Hi all, not a regular but i'm going to propose a situation for
chat/talk, etc. First off, we all see at best buy the 'audio' blank
cdr's that are basicly the computer cdr's with a different package
label. For the audio-files, we're just talking here that in basic,
they're the same cd's. As in if anyone ever told you otherwise, look
farther into it, most guys that been around know those cd's are simply
the same blank cdr's you find for sale in the computer section. Ok,
with that said. Me and a buddy have come across an interesting
situation.

2 Different machines, but with identical hardware, and 3 different cdr
manufacturers (by label) for blank cdr's. So I burn a audio cd on xp,
no big deal, been awhile since i had, yet, burned it, and now in
trusty regular cd player(s), this audio cd skips but plays. Meanwhile
I goto another brand of cdr (my gig was got a stack of chrome no label
blanks from office max on a rebate, the imation's i usually buy went
on sale at best buy the next week, so thought maybe the generics were
junk and i'd be back in the high life with the imations. -ie just like
the old days, just like i've been doing 5 yrs out of 10 yrs of pc
computing.) and audio cd's now still won't play right. I've NEVER had
a problem with burning an audio cd, PERIOD. Ok.

So my buddy calls me up and says hey man, my burns are acting like
yours, what's up? Said don't know, i've checked out my gear, even
burned not under xp but under w2k on same hardware and said, dunno, my
2nd test has now failed too. Prior to hearing my buddy having probs,
for me, was considering perhaps my burner is wearing out (never had
one that did, but know they're rated at so many 1000's of burning
hours, and I've been pretty active w/backups last 3 months), and I got
another upto date burner in another machine, so was allready on the
path my prob was certainly weird, but 'certainly' local.

So, for this post, the burner switchout and test is to come, and the
box i burn on i have multiboot w2k/xp, so as before when i thought xp
might have a bug in it (and maybe I introduced, the image is 6 months
old, i've installed alot) that i can reboot and do things under w2k.
My w2k image is at least 1yr old, and it was that long since i even
made an audio cd that at least i know it's a good benchmark os load of
when it did work.

After all this, bases are covered, and if easy enough to read, the
idea is this- Does anyone have any experience or seen that for in the
market place the cd makers have actually done something to which they
will try to steer comp people into buying a whole stack of audio cd's
(and just for that purpose) with the blank data cdr's that we've been
so accustom to buying, using, and burning for both and all regular
purposes?

I don't care much about conspiracy as much as my wallet. If times are
changing, i had no reason to investigate earlier, and i was on the
path that step by step was on way to discovering my local problem,
yet, my buddy who has bought two stacks of blank cd's and and audio he
burned last yr, and now that that stack was done and a new stack was
bought, that last yrs audio cd works in any player, or chosen player,
but now he's seeing the same result i am where a 'new' stack of cds
all of a sudden has problems? I also have a last years audio cd that
plays great, anyplayer, yet my new burns (new cdr blank stock), all of
a sudden -problems?

(the prob for me is the tracks skip but song still plays yet doesn't
restart the tune or cd, and some background hiss/scratch depending on
tune, and song hangs, -like a 'stuck' tune.)

Me? My procedure is the same and will toss out names for those
interested, and hasn't changed for at least 3 yrs. Mp3's decoded to
..wav (via MpegSuite), and .wav given to Nero v5.5, straight burn. No
on the fly encoding, here ever. (no reason really, just stay w/old
habits on this one, did try it once, didn't like results, wasn't
interested enough to fix what if any bugs or other issues.) My buddy?
Not sure, but his last year burn plays all day, his yesterday burn
skips, farts, crackles, whatever, just like mine. I was pretty blown
away. Certainly expected i was the only guy w/the problem and my prob
was local. My use of Nero? We all know the cool things u can do with
nero and my habit is to take defaults on audio cd's and the problem
audio cd's i'm speaking of (for me, but coinicidently for my buddy as
well) I'm not using cd text or anything like that.

So for the end of it, all my gear is accounted for, looking for a chat
thread, all settings and setup is square, no 'options' to consider to
turn off/on allready done, thanks for the thoughts, let's keep this on
is/has anyone else in their regular burning procedures have seen
anything like this is what I'm getting at. I'm not sure what to
think, I was on a hardware failure discovery mode until my buddy ended
up with the same result, oh and most important, my mp3's are made from
my own store bought cd's, audio caps from videos bought or from fair
use video. So, that part isn't in question or a factor. And if I
can't simply make a mix cd of tunes/singles from store bought cd's on
my computer, there indeed is serious problems. RIAA/Computer
companies now screwing me because they're getting screwed (or have)
IS NOT MY PROBLEM. I'm posting as a legal joe here, no kidding, no
crap.

(btw- somethin' else worthwhile normal to mention i forgot, can't
remember.)

So, for conversation only cause i'd be posting here anyway in another
two days if my burner switch out doesn't work, and I KNOW this backup
burner has definitely made me mix cd's that PLAY no problem in the
past. So, I'll be happy to post for anyone who wants to hear. Has
anyone seen/heard/know of anything like this? Know the basics, spend
my computing time in other areas of interest, this is the first time
I've ever even had to think about it since the first days of learning
how to make an audio cd, tweaking fixing anything to get one done and
covering the basics of learning what I needed to know to do it. This
is not operator error. Hdw error? Possible, but what about my buddy?
We both picked up on a store bought machine, 1.5 yrs old, on both,
same exact identical no kidding hdw.


Thanks for reading,

jdc