CDR and CDRW Basic Information

Why would I want a CDR drive?
1) The most popular uses for CDR and CDRW drives are:
A) To CREATE Video Presentations (e.g. Sales, New Product Releases)
B) To Create Audio CDs (e.g. Local Musicians, Church Choirs, etc.)
C) To Back-Up information from a computer hard drive
2) CD’s are GREAT tools for making Sales Presentations. The presentation can combine audio and video along with data so the creative possibilities are virtually limitless. In addition, you can create a menu that allows you or your customer to select a specific item from the presentation menu to view, and then if interested in learning more the user can select a choice to see a video presentation with audio support. This is referred to as Interactive Video. It is currently the most effective marketing tool in the World today.
3) Audio can be extracted from other CD’s or downloaded (legally) from the internet and organized in the arrangement of your choice.
4) A CDR is a good source for backing-up information (up to 650MB’s) from your computer’s hard drive providing you “DO NOT” want the data changed. Once the data is recorded on a CDR it’s locked. It can’t be erased or changed.

Why would I want a CDRW drive?
1) A CDRW is a good choice to record any information that you may want to change at a later date.
2) A CDRW can be treated as a hard drive which you can write or rewrite to anytime you wish ……IF……. you have the proper software (which eliminates the task of having to layout the CD). However, it is important to note that often times the same software that was used to write the data to the CD is also needed to read the information.

How do I Record / Write / Burn to a CDR / CDRW using a CDR / CDRW drive?
****SOFTWARE**** Software is what allows you to lay out the information you will be recording on to a CD. Due to the increased popularity of CDR and CDRW drives software companies have taken advantage of the opportunity to develop software for almost any task imaginable.

What is an example of a popular CD Software application?
Roxio’s EZ-CD Creator – Specializes in Audio - Allows you the ability to record Data, Audio & Video to a CD as well as the ability to design the inserts that go inside the cover of the CD case (Jewel case). It also allows you to manipulate sound recorded from the computer.

Note: Some CDR / CDRW drives come with pre-packaged software but many do not. It is recommended that you select the PROPER SOFTWARE prior to choosing a drive. This will help you decide whether to buy a bundled kit (drive bundled with software and / or cable) or a stand alone drive.

What do I need to know to record Video onto a CDR / CDRW?
In order to properly create a Video CD, you must have the proper type of software to layout the CD. The motion video that is recorded onto a CDR must be in a SPECIFIC FORMAT. The most commonly used format in creating a Video CD (VCD) is MPEG.

What is MPEG?
MPEG is the format used to record motion video onto a CD. There are two major types of MPEG formats and the two formats vary dramatically.:
MPEG-2: Provides much better quality than MPEG-1 but the file is much larger than MPEG-1. For instance, using MPEG-2 format on a 700MB CD you can record approximately 15 minutes of video.
MPEG-1: The quality of the video recorded using an MPEG1 format will be of much poorer quality than using an MPEG-2 format but where you can only record about 15 minutes of motion video on a 700MB CD using MPEG-2, you can record about 60 minutes using MPEG-1.

What do I need to know to record Audio onto a CDR / CDRW?
If you wish to record audio information onto a CDR / CDRW that you can later be played on a standard CD player, the sound files MUST be recorded into the Microsoft MAV or MP3 (MPEG-1 Layer 3) formats.

What are WAV and MP3 formats and how do they work?
WAV –In order for a sound file to be recorded as digital sound on a CDR /CDRW so that it can be played on a CD player it must be converted to a WAV format. The problem with a WAV is that it is quite large so it limits the amount of sound that can be recorded on a CDR / CDRW. However, the WAV provides high quality digital audio sound. Compressing the data, to increase the amount of sound that can be recorded on a CDR / CDRW generally results in a TREMENDOUS DECREASE in QUALITY.

MP3 – MP3 is a digital sound format that can compress information to 1/10th its original size with minimal degradation of sound quality. For example, a WAV file that is normally 60 MBs in size would be 6MBs in an MP3 format. However, the MP3 recordings CAN NOT be recorded as digital audio directly on to a CDR / CDRW. The MP3 recordings must first be converted into a WAV format before it can be recorded as digital audio on a CDR / CDRW. The reason is that MP3 files exist only as data and requires software to process it so it can be recognized by most CD players.

What is the recording speed of the CDR & CDRW drives?
There are differences in the recording speed of a CDR and CDRW disc.

How do I know what the recording speed of a CDR or CDRW is?
The speeds are designated by multiple factors.
Example: 1X, 2X, 3X, 4X, 16X, 32X, 64X.

What do these multiple factors mean?
The multiple factor indicates the transfer speed of information between a reading / writing / recording / burning drive to the CDR or CDRW disc.

Multiplied by what?
The base transfer speed used for calculating Total Transfer Speed is 150 kilobytes per second or 150KB/s. Examples:
1X = 150KB/s 4X = 600KB/s
2X = 300KB/s 8X = 1200 KB/s or 1.2MB/s

The larger the multiplier number, the faster the reading and writing abilities are on the drive!

Why are there usually two or more multiples indicated for a CDR or CDRW drive?
CDR speeds:
1) Reading Speed 2) Writing Speed
CDRW speeds:
1) Reading Speed 2) Writing Speed 3) ReWriting Speed

Are these speeds indicated in a specific manner?
1) The reading speed will greatly exceed the writing and rewriting speeds.
2) Example: 24X Reading, 4X Writing, 2X Rewriting
3) On average, a 4X writer will take approximately 15 minutes to write a full CD.

CDR Burner

What does a CD Writer Do?
A CD-Writer is a drive that allows you to record information to a CDR or Compact Disk Recordable.

What kind of information can I record on a CDR (Compact Disk Recordable)?
Any of the following components or any combination of these components:
1) Data 2) Digital 3) Audio 4) Video

How much information can I store on a CDR (Compact Disk Recordable)?
Maximum Storage Capacity:
1) 700Megabytes of Data
2) 80 Minutes of Digital Video or Audio

How much information will a CDR hold if I mix data with Digital Audio or Video?
To calculate the total information you are planning to record on a CDR follow these steps:
1) Every 1 Minute of Digital Audio or Video equals 8.75MB’s of Data
2) So, multiply the total minutes of Digital Audio or Video you wish to record by 8.75.
3) Add the number of Megabytes of data you wish to record in addition to the Digital Audio or Video from step #2.
4) As long as the total Megabytes from step #3 is less than 700MB’s, the information will fit on a single CDR.
5) Example #1: 40 Minutes of Digital Video x 8.75 = 350MB’s
+ 300MB’s of data = 650 MB’s of Total Information.
The total information is less than 700MB’s and therefore will fit on a single CD.

How many times can I write over the information on my CDR?
A CDR disk can only be written to ONCE and the information you record on the CDR CAN NOT be deleted once it has been recorded.

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