Part I: Introduction

0-1] Legal noise (disclaimers and copyrights)

0-2] What does this FAQ cover (and not cover)?

0-3] What's new since last time?

0-4] Is the FAQ only available in English?

0-5] Appropriate use of the newsgroups

0-6] I'm having trouble, how do I ask for help?

0-7] Spelling and name conventions

0-8] Can I advertise on the FAQ pages?

0-9] Can you mail the FAQ to me?

Part II: Simple answers to simple questions

1] Simple answers to simple questions

1-1] What's CD-R? CD-RW?

1-2] Are they identical to normal CDs?

1-3] Can I create new audio and data CDs?

1-4] Can I use it to copy my CDs?

1-5] How much can they hold?

1-6] Can I just copy files onto a CD-R like I would to a floppy?

1-7] What can you tell me about DVD, DVD-R, DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, etc?

1-8] Can I copy DVDs with a CD recorder?

1-9] What's the cheapest recorder and best place to buy media?

1-10] Can I get step-by-step installation and use instructions?

1-11] Can I download MP3s from the Internet and make an audio CD?

1-12] What does this term mean? Is there a glossary?

1-13] Do I need "music" blanks to record music?

1-14] How do I learn more? Is there a good book for beginners?

1-15] Why is this FAQ so far out of date?

Part III: CD Encoding

2] CD Encoding

2-1] How is the information physically stored?

2-2] What is XA? CDPLUS? CD-i? MODE1 vs MODE2? Red/yellow/blue book?

2-3] How do I know what format a disc is in?

2-4] How does copy protection work?

2-4-1] ...on a data CD-ROM?

2-4-2] ...on an audio CD?

2-4-3] ...on an audio CD (Macrovision - SafeAudio)

2-4-4] ...on an audio CD (SunnComm - MediaCloQ and MediaMax CD3)

2-4-5] ...on an audio CD (Midbar Tech - Cactus Data Shield)

2-4-6] ...on an audio CD (Key2Audio / Sony DADC)

2-4-7] ...on an audio CD (BayView Systems - Duolizer)

2-4-8] ...on an audio CD (Sanyo)

2-4-9] How does the Doc-Witness OpSecure CD-ROM work?

2-4-10] What's the Sony BMG rootkit (First 4 Internet XCP)?

2-5] What's a multisession disc?

2-6] What are subcode channels?

2-7] Are the CD Identifier fields widely used?

2-8] How long does it take to burn a CD-R?

2-9] What's the difference between disc-at-once and track-at-once?

2-10] Differences between recording from an image and on-the-fly?

2-11] How does an audio CD player know to skip data tracks?

2-12] How does CD-RW compare to CD-R?

2-13] Can DVD players read CD-Rs?

2-14] Should I buy a DVD recorder instead?

2-15] What are "jitter" and "jitter correction"?

2-16] Where can I learn more about the history of CD and CD-R?

2-17] Why don't audio CDs use error correction?

2-18] How does CD-R compare to MiniDisc?

2-19] What does finalizing (and closing and fixating) do?

2-20] How are WAV/AIFF files converted into Red Book CD audio?

2-21] What does MultiRead mean? MultiPlay?

2-22] If recording fails, is the disc usable?

2-23] Why do recorders insert "00" bytes at the start of audio tracks?

2-24] How many tracks can I have? How many files?

2-25] Will SCMS prevent me from making copies?

2-26] Is a serial number placed on the disc by the recorder?

2-27] What's a TOC? How does it differ from a directory?

2-28] What's an ISO? A CIF? BIN and CUE? .DAT?

2-29] Why was 74 minutes chosen as the standard length?

2-30] Why is there a visibly unwritten strip near the CD-R hub?

2-31] What is "BURN-Proof"? "JustLink"? "Waste-Proof"?

2-32] Can playing CD-Rs in a DVD player hurt the discs?

2-33] Who really made this CD-R blank?

2-34] Can I make copies of DTS-encoded CDs?

2-35] Why 44.1KHz? Why not 48KHz?

2-36] What format are .CDA files in?

2-37] What are DD-R and DD-RW?

2-38] What's an ATIP?

2-39] What are "ML" discs and devices?

2-40] What's CD-MRW? Mount Rainier? EasyWrite?

2-41] What's Audio Master Quality (AMQ) recording?

2-42] Can I draw pictures on a disc with the recording laser?

2-43] What are the gory details about how are 1s and 0s encoded?

2-43-1] How does the laser read or write a disc?

