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Burning a CD

I recently made copies of several hard to find CD's (Lyrita Label) loaned by a friend using my home computer CD burner. I have noticed over a several month period that the recordings seem to be degrading; I am getting a jittering sound. I am using what I think are decent CD's (Imation), and wondered if this is a common problem and what it's cause might be. I am pretty sure it is not my CD player as all commercially made recordings are playing flawlessly. In general I prefer to buy either new or used CD's so I have the liner notes etc, but sometimes that's not an option and I really would like to be able to do this without problems arising later when I no longer have access to that hard to find recordings. Any ideas of where to start.
bioman
slipknot1
1,423 posts
 
I suspect it is your CDR stock. I've never had consistent good luck using Imation CDR blanks. I burn a lot of CDR material in tranfering live location recordings I've made from DAT to CD for listening.

The best thing to do is spend the extra money to get audio optimized blanks. I personally use HHb CDRs, but have found good luck with bulk spindle purchases of Mitsui products as well.

Best of luck!
dopogue
1,773 posts
 
Anybody else having trouble with Imation CDRs? I've never had a problem with them. Stopped using the higher priced blanks (Mitsuis) when I admitted to myself that I couldn't tell the difference. That said, I can't think what else could be the problem. Have you tried using Vivid or Optrix on the troublesome disk? Does it play okay in the burner or other CD player? Just some thoughts.
lugnut
1,190 posts
 
I mainly use the most generic of media purchased for $15 per 100 from Compusa. I've never had any of the problems I occassionally read about in these forums. I admit to not listening to many CD's in my music room often, preferring that medium in my truck. I did a test after reading this thread by retreiving my oldest (3 or 4 year) CD's and playing them in my system, comparing them to the originals. I have none of your complaints. Beyond storage and handling changes, I can offer no suggestions.
gboren
143 posts
 
I have to respectfully disagree with Slipknot1 about the "audio optimized" blanks. The only difference between the "audio" blanks and the rest is that the "audio" have the coding to work in consumer class non-computer cd recorders. The extra money goes to a fund to pay royalties, or something like that.

As to the problem, what do you mean by "jittery"? What does it sound like? Jitter is an often over used and misunderstood term. Jitter is the annoying tinny/grainy noise which is caused by clock errors created in the A to D or D to A process. It is highly unlikely that a disk would play fine one day and then have "jitter" a few months later, since the jitter is caused by the DAC, not the disk. If your original source was also digital (ie, another CD), then your DAC or CD player can be the only source of the jitter.

If you are hearing scratchy noise or pops and clicks, then you are experiencing drop-outs, which is possible. CD-R's are made with a softer "wax" than the professionally produced CD's. As such, they are more heat sensitive and, depending on storage conditions, they may degrade. They are certainly not so heat sensitive as to be delicate, but over time they can degrade.

Hope this helps.
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