Tubegroover, When a computer reads a data cd, the spin and head do not necessarily need to be highly coordinated. This is because if the drive misses a reading a bit, it can just wait until the cd spins to the correct location again to get it. When it lays down a data bit, it is not too important where on the cd the bit is physically laid down. The system has a protocol for telling the reader where to expect the next bit of data. When a regular cd player plays a cd, it reads the information from the inside to the outside in one continuous stream. It cannot wait for the disc to make another revolution, and it cannot randomly jump to other areas of the disc. For that reason, timing is everything (I'm not talking about jitter, which is not involved here). To resolve this problem, cd burners and their associated software use a buffer so the data can be laid down in one physically continuous stream. But if the buffer is depleted too fast, or if the buffer is logjammed, you will get an interruption in the data stream which ultimately sounds like pops and crackle.
with that in mind, here are just a few of the setting issues which should be looked at:
1. buffer over/underrun problems. If you are copying direct from transport to burner (without copying to the hard drive), your copying speed can be either too slow or too fast, depending on the type of buffer system your drive and software use. I have actually had problems copying at 1X as well as problems at 24X.
2. Is your source drive capable of "audio extraction"? If it is an older drive, it may not be. This means that the source cannot deliver a reliably regular data stream that the buffer manager can manage.
3. Are you running other software while burning?
There may also be other issues that don't come to mind at the moment.
good luck!
