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Date:	Fri, 21 Sep 2001 12:22:29 PDT
From:	"J. R. Fox" <jr_fox@pacbell.net >
Reply-To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
Subject:	SCOUG-Help: Re: Peter's CD-burner questions

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Peter wrote:

> Thanks, guys, Plextor or Yamaha it is. And I need SCSI -- I don't have
> any IDE space left in the machine this will go into.

I think some of the Plextor SCSI models are still available (Plextor was long the
top Rec. of a Compuserve Sysop who co-owned a commercial CD-mastering facility,
and I expect he knew whereof he spoke), though they seem to be harder to find
now. I'm pretty sure you won't find any at the FairPlex shows, for example, and
forget about ACP for this. A new model Plextor burner was among the bought &
paid for h/w lot that my former dealer disappeared with, so I will have to order
another . . . which I definitely want to do while they are still available.
According to their online catalog, CDW (a big mail-order outfit based in Chicago)
still had these a couple weeks ago. If you want a Plextor, you may have to get
it from someplace like that, without any discount.

> What is "burnproof technology" -- a large cache on the drive maybe?

My 2 year old Plextor 8/20 burner has a 4 mb. h/w buffer; I suspect the current
"burnproof" models have more. While I have inadvertently made my fair share of
"beveridge coasters," once I got all my settings optimal (under RSJ), this became
a rare occurrence. This even _without_ the burnproof whatever-it-is. If the
only really good burner I could get was a leftover-stock older model, I would
still take that in a SCSI any day over the latest & greatest IDEs.

Someone here said the other day that DVD burners were "just around the corner."
I'm not so sure about that, and even if correct, how long before they are really
affordable, and common, well-proven standards ? I think we'll be using CDs for
awhile. Much greater capacity will be welcome, though, esp. for backup
purposes. Hopefully the burn-speed of DVD will improve enough, too.

> Thanks for the link. I'm going to use CDRecord -- if I can't get it to
> work, I'll get RSJ.

Well, you're technically adept (at least compared to someone like me), and a
tinkerer by nature, so you'll probably do fine with the former. I don't have the
patience for "some assembly required" type s/w -- even though it's free -- so I
coughed up the dough and went with RSJ. Haven't regretted it, although they do
regularly charge for upgrades, in a way that is far less generous than so many
other Warp developers.

> Driver question: Do I need any _new_ drivers for a SCSI CD recording
> drive? If I already have a SCSI CD play-only drive, can I just plug in
> the SCSI CD record drive or do I need a new driver?

If you do anything with multimedia files on CD, you may well benefit from
JJSCDROM, as a replacement for the standard OS2CDROM. It's free, available on
Hobbes or some of our SCOUG monthly cds. Their have been several recent updates
to this driver, but whatever it was they were fixing seems to have had undetected
relevance over here.

> Media question: They sell different speeds of media? Do I have to buy
> media rated for the maximum speed I want to record at? Any particular
> brands/colors/types/speeds I should buy or stay away from?

Can't give you anything definitive on this, but, for example, I've heard the
distinction between "audio CD" blanks and their "data" counterparts is quite
bogus. (I mean, the music *is* digital, right ? And a digital file is a digital
file.) {Maybe what I heard is wrong.} In any case, the media is cheap enough
that I can't see the point of scrimping to save a few zlotys. Might as well get
the max. speed rating that matches your drive, and stick with a major name
brand. Curiously enough, I've bought 5, 10, and 20 packs on sale at Tower
Records for notably less than I've seen them go for at computer stores or _any_
of the shows. Or you can get a good price on a bulk pack at Costco.

Jordan

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