2-43-2] How do pits and lands turn into 1s and 0s? What's EFM?

2-43-3] What's a frame? CIRC encoding? How does ECC work?

2-43-4] What's in a sector?

2-43-5] What's in a subcode channel?

2-43-6] I want even more details

2-44] Digital is better than analog, right?

2-44-1] What is "digital" and "digitization", anyway?

2-44-2] How does this relate to CD-DA?

2-45] What's a CDR-ROM? CD-PROM?

2-46] What's HD-BURN? GigaRec?

2-47] What are C2 errors? What do they say about disc quality?

2-48] What are CD+R and CD+RW?

2-49] What's HighMAT?

2-50] What's VariRec?

2-51] Will my CDs work on players in other countries?

2-52] Do CD-Rs have deeper pits? Are "shallow burns" bad?

2-53] What's a stacking ring?

Part IV: How Do I...

3] How Do I...

3-1] How do I copy a CD-ROM?

3-1-1] Why can't I just do a block copy like a floppy?

3-2] How do I extract tracks from ("rip") or copy an audio CD?

3-2-1] How do I remove the voice from a CD track, leaving just music?

3-2-2] How do I encode a CD track to MP3?

3-3] How do I get rid of hisses and clicks on audio CDs?

3-4] How do I copy game console discs (e.g. Playstation, Dreamcast)

3-5] How do I get long filenames onto a disc?

3-5-1] ISO-9660

3-5-2] Rock Ridge

3-5-3] HFS/HFS+ and Macintosh extensions to ISO-9660

3-5-4] Joliet

3-5-5] Romeo

3-5-6] ISO/IEC 13346 and ISO/IEC 13490

3-5-7] ISO-9660:1999

3-6] How do I use a CD-i disc on a PC?

3-7] How can I extract disc and track titles from an audio CD?

3-8] How do I write more than 80 minutes of audio or 700MB of data?

3-8-1] How well do 80-minute CD-R blanks work?

3-8-2] How well do 90-minute and 99-minute CD-R blanks work?

3-8-3] How can I exceed the stated disc capacity ("overburning")?

3-9] How do I put photographs onto CD-ROM?

3-9-1] How do I create a PhotoCD?

3-9-2] How can I set up a photo album on CD-ROM?

3-9-3] How can I show digital photos on my DVD player?

3-10] How do I make a CD that will work on a PC or a Mac?

3-11] How do I access different sessions on a multi-session CD?

3-12] How do I transfer my records or cassettes to a CD?

3-12-1] ...with a stand-alone audio CD recorder?

3-12-2] ...with a CD recorder attached to my computer?

3-12-3] How can I clean up the audio before recording?

3-13] How do I transfer an audio DAT tape to CD?

3-14] How do I put audio and data on the same CD?

3-15] How do I make a bootable CD-ROM?

3-16] How do I convert home movies into video on CD?

3-16-1] How do I create a VideoCD from AVI or MPEG files?

3-16-2] How do I create an SVCD?

3-16-3] How do I create an AVCD?

3-17] How can I burn several copies of the same disc simultaneously?

3-18] Can I make copies of copies?

3-19] How can I compress or encrypt data on a CD-ROM?

3-20] Can I do backups onto CD-R?

3-21] How do I automatically launch something? Change the CD icon?

3-21-1] How does Windows "autorun" work?

3-21-2] How do I launch a document (like a web page)?

3-21-3] What autorun software is available?

3-22] How can I be sure the data was written correctly?

3-23] How do I create, copy, or play Audio Karaoke/CD+G discs?

3-24] How do I copy a CD-ROM with 3GB of data on it? A huge VideoCD?

3-25] How do I get my CD-R pressed into a real CD?

3-26] How do I make a CD without that two-second gap between tracks?

3-27] How can I record RealAudio (.ra), MIDI, WMA, and MP3 on a CD?

3-28] How do I add CD-Text information?

3-29] Can I distribute a web site on a CD-ROM?

3-30] How do I clean my CD recorder?

3-31] Is it better to record at slower speeds?

3-32] Where do I get drivers for my CD recorder?

3-33] Can I copy discs without breaking the law?

3-33-1] ...in the United States of America?

3-33-2] ...in Canada?

3-34] Can CD-Rs recorded at 2x be read faster than 2x?

3-35] How do I make my CD-ROM work on the Mac, WinNT, and UNIX?

3-36] How do I put "hidden tracks" and negative indices on audio CDs?

3-37] Do I need to worry about viruses?

