CD rewriters

[Clive]

I've created a bunch of CDs for use in the car, these contain about 10 MP3 albums each. My the CD drive in car and one other I've tried doesn't reliably read the CDs. I dropped the write speed from 24x to 10x, this helped a lot but doesn't quite produce copies that can be reliably read. The driver on my laptop doesn't allow write speeds slower than 10x, not as far as I can tell anyway.

I suspect my only option is to get a USB CD rewiter, one that will run at 2x or 4x maybe. Any suggestions?

[John]

You should be able to find software with slower rips

[Clive]

You should be able to find software with slower rips
That's what I looked for at first but all the software I found gives me options for 10x and 24x only on my machine. This leads me to think it's the drive telling the driver that's all the speed settings which are available.

[John]

Then perhaps an external drive is the best option they not to expensive

[WAD62]

The write speed is usually derived via a combination of the drive and disk capabilities...it will arrive at a maximum speed and then work within that upper ceiling.

I use one of these...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-Extenal-x22-DVD-RW-Lightscribe/dp/B001CZOPHG/ref=dp_ob_title_ce

...but unfortunately it no longer appears to be available, the only ones that samsung do now appear to be 'slim', which is not really what we want here, big, fast, and accurate are really the requirements IMHO :)

[Clive]

The write speed is usually derived via a combination of the drive and disk capabilities...it will arrive at a maximum speed and then work within that upper ceiling.

I use one of these...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-Extenal-x22-DVD-RW-Lightscribe/dp/B001CZOPHG/ref=dp_ob_title_ce

...but unfortunately it no longer appears to be available, the only ones that samsung do now appear to be 'slim', which is not really what we want here, big, fast, and accurate are really the requirements IMHO :)
Agreed, I need a robust, crude but effective drive! Actually it seems only a few discs are problematic. Probably the most cost effective thing I can do it to re-do those discs with the computer not doing any other tasks, or at the least without the tasks I can easily control. I've not had any read failures once the TOC is read so maybe that's the critical operation. I'll see if I can get some 10x or slower discs.

[Clive]

The discs I've been using are 52x Verbatim. I suppose high spec discs are better as they should be better made. I'll try some TDK, maybe I'll have more luck with those.

[John]

i had no issues with those in the past

[Clive]

i had no issues with those in the past
I blame the car companies for supplying the cheapest drives possible.

[Canetoad]

It won't be the CDs, it'll be the crappy drive in the laptop. Get a full size quality brand external (USB) drive and you should be fine.

I had the same problems with CDs burnt on two laptops. Once I started doing them on a quality PC drive I had no further problems. CD-Rs were the same in all cases. :)

[Clive]

I'll have to try re-doing the problem ones , I only have a few so it's not worth worth buying a drive, a decent drive may not be cheap....

[dave2010]

I'll have to try re-doing the problem ones , I only have a few so it's not worth worth buying a drive, a decent drive may not be cheap....I've had bad batches of CDs in the past. Try again with different ones. As you say, it's cheaper than a new drive. I've had some discs which will only work with a software drive update. Sometimes the disc manufacturer will warn you of this. If it's a reputable brand, check speed compatibility of the discs, and if necessary consider doing the download/upgrade, or choose another brand.

Don't you have access to any other computers, or mates with drives who'll do it for you-assuming there are only a few to do?

[pwood]

Cant say i have ever had a problem with any of my cars reading discs and I use cheap TESCO blanks for the car using either Acer or HP laptop standard drive. Have you tried a lens cleaner and if not already done try finalizing the disc as some players wont work properly until that is done.

[Clive]

Thanks for all the comments. Out of 33 discs about 2 or 3 are a problem, though I've not systematically tried them all yet. Our 2 cars are both new (61 plate) and the same discs fail in both so I'm confident something is up with the TOC on the discs. My hunch is that an email arrived while the TOC was being written or something else that screwed up the timing.

[bennyboyph]

You need a Plextor Premium 2 for the best quality cd audio burning

[dave2010]

You need a Plextor Premium 2 for the best quality cd audio burningYes, but getting decent CD and DVD writers is quite hard these days, and they do cost more than another pack of Tesco or similar CDs. Even branded discs would be cheaper, though they can often be picked up cheaply at supermarkets.

If, as I suspect, our OP just has a couple of duds, then for his application just redoing them should work out fine. If there was a systematic failure than I'd be agreeing with you, though when I went looking for decent CD/DVD writers a year or so back, I couldn't find many. I have an LG model which is very good, but I really need the drivers for it - and also to see if I can find Mac OS X drivers. Most of the cheapish ones now seem to be very thin and flimsy, and the power supply seems dodgy - or maybe they even work (??!) off USB.