Hi there. Thanks for such a detailed response. I have previously recorded onto my laptop, but I'm currently borrowing someone else's and haven't got room to put Goldwave on there (will do this when I get a new machine of my own). However, the CD recorder does have an advantage in that it doesn't seem to pick up the buzz which came with copying tapes using the computer (I know this can be edited out, but it does take additional time and patience). Also, older tapes which aren't great quality (such as those which have only recorded through one speaker etc) still come out fine on a CD recorder, whereas the signal would come through very quietly or not at all on my laptop.
The discs I'm using often only have fine scratches but, as you suggested, they seem to throw the player out completely. Actually playing them isn't a problem, but when recording you get a crackling all the way through certain sections of the disc, making it very distracting to listen to. I've got an old Sony minidisc recorder, but it doesn't have a USB connection facility (being about ten years old), so I don't use it anymore due to the issue with transferring files. When recording on the CD recorder, I rip the disc to the laptop and then unfinalize/delete it on the recorder before recording again. My discs seem to last for 3-4 weeks, but I've recently found that they also stop recording part of the way through a session before they actually get scratched and produce the annoying sound which I referred to earlier. This, presumably, is something to do with their unpredictability - I also used to have trouble when recording on both recordable and re-recordable discs with my old Plextalk PTR1 device (which I no longer have), but assumed that this was a problem with the Plextalk and not the discs. My minidisc recorder does have long play, so if I could find a way of getting it attached to my laptop through USB this would be an excellent option, as it would allow me to leave things recording for longer when I'm out and would remove the unpredictability issue. Does anyone have any ideas on this score please? Many thanks again, Danny On 5/19/10, Walter Ramage <w...@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote: > Hi Danny. Firstly Is there any reason why you can't record straight onto > your PC hard drive or external drive? That would be your best option if you > can do that. assuming you can't then Re-writable CDs have a very limited > lifespan. You are very limited in how many times you can erase and record > any single disc. I know from experience that they are very unreliable and > bearing in mind they are kinda expensive they are not very economical in the > long run. I'm trying to recall something I read about them many years ago > but I can't fully remember. All I can recall was the problem lays with the > dye's ability to react to the laser and over time it's response becomes > ineffective and the disc becomes a piece of junk. I do have a few sealed > audio re-writables but only use them if I have no other choice but since > they have been in their sealed packs for a few years, I haven't been forced > to use them. I found the worst combination was to record something on my > Hi-Fi CD recorder, then take it to my PC and rip the contents and then erase > it in the PC. A couple of times of that and the disc died. I found the > best way to prolong the life of the disc as much as possible was if I > recorded the disc in the audio CD recorder it was wise to erase it in there > and if I burned the disc in the PC then, erase it there also. My preferred > means of doing the sort of recordings you speak of is to record onto mini > disc. They can be written on and erased a million times without > deterioration of the audio quality. If you can get hold of a MD recorder > with long play facility then you can get up to 5 hours 20 minute recording > time from a single disc. Of course, the quality is slightly lowered > compared to the stereo setting, probably similar to a PC file at 128kbs, > but for the spoken word it is perfectly fine. Some portable Mini disc > recorders can be connected to your PC via USB and you can transfer files > freely. Also, Mini Disc has a reasonable, if only basic editing feature. > Sadly, they are becoming quite hard to find though. The other option is > one of the Olympic digital recorders but I have no experience of these and > will have to leave it to others to explain whether such a device would suit > your purposes. Finally, as for examining the disc it's self? That is > something you would have to get a sighted person to do for you as there > isn't a way of telling how badly scratched a disc is. In any case, not all > scratches will adversely effect the playing of the disc. I have found some > discs have had large, even deep scratches and played fine but a disc with > extremely fine, almost impossible to see scratches just threw the player > into a panic. It really depends where the scratch, or scratches are and > how severely it interferes with the discs reflective capability. As a last > resort, you might think about using unbranded write once discs, they are not > very expensive. Walter. > > -----Original Message----- > From: pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org > [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org]on Behalf Of Danny Miles > Sent: 18 May 2010 23:35 > To: PC Audio Discussion List; blindos-inn > Subject: CD Recording and Maintenance > > > Hi everyone. Sorry if this is rather random, but I hope that someone > can help. I'm currently recording audio from the radio and old > cassettes using a stand alone CD recorder. I'm using re-recordable > discs so that I don't have to keep buying new ones, but they seem to > pick up dust and scratches very easily, and the instructions for the > recorder are accurate in warning that any discs used will only > function properly if such issues are not present. Does anybody know > how I can check whether a CD is scratched (bearing in mind that I'm > totally blind, that scratches can rarely be felt on the surface of a > CD and that touching the surface would most likely damage the disc > anyway)? Also, does anyone know of a way in which I can safely ensure > that any dust is removed from a disc without running the risk of > scratching it? Finally, does anyone know whether re-recordable discs > are naturally more temperamental than recordable ones, or is anyone > able to name types/makes of re-recordable discs which aren't > temperamental? At the moment I'm losing recordings because the > machine stops recording and deletes what it's accumulated part of the > way through a session, and this is getting both awkward and > irritating. > > Apologies for all of the questions - any help will be appreciated. > > Danny > > To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: > pc-audio-unsubscr...@pc-audio.org > > > > > To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: > pc-audio-unsubscr...@pc-audio.org > To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: pc-audio-unsubscr...@pc-audio.org