3-38] How do I cover up a bad audio track on a CD-R?

3-39] How do I duplicate this hard-to-copy game?

3-40] Should I erase or format a disc? How?

3-41] How do I equalize the volume for tracks from different sources?

3-42] How do I make a bit-for-bit copy of a disc?

3-43] How do I put punctuation or lower case in CD-ROM volume labels?

3-44] How do I extract audio tracks from an "enhanced" CD on the Mac?

3-45] How do I disable DirectCD for Windows?

3-46] How do I specify the order of files (e.g. sorting) on ISO-9660?

3-47] How do I put a password on a CD-ROM?

3-48] Can I record an audio CD a few tracks at a time?

3-49] How do I copy DVDs onto CD-R?

3-49-1] I heard about software that copies DVDs with a CD recorder!

3-50] How do I copy Mac, UNIX, or "hybrid" CD-ROMs from Windows?

3-51] How do I copy something in "RAW" mode? What's DAO-96?

3-52] How do I do cross-fades between audio tracks?

3-53] How do I create a CD with my favorite songs on it?

3-54] How do I record directly onto CD from a microphone?

3-55] Is it okay to record a CD from MP3?

3-56] How can I test a disc image before recording?

3-57] How do I clear the "read-only" flag under Windows?

3-58] How do I share a CD recorder across a network?

3-59] How do I write a large file across multiple discs?

3-60] What's the safest, most reliable way to write data to CD-R?

Part V: Problems

4] Problems

4-1] What does "buffer underrun" mean?

4-1-1] What's the deal with Windows Auto-Insert Notification (AIN)?

4-1-2] What's all this about Win9x VCACHE settings?

4-2] I can't get long Win95 filenames to work right

4-3] I can't read the multisession CD I just made

4-4] Write process keeps failing N minutes in

4-5] Why did my CD-R eject and re-load the disc between operations?

4-6] My CD-ROM drive doesn't like any CD-R discs

4-7] How do I avoid having a ";1" on my ISO-9660 discs?

4-8] I keep getting SCSI timeout errors

4-9] I'm having trouble writing a complete disc

4-10] What's the CDD2000 Write Append Error / spring problem?

4-11] Getting errors reading the first (data) track on mixed-mode CD

4-12] My recorder ejects blank discs immediately

4-13] I'm getting complaints about power calibration

4-14] My Adaptec 2940 pauses after finding my recorder

4-15] I can't see all the files on the CD-R

4-16] My multi-session disc only has data from the last session

4-17] I'm getting SCSI errors

4-18] Why doesn't the copy of an audio CD sound the same?

4-18-1] Why doesn't the audio data on the copy match the original?

4-18-2] The audio data matches exactly, why do they sound different?

4-19] Digital audio extraction of a track is shifted slightly

4-20] I can't play extracted audio files by double-clicking in Win95

4-21] I can't read an ISO-finalized packet-written disc

4-22] I'm finding corrupted files on the CD-ROMs I write

4-23] Having trouble playing an audio CD in a home or car player

4-24] Having trouble using a CD-ROM on a different machine

4-25] I can't copy a VideoCD

4-26] The test write succeeds, but the actual write fails

4-27] I can no longer erase a particular CD-RW disc

4-28] Having trouble formatting discs with DirectCD

4-29] I can't write CD-Rs after installing Windows 98

4-30] I can't use the copy of a CD-ROM after installing Windows 98

4-31] The disc I was writing with DirectCD is now unreadable

4-32] I'm getting a message about 100 form transitions

4-33] My system hangs when I insert a blank disc

4-34] My CD-R discs don't work in my DVD player

4-35] I need help recovering data from a CD-ROM

4-36] What does "not convertible to CD quality" mean?

4-37] I inserted a CD-ROM but Windows thinks it's an audio CD

4-38] I get read errors when trying to copy a game

4-39] Restarting or shutting Windows down after recording causes hang

4-40] Why do CD-Rs play poorly when anti-skip protection is enabled?

4-41] I'm having trouble recording under Windows 2000 or WinXP

4-42] I formatted a CD-RW and only have about 530MB free

4-43] My CD recording software keeps crashing

4-44] Do I need to update my ASPI layer?

4-45] The write process completes, but the disc is still blank

4-46] My CD-RW drive doesn't work with my CD-RW blanks

4-47] Audio discs have crackling sounds on the last few tracks

4-48] Files in deep directories can be seen but not opened

4-49] My CD-ROM drive stopped working after uninstalling software

4-50] Audio CDs recorded from MP3s play back fast and high-pitched

4-51] Windows says access denied, can't create or replace file

4-52] I can't see any files on a CD-R or CD-RW from MS-DOS

4-53] My OS doesn't support ISO-13346 "UDF"

Part VI: Hardware

5] Hardware

5-1] Which CD recorder should I buy?

