CD Burning Tips

Here are simple ways to avoid the most common problems that can occur when burning a CD. These suggestions can help you create a perfect disc every time.

1. Use high-quality, name-brand discs. These discs are usually less flawed and have a higher success rate than no-name, cheaper discs.
2. Before attempting to burn, ensure that your disc (especially rewritable disks) is clean and free of any scratches. Frequent handling of discs can cause scratches and dirt to accumulate on the disc surface. Scratches and dirt may cause a burn to fail.
3. Do not attempt to run a large number of applications during a burn. Depending on your computer's speed and available memory, running many applications at once can cause data to be lost during the burn process.
4. If you have trouble playing audio CDs burned with RealPlayer in your CD player, try lowering your write speed in the "Options" dialog (CD Burner > Edit Options) to help reduce buffer underrun issues. Even drives with buffer underrun protection do not stop buffer underruns from occurring; they only avoid failure during a burn by linking information across small gaps on the disc. If too many buffer underruns occur, the disc may become unreadable to a standard CD player.
5. Purchase the proper discs for your drive. Make sure the media is rated for your drive speed. Most lower-speed drives do not write well to newer, high-speed media even though the high-speed media may state that it is also rated for lower speeds (such as 4x).
6. Store your discs appropriately. Do not store discs in a bright or hot environment. Heat and ultra-violet light from direct sunlight or high-intensity fluorescent bulbs are detrimental to the dye used in the discs.
7. If your portable player cannot play files burned to an MP3 CD properly, and the original source files in the Library are MP3, try converting them to RealAudio and then burning them to an MP3 CD. This will force the files to be reconverted to MP3.
8. Not all portable players can play multi-session CDs.  Please check your player’s specifications prior to making a multi-session disc. Finalizing (by deselecting Create Multi-session disc in the "Edit Options" dialog) your disc should allow it to work in your player.
9. If some tracks will not fit on the CD, try re-ordering the list of tracks to get your preferred tracks to fit. Space on the disc is assigned from the top down in the list of tracks to burn. Re-order tracks by dragging them into a new order, or use Move commands in the Edit menu to move tracks up or down in the list.
10. To burn a copy of a previously burned CD, open the CD Burner and click Add Tracks from My Library in the sidebar. Select CD History from the bottom of the list of categories. Select a recently burned CD from the list. Click Add Selected to CD to set up a copy to be burned.
    
    Note: You can change the number of CDs listed in the CD History with the CD Burner Preferences.
11. If you continue to get errors while burning and you are using quality media that is appropriate for your drive (see above), try reducing your write speed in the "Options" dialog (CD Burner > Edit Options), or change your default value in the > Preferences > CD Burner menu.

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