TheAgitator.com
Tech Help Bleg
Saturday, January 3rd, 2004Very weird problem.
For about the last three weeks, and the last dozen or so CDs I’ve attempted to burn, I’ve been having problems with my laptop burner. Usually starting with the fourth or fifth track, I get this recurring static over top of the music. Doesn’t start until about mid-way through the CD.
The odd thing is, the CDs play fine on my laptop. It’s only on my car and home stereos that you hear the static. It’s bad enough that they’re pretty much unlistenable.
I know, you’re thinking that my car and home systems aren’t suited for CD-Rs. But that’s not the case. Previously burned CDs using the same burner and on the same brand of CD-R still play just fine. I’ve burned dozens of CDs (all within the fair use doctrine, of course) up until now with no problems.
So in sum:
1) CDs get staticky at about track four or five.
2) But only on car and home systems, not when spun on laptop.
3) Has happened with last dozen or so attempts to burn.
4) Laptop CD burner has been working fine up until this problem.
I called Compaq’s tech line. They said the MP3s are corrupted. They were very friendly (it’s about 75 degrees in New Delhi today, in case you were wondering), but I’m fairly certain that’s not the problem.
If any of you tech savvy kids have any theories, please do pass them along. I will compose and send an Agitator supreme music sampler mix for whoever correctly identifies the problem, provided it’s fixable.
Couple thoughts… Try ripping the music disk to an .iso file, then use that .iso file as your source when burning your new disk. Also you might want to try using a different burning software to do your cd writing. Roxio and Nero are good products, and there are plenty others out there as well. Feel free to ping me with more details if those suggestions don’t help. Good luck!
You don’t say how old the burner is.
I’ve worn out several burners & they always do strange things before they expire. And a couple times (when they were in the death spiral) burned CDs would play fine on the local machine, but not elsewhere. Unfortunately, I’m
guessing that laptop burners aren’t disposably priced like the one in my tower…
How old is the burner? The laser might be getting old or dirty. Try cleaning it. If you have a friend with a burner, try burning a copy of the same MP3’s with the same brand of disk. If they come out fine, your burner may be getting ready to go.
Check the CDs to see whether they mention any copy-protection?
It is a tracking device from the feds. They’re out to get you man! Watch out and burn, err lose, those disks now before they come get ya!
Or it could be an old burner, which has happened to me quite a few times.
Old burner prob culprit. But I think you might want to use Nero if not already. I use it on tracks that have errors (worn, damaged) and been able to get perfectly good recordings on the copy….
Try burning at a lower speed (if you have burned at x12, try x10 or lower). It might help if the burner is getting worn out.
CD burners burn more precise pits at lower speeds. This reduces the ‘read’ error rate to a level where the inherent error correction systems can cope with crappy burn quality and reproduce the data more reliably.
CD players spin the disk at a constant speed (as far as I know) and the tangential velocity increases as the read head moves outward towards the edge of the disk, requiring good quality (sharply defined) ‘pits’ and ‘lands’ as opposed to blurry ones. That is probably why some players have problems reading data as they reach the outer half of the disk.
…or so the theory goes