5-1-1] Yamaha

5-1-2] Sony

5-1-3] Smart & Friendly

5-1-4] Philips

5-1-5] Hewlett-Packard (HP)

5-1-6] Plasmon

5-1-7] Kodak

5-1-8] JVC

5-1-9] Pinnacle

5-1-10] Ricoh

5-1-11] Pioneer

5-1-12] Olympus

5-1-13] Optima

5-1-14] Mitsumi

5-1-15] DynaTek Automation Systems

5-1-16] Microboards of America

5-1-17] Micro Design International

5-1-18] MicroNet Technology

5-1-19] Procom Technology

5-1-20] Grundig

5-1-21] Plextor

5-1-22] Panasonic (Matsushita)

5-1-23] Teac

5-1-24] Wearnes

5-1-25] Turtle Beach

5-1-26] Creative Labs

5-1-27] Taiyo Yuden

5-1-28] Memorex

5-1-29] Hi-Val

5-1-30] Dysan

5-1-31] Traxdata

5-1-32] BenQ (nee Acer)

5-1-33] Waitec

5-1-34] BTC

5-1-35] Caravelle (Sanyo)

5-1-36] Micro Solutions

5-1-37] Pacific Digital

5-1-38] Iomega

5-1-39] Goldstar (LG Electronics)

5-1-40] AOpen

5-1-41] Toshiba

5-1-42] TDK

5-1-43] Lite-On

5-1-44] CenDyne

5-1-45] VST (SmartDisk)

5-1-46] ASUS

5-1-47] Samsung

5-1-48] APS / LaCie

5-2] How long do CD recorders last?

5-3] What kind of PC is recommended?

5-4] What kind of Mac is recommended?

5-5] Which standard CD-ROM drives work well with CD-R?

5-6] What kind of HD should I use with CD-R? Must it be AV-rated?

5-7] What SCSI adapter should I use with a CD recorder?

5-7-1] Adaptec - 1510/1522A/1540/1542CF

5-7-2] Adaptec - 2840/2910/2920/2930/2940

5-7-3] ASUS - SC-200/SC-875

5-7-4] Tekram - DC-390U/DC-390F

5-7-5] Adaptec - 1350/1460/1480

5-8] Can I use a CD recorder as a general-purpose reader?

5-9] To caddy or not to caddy?

5-10] Can I burn CDs from a Jaz drive? Tape drive?

5-11] What is "Running OPC"?

5-12] What's the story with stand-alone audio CD recorders?

5-13] What's firmware? How and why should I upgrade my recorder?

5-14] How well do parallel-port, USB, and 1394 recorders work?

5-15] How should I configure my system for an ATAPI CD recorder?

5-15-1] Should I have DMA enabled for an ATAPI recorder in Windows?

5-16] How important is CD-RW?

5-17] What is an "MMC Compliant" recorder?

5-18] What do I need to record on a UNIX (Linux, Solaris, etc) system?

5-19] What do I need for recording CDs from a laptop?

5-20] I need to make lots of copies

5-21] How do I connect two drives to one sound card in a PC?

5-22] How fast is 1x? What are CAV, CLV, PCAV, and ZCLV?

5-23] Will playing CD-Rs damage my CD player?

5-24] Can I "overclock" my CD recorder?

5-25] I need some help installing the drive

5-26] How much power does a CD recorder use?

5-27] Will the laser in my drive wear out?

Part VII: Software

6] Software

6-1] Which software should I use?

6-1-1] Adaptec - Easy-CD, Easy-CD Pro, and Easy-CD Pro MM ("ECD")

6-1-2] Adaptec - CD-Creator ("CDC")

