CD-RW Newbie...Questions

[ScaryBinary]

Hey gang,

I'm finally stepping into the 21st century and getting a CD-RW drive. I've been out of the computer scene for awhile, and have a couple questions that I know you'll be able to answer.

My main question is about this buffer underrun business....what is it? What software is best at preventing it? I've seen BURN and JustLink ...and one other one from Acer... thrown around. Are they all pretty much the same?

Also, if I wanted to burn some MP3s onto a CD to play them in my car, say, what type of format do I need to have the files in? Can I just use whatever software comes with the CD drive and it'll take care of everything?

I realize these are probably stupid questions but I'm a burn-virgin.:rolleyes: Thanks for the help!

[rangeral]

There's alot of info here http://www.cdrfaq.org/faq.html

[ScaryBinary]

Cool, thanks for the link. Just what I was looking for!

[SoledadTX]

Try using CacheMan v.5.1
www.outertech.com
This product not only handles buffer under-run issues but can resolve memory memory issues related to Windows9X.:p

[Buji]

Reviews Here (http://www.cdrlabs.com/reviews/index.php)

[RayH]

About burning audio CDs for your car, if you have most typical newer (like in the past two years) software, it will probably convert mp3 to cda automatically. If by some chance you get some really old software, you have to covert them to a wav file first.

For a point of view on devices, I have a pair of 4x burners. I sometimes feel that I should upgrade to faster units. But I keep them because they are highly reliable AND have thus far been able to burn anything (I don't do games) on any cheap disk I can get my hands on.

I have seen 32x burners. But I really don't know what is the fastest speed most hardware can handle. I know it isn't any 32x.

If copying a disk, when all else fails, usually using the CD RW device for both the source and target and/or slowing down the burn speed will take care of most problems.