The Logic Off Topic list

John Matthews...

> CD burning
> 
> The only thing I can say for sure is that some of my friends cheapo CD
> players will not play 4X burnt CD's wheras 2X play fine, although 2 of these
> people had their lazer on the player re- aligned, and this helped.

Could you elaborate on this with specifics, please?  What burner and what
media?  Who offers the service of "laser realignment" and what does it
entail?

> 
> My CD player- a rather better than average one (Arcam Alpha 5) has played
> absolutely every CD I have burnt- including audio CD's recorded onto CD-RW,
> wheras my Sony portable CD player will play all CD-R's but refuses to touch
> audio CD-RW's, shame as this is a neat way of testing a mix on different
> audio systems before permanently burning a CD. Any ideas?

CDRW media has about 30% of the reflectivity of a mass-manufactured CD (if
memory serves), which tends to deep six it with a lot of players.  CDR media
has about 70% of the reflectivity, producing occasional compatibility
issues, but not with such frequency as CDRW.

-- Marvin Humphrey
Mastering Engineer and Graphic Designer, emeritus
Mr. Toad's, San Francisco, California, USA
CD design website - http://marvin.mrtoads.com