Useful Addresses for CD-R

These sites have been suggested by others; I do not track them, so please report any that should be added, changed or deleted. Note that if a link does not work, you may want to try higher levels in the hierarchy and to let me know the best point from which to begin; linking to lower-level pages is always risky, but chasing through five levels of obscure HTML can be frustrating - so please use your judgement.

Jump to Software Sites - Media, Printers, etc. - Audio - Specific Hardware

First and foremost: the FAQ: http://www.cdrfaq.org/

General Information

http://www.osta.org Optical Storage Technology Association.

http://www.itl.nist.gov/div895/carefordisc/disc_care/index.htm NIST information on care of CD and DVD

http://www.cinram.com/ Cinram has understandable Acrobat files on formats and structures.

http://www.fcc.gov/oet/fccid/ FCC site with hardware data given FCC code number

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~rossstew/drs/bootcd.html for information on bootable discs

http://www.dvdrhelp.com/ for information on DVD recording

http://dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html - another source of DVD data

Software Sites

Mastering and related software

CDR Diagnostic / CDR Inspector programs for rescuing 'lost' data and assessing burns: http://www.infinadyne.com/

ISOBuster: Opens and reads data from a wide range of discs and images (also makes scanners accessible in Win2K): http://www.isobuster.com

CD Mage apparently similar to ISOBuster; untested - listed for reference only: http://www.geocities.com/cdmage/frames.html

Copy Protection a complex, costly scheme is offered at http://www.intwiz.com- untested.

Bus technical utilities for the proficient, not the causal user: http://www.bidali.com/

CD Speed measures performance of your reader(s) http://www.cdspeed2000.com/

AVI2VCD: freeware rendering program produces whitebook-compatible MPEG1: http://www.mnsi.net/~jschlic1/

VCD Information http://www.vcdhelp.com

WinImage is a utility for creating and using image files: http://www.winimage.com/

CD-R Label catalogues a data disc http://www.ziplabel.com

Spanning, confirming data backup Accuburn-R from http://www.arrowkey.com/

Flashing your firmware
The only recommended source of firmware for flashing your drive is your manufacturer. If you use any other file for the job, you may void your warranty or give your manufacturer an excuse to refuse to repair the drive even if you're willing to pay for it. The effects of flashing incorrectly are not predictable and you are assuming all the risks if you do it. But, if that's your choice, you may want to check http://www.fmc.com.tw/cdr/ which offers firmware for Sony 926 and 928 and for other drives.

Programs to compare the files and structure on the CD-R with the source:
BurnC at http://www.sbsoftware.com/
CompTree at http://home1.inet.tele.dk/allanh/eng/prog_ct.htm

Media, Printers, etc.

http://www.mscience.com/ is Media Sciences, a fine source for semi-technical and technical data on media.

DISCUS a program for printing on discs, labels and inserts http://www.magicmouse.com/

Standards Published on Permanence of Electronic Materials http://www.cd-info.com/CDIC/Industry/news/ansi.html

Data on media: http://www.cd-info.com/CDIC/Technology/CD-R/Media/Longevity.html

High-end media, hardware and services: http://www.cd-lab.com/

A UK manufacturer of higher-end CD-R and DVD-R devices: http://www.veritysystems.com
A UK vendor of production hardware and services: http://www.magellanhardware.co.uk - cookies and Java script requested.

Direct-to-disc printers
Primera: http://www.primera.com/
Rimage: http://www.rimage.com/
Epson: http://www.epson.com/
Casio: http://www.casio.com/

Supplies from many sources including
CD Dimensions: http://www.cddimensions.com/ - higher end products and supplies
MEI: http://www.microcenterorder.com/ - rapid access to basic needs
Disc Market: http://www.discmarket.com/ - variety of support products
http://www.bagsunlimited.com/ - packaging, mailers
http://www.sleevetown.com/ - variety of support products
http://www.cyperceptions.com - high-end supplies, duplicators
http://www.buskerdoo.com/ - sleeves and mailers

Information on DVD
http://www.dvdrhelp.com/
http://www.disctronics.co.uk/technology/index.htm

Recording audio

Comprehensive information on LP-CD transfer: www.delback.co.uk/lp-cdr.htm

CDWAV is a very useful program for recording and splitting WAV www.cdwave.com

Exact Audio Copy for DAE to your HDD and to your CD-R: http://www.ExactAudioCopy.de/

Macintosh OSX audio tools http://www.rogueamoeba.com/

Total Recorder http://www.highcriteria.com/ allows you to capture to file anything which can be heard from your sound card. Or, for the Macintosh, Audiocorder at http://www.blackcatsystems.com/

High-Resolution Mixer and other useful audio tools: http://modemss.brisnet.org.au/~mlevoi/

WavClean http://www.excla.com/index-E.htm an inexpensive program to denoise WAV files.

Lossless WAV compression http://www.monkeysaudio.com/ freeware or
Shorten at http://www.etree.org/shncom.html

MP3 Encoder comparison http://users.belgacom.net/gc247244/analysis.htm

WAV editors:
Cool Edit: http://www.syntrillium.com/
GoldWave: http://www.goldwave.com/
SoundForge: http://www.sonicfoundry.com
Sound Laundry: http://www.algorithmix.com/

Enhanced mixer: http://home.modemss.brisnet.org.au/~mlevoi/amix95.html

CD-DA summary with list of drives and DAE capability: http://www.tardis.ed.ac.uk/~psyche/cdda/

WINDAC extracts digital audio to WAV without CD-R authoring programs. http://www.windac.de

MPEG compression: http://www.mpeg.org

MPEG Audio Layer 3: http://www.mp3.com/

DA2WAV DOS WAV extractor: http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~aa571/

Sound card review: http://www.digitalexperience.com/

Denoising software and related products are distributed by Tracer Technologies at http://www.tracertek.com

StripWave analyzes and corrects anomalies in the header: http://www.lightlink.com/tjweber

MPEG playback: WinAMP and MacAMP from
http://www.nullsoft.com/ (history)
http://www.winamp.com/ (current)
or AudioActive at http://www.audioactive.com/

Specific Hardware and Systems

The Unofficial Ricoh CD-ReWritable Page http://www.arrakis-ttm.com/cdr

HP FAQ from Greg Volk: http://www.cd-info.com/CDIC/Technology/CD-R/HP-FAQ.html

cdrecord http://www.fokus.gmd.de/research/cc/glone/employees/joerg.schilling/private/cdrecord.html Linux software compatibility with recorders.

SCSI/IDE issues (for all devices): http://www.storagereview.com/welcome.pl/map/lm.cgi/scsi_vs_ide

http://www.corpsys.com Corporate Systems Center provides a range of unusual, even unique, SCSI equipment and services. NOTE: I have had mixed results with this source and note them only because of the difficulty of finding their products elsewhere.

E-mail me at cdrecording@mrichter.com
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