Burned CDs don't play in older CD Players

I am finding that audio CDs I burn don't always play in CD players, especially older ones. This is particularly frustrating as I can try a fix & find that a CD plays 5 times in a row, and then it might refuse to play for the rest of the day. Some don't play at all.

I have checked the obvious things:

- File type: wav and AIFF both the same

- basic specs: 16 bit & 44.1

- burn software: Logic Pro 9, wave burner, toast 8, itunes

- burn speed: 24X, 16X, 1X, "best"

- burner: Lacie TSSTcorpCDDVDW SH-S203N (peripheral), and Mashita DVD-R UJ-846 (built into intel iMac)

My audio CDs consistently play in computers and newer vehicle CD players, but not in home stereo CD players.

I am using good quality ÇDs (Microboards & Taiyo Yuden)

 

One other hint: fed up with my own duplicating, I sent the file on a data disc to a local duplicator, and they said the file wouldn't play on their test player either. Note: I did burn the data disc using toast 8 with a burn speed of "Best" rather than 1X. This may be a complex problem involving both the nature of the file and the burn process.

 

Since raising this issue, it appears that several of my friends are having the same problem.

 

I will be grateful for any insights you can offer.

Any ideas of what my problem is?

 

I will be thrilled with any ideas you might come up with.

I would burn the data disc within the Finder and not using Toast.

Why are you burning DataCDs when you want Audio to play in various players?

 

Burn an AudioCD.

 

http://www.freerip.com/frmmanual/tutorials/difference_between_audio_cd_and_data_cd.php

Why are you burning DataCDs when you want Audio to play in various players?

 

Burn an AudioCD.

 

 

If you read his post he burns two types of CDs: Audio and Data.

 

 

My audio CDs consistently play in computers and newer vehicle CD players, but not in home stereo CD players.

I am using good quality ÇDs (Microboards & Taiyo Yuden)

 

I sent the file on a data disc to a local duplicator, and they said the file wouldn't play on their test player either. Note: I did burn the data disc using toast 8 with a burn speed of "Best" rather than 1X. This may be a complex problem involving both the nature of the file and the burn process.

Just to confirm in case I have been unclear, my particular problem is about burning audio CDs that will consistently play in older CD players. Interestingly, the more I ask around the more I find people who either say they've had the same problem and haven't figured it out or people who have said they didn't know of that problem, but after the conversation has had a chance to progress realize that yes, they have encountered it. Maybe it is a case that everyone just occasionally gives people their money back on runs that are too short to replicate rather than duplicate.

Are you burning only DataCDs or have you tried burning AudioCDs as Triplets suggests your OP is alluding to?

The data disc was just the one the OP sent to the duplicator.

 

I just use iTunes to burn audio discs. Never had a problem.

 

Are you using Toast to prep the files as well as burn? Like triplets said, it sounds like Toast could be the problem, unless your optical drive is on the fritz.

If the plant rejected your disc that could happen for a variety of reasons. You said you sent a data disc, but a data disc won't burn as an audio cd. Don't expect the plant to give you an explanation or even understand what they're doing, quite often you're getting a reply from a receptionist without a clue. Instead you need to send either a RedBook compliant cd or better: a DDP.

 

You've got many factors: the the medium (disc), the burning software, the computer, the burner hardware, and the CD player. Sending a DDP to a plant and getting the disc pressed eliminates most of the these factors.

 

At the end of the day a burned audio cd isn't a real audio cd. A real audio cd is pressed, not burned. So you'll always risk problems with unplayable burned discs.

 

WaveBurner Pro is so buggy and full of errors that I don't recommend you use that for anything. Sonoris DDP Creator is my recommendation.

 

When you burn an audio cd it's usually a good idea to burn at a fairly low speed, but not necessarily the slowest. Try burning at approximately 3 or 4 times slower than the designated maximum speed of the disc, i.e. usually 4x - 8x speed with a good TY disc for instance.

Thanks all for the ideas. & for my answers to previous comments: yes I'm trying to burn audio CDs, & I've used iTunes, toast 8, and waveburner among other things, & burn speeds down to 1X. I particularly appreciate your comments lagerfeldt & will look into Sonoris CCP Creator. & you are also correct in that if I want a major run of anything I will go to a replicator. (Fortunately, there is one quite close by). For my personal burning, I am merely hoping to create Prototype and demo audio CDs that won't let anybody down. I am considering actually buying a duplicator, but don't actually know if that will solve anything. As you say, burned discs seem to carry risks. Maybe I just have to live with them and tell folks, "This might not play on your machine."

Once again, many thanks to all.

ps. I can't help but wonder if the duplicator may have put the Data disc into the CD player (in spite of the label calling it a data disc), and if that might be the source of that problem.

ps. I can't help but wonder if the duplicator may have put the Data disc into the CD player (in spite of the label calling it a data disc), and if that might be the source of that problem.

 

It's unlikely but not impossible that they're that stupid.

Well, re missing the Data vs Audio label, it was relatively small and the graphics person could have just put it on the audio person's desk w/o explanation.

 

Also, as an update: I have deliberately replaced my old and broken CD player with an even older one, - and it plays everything I have burned. While this is comforting on the one hand, it still leaves me wondering. Did my player fail so slowly that it could read replicated discs for ~4 years longer than it could my burned discs? & Does this mean that other people who can't play my discs also have a failing CD player? I guess CDs will be dead soon enough that I won't have to wonder for long.

Thanks everyone for suggestions and commiseration!

it still leaves me wondering. Did my player fail so slowly that it could read replicated discs for ~4 years longer than it could my burned discs?

The pits in a pressed CD are normally sharp-edged and precise because they're physically pressed into the polycarbonate layer, i.e. stamped.

 

A burned CD uses a heat sensitive layer where a laser burns into the disc while it's spinning in the burner. This leads to a much less precise result, with the edges suffering in particular.

 

So a burned CD would be the first to cause read errors and pressed CDs could continue to work.