Can anybody help? My Marantz cd recorder has stopped recording, although it still plays.I have decided to replace it with a unit that records ,dubs and plays back.I have burned some cds on my computer,but depending on the cdr they are not always compatible with all players.I sell some cds at my performances,but not enough to warrant a lot of investment.However I want to be sure that any I do sell will play for the purchaser. Can anybody recommend a product. I have seen a Sony on ebay that sells for around 299.00 but I am not sure if it will do the trick.Thanks Terry

Terry,

Phillips and Sony together invented the cd and wrote the specifications for cd-r and cd-rw, so I would take a closer look at the models they have on their web sites.

Depending on price, some features may be left out, but in the somewhat higher end, I'm pretty sure that anything made on these would play on any other brand.

Some rare brand names may slightly change specifications to make their product cheaper, and although they probably burn cd's that read on most others, there's always the few others that won't.

I would go for a decent burner in the pc and a stand alone copier that makes copies of the "master" without the need of a pc or program. Copies made with these units seem to play on anything, even car or portable cd players.

John

hmmm... it's one thing to make CD's for yourself and another to burn them specifically for sale. I spent a lot of time on this and came up with a few thoughts that may save you some time or at least give you more to think about:

* Most CD players today will read CDR format, but many older players will not. In the case of the latter, there is nothing you can do about it except have your CD's mass produced by a duplication house that does glass mastering. In every case and considering every option, I found that having your CD's mastered by a reputable duplication house was the cheapest and best way to go.

* Even after my first statement, I continued my quest to manufacture my own for-sale-CD's at home. The second problem with home-made CD's is the labeling, and stick-on labels simply don't work. They add weight to the CD and cause uneven balance problems (like tires that are unbalanced). This can damage CD players, plus humidity gets under those labels and causes bubbles so the CD won't last long under any condition. The best way to label CD's is to print the label directly onto the CD itself. There are several products for doing this and I tried several cheaper CD-printer models... they are mostly unreliable. In the end, and believe me I didn't want to spend this kind of money either, I bought a Primera Bravo II CD duplicator for $1500 that dupes and prints the CD automatically. It works very well and I can now duplicate CD's easily. By designing labels efficiently so they dont use lots of ink, you can print CD's ecomomically. I found nothing else that did the job as well or as cheaply.

* This is going further into "Home CD Production 101" than you might want but just FYI I also researched how to make quality CD inserts. After many failed attempts at printing my own I found that I could do better by having them printed at my local Staples printing center. I create the inserts using Microsoft Publisher and either give Staples the Publisher file on disk if I haven't used any custom fonts, or I use Adobe Acrobat to make a PDF file and take that to Staples. Each insert costs me about 85 cents each and that is the most expensive part of the final CD package. I bought my own cutting board and scoring board, plus I use a shrink-wrapping kit from www.markertek.com.

I know this isn't what you asked but making CD's for sale is a real challenge and I thought I'd share some tips. Good luck.

Thank you both for your imput.After posting last night I did come across the Primera bravo website,and it certainly gave food for thaught.I am going to do further research into this product,and also find out a little more about the phillips and Sony models.Thanks again

I have been using Tascam CDR-W700 for the last three years. It works great. Like pro suggested it may be cheaper to get these CDs done professionally. Check out this place for shorter CR-R runs with black ink printing:
http://www.guitarcenter.com/cdduplication/fastpak.cfm

tcon .... I have a Phillips cdr880 in excellent condition if you are interested ... Any CD recording I do now is on computer, so I no longer need it ...
t.

[This message has been edited by tony mads usa (edited 04-06-2005).]

Can't see the point of a stand-alone Burner these days, assuming you've got a PC or Mac.

If you get a stand along CD burner it is quite probable that the mechanism is the
same as one of the PC fitment CD burners.

I've always found that "brands I've heard of" CD-Rs are very reliable for burning highly compaible audio CD's. I do not buy unbranded bulk media, not worth the failures. Equally CD-Rs are so cheap that I don't burn audio to CD-RW except for test purposes to read back on my own PC.

My old Sony CD Player (1988 ish) has always played CD-R's but cannot cope with RW's. CD-RWs need a high power illumination laser in the reader and so the system has to be designed with this in mind, or it will have no chance. Basically, if the system doesn't explicitly state "CD RW compatible" you can bet it won't read them.

"can't see the point"..... I should have added "for one-offs or small numbers"

If you are into mass duplication it's a different matter and obviously the preceding people know far more about this than I do!

Thanks to you all.I am still exploring my options. I sell about 50-60 cds a month. My primary concern is that the quality is good and that the purchaser will have no trouble playing the cd.I am grateful for all input.Terry