Yeah, it's important to remember that this medium is not permanent and that there are many variables that can affect the quality and longevity of burns. Spend a few extra bucks for archive-quality CD-Rs and back up everything to your hard drive. Use every day CD-Rs for stuff that you just want for the car, etc. We don't even know how long regular CDs will last. That's a sobering thought. And an increasing amount of material being recorded never travels outside the realm of digital mediums. In other words, albums recorded to analog tape masters will last a long time if properly cared for. Records are the best preservation method because they offer a quasi-mechanical reproduction method (the cut of the grooves). We don't know if music that only ever exists in the digital ether will have a long life span. It's a bummer, but it's true. --Ken On 12/3/04 2:28 PM, "Mark London" wrote: >> on my PC (Windows 2000 Professional), but even worse, I have found >> that upon playback on multiple CD players, some audio CD-Rs contain >> very noticeable noise. The noise is similar to radio static. Oddly >> enough, this noise doesn't appear on initial playback of the CD-R, >> but on subsequent playbacks and usually starts up around tracks 15 >> and higher. I am using TDK CD-R's, and I have used them in the past >> and up to this point, I never had any problem with them, so I am >> thinking the issue is with the software and not the media (but I may >> be wrong). > > A) I used to use a certain brand of CDRs, but then had to switch due > to sudden problems with that brand. > B) I have to question whether your CDs played OK at first, and then > later developed a problem. Because I also have had problems with > noise developing on later tracks. Later tracks are more susceptible > to burning problems. I forget the reason, but it has to do with the > process of burning later tracks, and where they are on the CD in > relationship to the laser, or who knows what. In any event, my > problem was definitely with the CD burner. Cleaning the burner > helped some, but I eventually had to replace it. However, this was > only after I had burnt a bunch of CDs, and thought they sounded ok, > but later discovered that the later tracks were corrupted, and I > simply didn't bother to attentatively listen to the later tracks.