc. Hardly any retail companies manufacture their own discs, they are usually mfr'd in plants in Taiwan, China and Japan. It is pretty widely known that Taiyo Yuden (Japan) is the best mfr of discs, with companies like Ritek and CMC Magnetics coming in way in the back. The only way you can really know what mfr made your disc is by getting a program called CDR Intentifier, try google for it. Lots of times when there are TDK deals in the HD forum, people who have bought it will specify whether they are Ritek or Taiyo Yuden.

4) Nero does mp3 to cd encoding on the fly, just drag and drop mp3 files into the compilation window and it does it for you. CloneCD is perhaps the best program for copying copy-protected CDs because it does what's called a "raw write", which, without going into a whole lot of detail, lets you copy copy-protected CDs.

You can get cloneCD from elaborate-bytes.com. You can find information on copying games that you have bought (which is, mind you, legal, unless you sell your copies) from gamecopyworld.com. Nero can be found at ahead.de

EDIT

Linkified
...in case you were wondering, the only real difference that the higher quality (Taiyo Yuden) media has over the lower quality media is that it alledgedly lasts longer. Of course, no one really knows this, because the TTL on the cheap ones are over 10 years and the TTL on the expensive ones are estimated at over 15-20(?) years, and the CDR/W hasn't been around that long. The other advantage is that some audio players (as well as DVD players if you're making VCDs/SVCDs) are finnicky about the types of CDRs you put in them -- some audio players will only accept high quality media. But if you're just backing things up for your computer you're safe with the cheapest discs you can buy.

EDIT2

list of safedisc2 compatible cdwriters

EDIT3

Some interesting links you may want to delve through:

CDFreaks
CDMediaWorld
CDRInfo

 

[sohcrates]

<<
I just grab this hot one for $78 shipped from newegg.com... everyone says it's a decent drive with burnproof.. >>




i just got the 16x lite-on from newegg for 95 bucks..i LOVE it!



<<
1. It comes with Adaptec CD Creator.. is this good? or should i go Nero? why is one better than the other? >>



easy cd works allright, but nero is more flexible. you can download a nero trial from their website and give it a spin to swee which you prefer.



<< 2. Do I need to flash the drive with new firmware to achieve better performance? or is it fine as it is? (i think it's just fine) >>



i would say don't mess with it. i went to their site, and while the new firmware looks promising, i would not jump at it..updating firmware (while i've done it before) is kinda scary if something goes wrong



<< 3. How do I know what CDs this drive is capable of burning?? what type of media is out there? I heard many confusing things such as, CD protected, Safedisc.. blah blah >>



the consensus seems to be that the 12x lite-on will do safedisk2, but the 16x will not (too bad for me). unless their website says something, i'm not sure if you'll ever get all the specs you want...as long as your running good software, you should be able to copy and burn whatever you want.



<< 4. How do I do mp3 to cd burning so it can play in my standard portable CD player.. how about Cloning CDs?? what is CloneCD.. is it like Nero?? >>



with nero OR easy cd creater you can just make a new &quot;audio cd&quot; and drag your .mp3 files right into the program...and out spits a nice audio cd that will play on standard cd players. nero can make cd images and burn them just fine. i've never used clone cd though, but something tells me it has more capability when it comes to copyright-protected cd's