Audio vs. Data CD's

Deane wrote on 6/16/2003, 10:59 AM
Did I miss something that took place within the industry in the last couple of years? Of a sudden, Best Buy, Circuit City, etc., are stocking "Audio" CD's that look, act, and burn just like "Data" CD's, yet they are something special.

I have been using Data CD's for the past two or three years with CDA 4.0, and now CD 5.0, without a hitch. Hah! That was until a few days ago when a friend told me that the CD player in his brand new truck rejected a new audio CD I cut for him using CD 5.0 and a Plextor 24/10/40A burner. I inquired of several stores about the difference, and was told that "Audio" CD's record ONLY audio files, while "Data" CD's record whatever you want. Then the plot thins.... New truck and auto CD players are now designed to search the beginning of a CD to see if it is an "Audio" type. If it is not, it is "flip-a-coin" whether or not it will play it!! The Data CD his player rejected was a Sony Data CD, 80 min., burned without error by CDA 5.0, latest version. The burner never gave any indication that I was about to serve up a coaster to my intended audience. Nice! Apparently, new players may issue a "seek error" and eject the CD on the spot.

I would be interested in what experience others of you are having with this latest 'advancement' in the technology. Are we about to obsolete all of the data CD's full of audio files we have in our personal libraries? Don't throw out your old CD players just yet! 06/16/03

Comments

Geoff_Wood wrote on 6/16/2003, 11:57 PM
No, you're totally off on the wrong track.


'Audio CD-Rs' are CD-Rs with special info in the disc's ATIP code than enables them to be used on stand-alone CD Recorders. These machines require that code for royalty payment purposes. This has been the case for as long as these machines have been around (6+ years ?).

Yes , it's all pretty pointless and crazy, but when CD Recorders were introduced they were paranoid that everybody was going to copy unauthorised music with them. Dumb, eh.


geoff

geoff
GaryStebbins wrote on 6/17/2003, 5:35 PM
Geoff got it right.

I noticed was that some old data CDs that I was burning audio to worked fine in older players. I purchased a new batch of CDs, burned audio to them (nope, no copyright violation - copies of a friend playing a harp for family), and they wouldn't play in the same player. Same brand, similar packaging. I compared the CDs, and the ones that worked had a greenish tint, whereas the newer ones that didn't work were much lighter colored and no green tint.

Gary