How important is the brand of burning software?

A common problem posted in this NG is that burned CDs don't play right
(or at all) in home and/or car players. The usual answers point out that
the combination of burner, blank, and player is sometimes critical, with
the recommendation to try a different brand of blank and/or a lower
writing speed.

My question is a bit different. For a given combination of burner,
blank, writing speed, and home or audio player, how important is the
program used to perform the burn? The considerations are the fidelity
and longevity of the completed disk and how well it plays in home and
auto players. I'm assuming that all the burning programs, Nero, Roxio,
etc., conform to the appropriate standards.

Thanks,

Ray

Ray K wrote:
> A common problem posted in this NG is that burned CDs don't play right
> (or at all) in home and/or car players. The usual answers point out that
> the combination of burner, blank, and player is sometimes critical, with
> the recommendation to try a different brand of blank and/or a lower
> writing speed.
>
> My question is a bit different. For a given combination of burner,
> blank, writing speed, and home or audio player, how important is the
> program used to perform the burn? The considerations are the fidelity
> and longevity of the completed disk and how well it plays in home and
> auto players. I'm assuming that all the burning programs, Nero, Roxio,
> etc., conform to the appropriate standards.

In my experience, for CD the choice of mastering software depends solely
on the (dis)comfort if affords the user. I've used several and find the
results indistinguishable for standard operations. However, some have
features which you may need often enough to give them an edge over those
without those features.

For example, at one time I was asked to check out some oversize blanks
the manufacturer was considering for sale. They had used a glass master
indicating only some 15 minutes recording time though they were designed
to overburn to 99 minutes. The only software that I could find which
would permit such extreme overburning was EAC. (Incidentally, though
they checked out as well as any oversize blanks I had tested, they were
still bad enough that I did not recommend them.)

Note that there are significant differences for all sorts of DVD, but
that is another set of issues altogether.

Mike
--
mrichter@cpl.net
http://www.mrichter.com/