6-1-3] Gear Software - GEAR Pro

6-1-4] Roxio - Toast

6-1-5] CeQuadrat - WinOnCD

6-1-6] Young Minds, Inc. - CD Studio+

6-1-7] Golden Hawk Technology (Jeff Arnold) - CDRWIN

6-1-8] Optical Media International - QuickTOPiX CD

6-1-9] Creative Digital Research - CDR Publisher

6-1-10] mkisofs

6-1-11] Asimware Innovations - MasterISO

6-1-12] Newtech Infosystems, Inc. (NTI) - CD-Maker

6-1-13] Cirrus Technology/Unite - CDMaker

6-1-14] Hohner Midia - Red Roaster

6-1-15] Dataware Technologies - CD Author

6-1-16] CreamWare - Triple DAT

6-1-17] MicroTech - MasterMaker

6-1-18] Angela Schmidt & Patrick Ohly - MakeCD

6-1-19] Liquid Audio Inc. - Liquid Player

6-1-20] Jörg Schilling - cdrecord

6-1-21] Prassi Software - CD Rep and CD Right

6-1-22] Zittware - CDMaster32

6-1-23] Dieter Baron and Armin Obersteiner - CD Tools

6-1-24] PoINT - CDwrite

6-1-25] PoINT - CDaudio Plus

6-1-26] Roxio - Easy Media Creator (was Easy CD Creator Deluxe "ECDC")

6-1-27] Padus - DiscJuggler

6-1-28] Ahead Software - Nero

6-1-29] CharisMac Engineering - Discribe

6-1-30] István Dósa - DFY$VMSCD

6-1-31] RSJ Software - RSJ CD Writer

6-1-32] James Pearson - mkhybrid

6-1-33] JVC - Personal Archiver Plus

6-1-34] Roxio - Jam

6-1-35] Pinnacle Systems - InstantCD/DVD (was VOB)

6-1-36] Sony - CD Architect

6-1-37] Eberhard Heuser-Hofmann - CDWRITE

6-1-38] CeQuadrat - JustAudio!

6-1-39] Digidesign - MasterList CD

6-1-40] Thomas Niederreiter - X-CD-Roast

6-1-41] Jesper Pedersen - BurnIT

6-1-42] Jens Fangmeier - Feurio!

6-1-43] Iomega - HotBurn

6-1-44] DARTECH, Inc - DART CD-Recorder

6-1-45] Interactive Information R&D - CDEveryWhere

6-1-46] DnS Development - BurnIt

6-1-47] Andreas Müller - CDRDAO

6-1-48] Tracer Technologies - (various)

6-1-49] SlySoft - CloneCD

6-1-50] IgD - FireBurner

6-1-51] Jodian Systems & Software - CDWRITE

6-1-52] Erik Deppe - CD+G Creator

6-1-53] Micro-Magic - CD Composer

6-1-54] Earjam, Inc. - Earjam IMP

6-1-55] Emagic - Waveburner

6-1-56] Zy2000 - MP3 CD Maker

6-1-57] Integral Research - Speedy-CD

6-1-58] Desernet Broadband Media - Net-Burner and MP3-Burner

6-1-59] Stomp, Inc. - Click 'N Burn

6-1-60] Steinberg Media Technologies - Clean! plus

6-1-61] Enreach - I-Author for VCD/SVCD

6-1-62] VSO Software - Blindread/Blindwrite

6-1-63] Microsoft - Windows XP

6-1-64] An Chen Computers - CD Mate

6-1-65] E-Soft - Alcohol

6-1-66] Stomp Inc. - RecordNow MAX

6-1-67] James Mieczkowski - Cheetah CD Burner

6-1-68] Blaze Audio - RipEditBurn

6-1-69] Acoustica, Inc. - MP3 CD Burner

6-1-70] MagicISO, Inc. - MagicISO

6-1-71] Simone Tasselli - Burn4Free

6-1-72] Sonic Solutions - Record Now!

6-1-73] Freeridecoding - BurnAgain

6-1-74] PowerKaraoke - Power CD+G Burner, PowerKaraoke

6-2] What other useful software is there?

6-2-1] Optical Media International - Disc-to-Disk

6-2-2] Gilles Vollant - WinImage

6-2-3] Asimware Innovations - AsimCDFS

6-2-4] Steven Grimm - WorkMan

6-2-5] Cyberdyne Software - CD Worx

6-2-6] Arrowkey - CD-R Diagnostic

6-2-7] DC Software Design - CDRCue Cuesheet Editor

6-2-8] Astarte - CD-Copy

6-2-9] Frank Wolf - CDR Media Code Identifier

6-2-10] Logiciels & Services Duhem - MacImage

6-2-11] Erik Deppe - CD Speed 2000

6-2-12] Andre Wiethoff - Exact Audio Copy (EAC)

6-2-13] Earle F. Philhower, III - cdrLabel

6-2-14] Adobe - Audition (formerly Cool Edit)

6-2-15] Elwin Oost - Burn to the Brim

6-2-16] Mike Looijmans