Copying CD's

I work in the broadcasting industry and we have been using CD writers for short-run duplicating of in-house material since they were relatively new.

I've found that the quality of a duplicated audio disc depends mainly on the software and the settings used to duplicate it. If you want to duplicate whole discs without editing the contents then I recommend Disc Juggler from Padus. For audio this program has no equal I have ever seen (and they do a free single-speed version so you can test it. Under the license this version can be used at single speed forever without payment.) Their website is at www.padus.de . All my drives are SCSI and they are supported well but I recommend checking their supported drives list and downloading the evaluation version to check that it works with your interface and drive if you intend to buy the full version.

The problem with CD audio is that you will get different data from every disc each time you read it due to the lack of error control. Disc Juggler has a feature called "redundant audio resynchronisation" which, when enabled, reads each sector of the disc multiple times and statistically analyses the data to work out the value of each bit that was actually written to the disc by the author.

I also recommend using the lowest audio read speed that you have time for as jitter and other errors are worse at higher speeds. I have never made a study of the effect of the writing speed on the quality of the signal returned from the disc as my recorders are relatively slow but I have seen a commercial duplicating house issue a warning that all source discs should be recorded at single speed.

It's also worth checking your CD drive manufacturer's website to make sure that your drive is flashed with the best firmware version for the task you are performing. For instance the original firmware in my Ricoh drive would read audio at 2x before it started going wrong. The next version didn't read audio reliably at all and the newest version reads well at 6x. Fortunately if you use Disc Juggler and something bad happens the software will almost certainly detect the error and abort rather than turn out perfectly recorded discs full of junk.

As far as disc colour is concerned I have been told by my dealer that the gold on gold or discs have the highest laser reflectivity so they should give a better signal particularly in players that aren't quite as happy with CD-Rs. I almost always use branded media from a known manufacturer (either Fuji or TDK) and haven't had any recording problems caused by bad blanks. There is a program called "cdrid" which will tell you the manufacturer of unbranded media. I would be very suspicious of any media which reports "unknown" or "not-allowed" when checked as I have seen recording problems with one particular batch of discs which did this.

Please note that in giving my opinion above I have assumed that you are either the copyright owner of the disc you wish to copy or you have the owner's consent to copy his work. Ownership of this software does not absolve you from having to obey the revevant copyright laws in your country and if in doubt you should seek appropriate legal advice before commencing.

All the best,
Paul.

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I've found that the quality of a duplicated audio disc depends mainly on the software and the settings used to duplicate it.

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I've used discjuggler - it is very easy to use, but works no better than any other option I've tried.

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The problem with CD audio is that you will get different data from every disc each time you read it due to the lack of error control.

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Not strictly true - it is due to the lack of resolution in the timing information on an audio CD, and is only ever a problem if data cannot be streamed from the disc (i.e. your hard drive cannot keep up with the data rate from your CD, or your PC suddenly becomes 'busy'). It is then not possible for the laser to be accurately positioned when reading starts again - this is the reason for the redundant read options in many CD writing packages (e.g. Discjuggler).

I can extract the same Audio CD multiple times, using different programs, and get exactly the same audio data, bit-compared, on the hard drive. The only difference is an offset introduced by some software.

The recorded results though are always unlistenable through the Hi-Fi. They might be alright for a car system though

Andy.

Andrew L. Weekes
alweekes@audiophile.com

However, I’d like to take a step back and look at the expectations people have from CDR.
I like to make compilations from my CD’s for my own use in the home. I have done this for years using cassette tapes, that’s why I bought a Nakamichi tape deck. Now I do the copying using my PC to CDR, and the tape deck doesn’t get used much anymore. I have always accepted that when copying to cassette I will ‘lose something’ when compared to the original. But I have still enjoyed playing my tapes. In my experience I get much better copies using my PC to a CDR than I do copying to a tape using my tape deck. This makes it more than acceptable for me.

When judging the overall quality of a CDR please try to remember that it is a COPY.
If you’re copying CD’s or LP’s to CDR and you’re not happy because it doesn’t sound like the original, set your standards as you would have done if you were copying to cassette, or BUY THE ORIGINAL.

Brian

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When judging the overall quality of a CDR please try to remember that it is a COPY.
If you’re copying CD’s or LP’s to CDR and you’re not happy because it doesn’t sound like the original, set your standards as you would have done if you were copying to cassette, or BUY THE ORIGINAL.

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I always do - I find though, that copies to my tape deck, in spite of being noisier and having a more limited frequency and dynamic range, still sound more musical than the CD copies!

Andy

Andrew L. Weekes
alweekes@audiophile.com

"FWIW Nero seems to be the very popular with musicians for use in home/project studios which possibly says something about its audio quality. "

I think musicians are the last to listen to while talking about listening to music at home.
I heard musician on TV and radio, I read their
opinion on papers - and I think many of them have no idea about sound quality at "in house listening" I even think many of them have worse
knowladge of the subject.
People learn music at the university to the highest degrees and no one teaches them how to listen to music at home. The analyze compliated
classical music out of poor tapes....
I think we are lucky that those who are planing and manufacturing our stereo systems are "music
lovers" and not musicians...

Bri and Andrew,

Copying music to tapes with my old Akai gx7 gives
better "similarity" to source then copied Cd's,
not mention the convenience in copying LP's.

Omer,

I'm relieved now.....