1X CD burning speed

[Opto]

A friend of mine is a professional in the music industry. In order to maintain the highest quality of her music CDs she likes to burn files at 1X speed (real time).

She recently got a new computer with Win XP Pro, Sonic CD burner, and also downloaded Real Player, and Media Player. No matter which one she uses they all burn at something like 24X or greater. Can’t really tell what the speed is as it doesn’t show up anywhere.

Heard about a tweak and gave it a try: Open My Computer and right click the “E:” drive (burner drive). Then Properties and then the Burn tab. At the bottom of that window you can set the burn speed to 1X, but it has no effect on how fast the other programs burn the CDs.

Any suggestions?

[Scarecrow Man]

Back in the mid nineties, CD burners were 1x/2x, so burning at 1x was no problem. Now burners can do 52x (CD) and 32x (DVD) so 1x is almost obsolete. You will find that most drives, infact none, will go lower than 4x. Just set the program or drive to use the lowest speed. Most drives use something known as "firmware" which contains instructions such as speed. These settings cannot be changed.

For more info, check your manufacturer's website.

[deuces wild]

Does a lower speed really improve the audio quality when buring a cd?

[-pops-]

Does a lower speed really improve the audio quality when buring a cd?

I'm thinking the same thing.

Provided the mechanics of the system and the data transfer are working correctly and within its design limits it doesn't matter at what speed a disk is written. Unlike an analogue setup, a digital system either works or it doesn't. All conversion of data to a different format or whatever else is carried out prior to writing to disk and is (or should have been) already done so all the writer has to do is write i.e. transfer the data.

Any losses of quality in CD or DVD writing is due to file compression or conversion to other formats, not the writing speed per se.

[scuzzman]

Does a lower speed really improve the audio quality when buring a cd?

This is a common misconception, and the answer is no. The reason to burn slower is to keep your computers I/O buffers from running out of data, and thus burning blank data to the CD (effectively turning it into a coaster). With more modern advances in the data bus world, this is no longer the case as we have burners that keep their own buffers (known as buffer under-run protection) and the data pipe is plenty big enough to let as much (in fact, more) data through than most burners can burn at one time.

OP: What I've posted above is correct. If your friend requires to burn at lower speeds, they'll need a more professional burning software that can override the burner's internal ROM (firmware). I believe (not sure) that Nero can do this (note: Nero, not Nero Express).

[Scarecrow Man]

I've noticed burning CD or DVD at a lower speed increases the lifespan of the disc. That being said, they would not make a CD-R burn at 52x unless it could handle it. That means burning at 1x or 52x makes no difference.

[deuces wild]

I've noticed burning CD or DVD at a lower speed increases the lifespan of the disc.

Not that I doubt you as every piece of advice you have offered me has been spot on, but what is the technical reason for the CD's and DVD's burnt at lower speeds increases their life span? Is the burn on the disk deeper?

[djohn]

Yes, Nero Retail will allow you to choose your speed, ether leave it set on max, or auto and it will burn at the speed of the disk or set your speed manually. Even nero express [Part of Nero] will allow this but again not the vastly cut-down OEM version that comes free with most drives.

I found this out a couple of weeks back when trying to compile a DVD with my new drive, had to purchase the retail version. Burning at max speed will not alter the quality, if it is a successful burn then the quality will be the same.

[deuces wild]

So the question remains........how does burning at a lower speed increase their lifespan?

[expertec]

I've burned loads of CDs at various speeds... can't say it's made any noticeable difference. My 52x are just as good as my 24x... I usually use 48x as that's the default with Nero/my CD burner.

[Opto]

While I would tend to agree that the speed isn’t critical in maintaining quality, my friend and some others in the music industry believe that slower is better.

She had an older Plextor burner in her old system that would burn at 1X, but that feature wasn’t supported in the new system. Plextor customer support has been great and they pointed us to some firmware updates that would make the drive run on XP.

Before installing the drive in the new system, Real Player did not give 1X as an option in burning speed. The lowest it went was 24X. After installing the Plextor drive and 4 firmware updates, Real Player now gives 1X as an option; and a test burn showed that it now runs in real time!

Thanks for the input though. I may do some more research into the speed vs. quality issue.

[ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb]

As someone else has already written earlier in this thread, there *may* be some improvment of the disk - living longer - when burned at lower speed. However, there cannot be any improvment in the audio quality, as the data is stored digitally, and the digital data will be 100% the same whether burned at 1X or 52X speed.