What speed do you burn you cds at?

[classicrock1169]

Personally I burn at 16x speed cause 16x speed is the highest speed you can burn while keeping the speed of the burn consistent. So what speed do you think is best to burn at when burning or copying cds and when burning or copying dvds. I burn at 4x on 8x disc for dvds.

[direwolf-pgh]

cds = max
dvd = max

[classicrock1169]

Really, Thought you werent suppose to do that and that it created disc with clicks and pops.

[arkantos]

some says that the slower is accurate and produces good results.
8x

[Tubular]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CD-R

Burn speed can also affect the compatibility due to worse jitter on disks recorded at higher speeds; selecting a slower speed can improve compatibility, especially for CD-DA. However, for writing some burners may not perform best at their lowest speed, and may not perform best on all discs at the same speed; each burner/media combination has an optimal speed which is most likely a lower rather than higher speed but can only be certainly known by testing that combination at different speeds (using disc checking software such as that which reports C1/C2 errors to compare the quality of readable discs.).

Quality of writing matters: better recorders are capable of producing better burned discs with a better lifespan (and vice versa), and writing at lower speeds tends to produce burned discs with better lifespan than writing at higher speeds.[citation needed] This is partly because of the nature of the transparent error correction embedded in the Compact Disc system and extended in CD-ROM (Yellow Book): disc written faster may have more correctable errors at inception. These errors, being correctable, are undetectable to the user in normal reading, but they use up some of the damage tolerance which the error correction system provides, so it is less able to compensate for future damage. Therefore, it takes less degradation of the dye layer to use up all of the error correction capability on the disc, and thus less time before uncorrectable errors appear (visible to the user in normal reading.)

I always burn at a mid range speed, usually 8X for CDs, and 4X for DVDs. Less possible errors this way, and saving time doesn't usually matter to me as I usually don't burn tons of discs in a row.

[LeifH12345]

I've never had problems either way.

[becks dark]

I use 12x but thats just my preference. Slower speeds do help mostly in car audio

[U2Lynne]

cds = max
dvd = max
Me too.

However, if I burn a music CD, it is for myself and so if I hear problems with it in the car, I can just reburn. But, I so very rarely burn music CDs these days. Actually, I can't remember the last time I did.

For trading purposes, I suggest trying to trade in lossless format. That way, you are spreading the files as lossless files, but also you can run the ffps/st5s/md5s on the files you burn to verify they were burned correctly.

[Karst]

It depends but in general at 1x to maintain the bufferspeed. It just depends on the machine you have. Mine is a good few years old and can't handle anything faster really.

[direwolf-pgh]

here is a decent read on the subject
http://pcworld.about.com/news/Jul202004id116926.htm

some highlight points
By design, CDs and DVDs have error correction capabilities built in that provide redundancies on the disc to compensate for problems as they arise. Error correction is a function of both the drive reading the disc and the disc itself, which is one reason that one drive might be able to read a disc that another drive can't. ..In fact, says Paul Crowley, chair and founder of InfinaDyne Software, "expecting 0 errors is unrealistic." You will always see some C1 errors, the lowest level of errors found on a CD or DVD; both the drive and the media's error correction code can easily and seamlessly compensate for these errors. But, Crowley adds, the number of errors you'll get will depend on the drive and the media being used in combination with one another. ..Disc error reporting is complex and technical. Explains Memorex's O'Kelly: "C1 errors are small, random errors easily handled by the [disc and the drive's] error-correction codes. If the errors are larger in size or in frequency, they become C2 errors handled by the C2 decoder. Block error rate, or BLER, is the number of data blocks that have C1 errors in them. The Red Book specification [the official CD standards] requires fewer than 220 [errors] per second, averaged over a 10-second time span. The technology gets even more complicated as you delve deeper." and the last big issue for burns...While error-checking software can certainly help you learn something about a disc you've burned, the accuracy of the results can vary from drive to drive. And just because the software reports a disc full of errors, don't assume the media itself is at fault. Says O'Kelly, "It could be there's nothing wrong with the disc, and nothing wrong with the drive; they're just incompatible with one another."

Which is why you should always test your media with your drive. "Find the best media for your burner by burning discs and seeing which has the lowest error rate," suggests DeMoulin. "Some brands are kind of finicky."

Though finicky may not be a technical term, it accurately describes the situation. In theory, any disc should work with any drive; after all, the drives and the media both conform to basic manufacturing standards for the various disc formats. In reality, the drive's firmware is coded to match the media's identifying stamp; and if support for a specific media type isn't in the drive's firmware, the drive may not perform at its best. For example, it may not achieve its maximum write speed; or, as O'Kelly points out, it may burn a disc full of errors.

...The idea of burning at slower speeds originated a few years back, with the second and third generations of CD burners. Sony's DeMoulin recalls that the standard for disc mastering used to be 1X. "It used to be that a slower speed gave you the better burn. But with today's faster drives, sometimes the middle speed is the best." Some drives, he adds, start at 8X for a CD-R burn, so you can't turn the speed down any further, even if you wanted to.

[trustthex]

24x for cds
8x for dvds

time really isnt an issue for me either.

[Thulani]

8x
8x

[katnapz]

I would suggest checking the review section of this site out:
http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Reviews/Home.aspx?CategoryId=1
They do a nice job of testing a number of burners with various media brands...at different burning speeds. With the end results being that "yes," as pointed out in the quoted article by direwolf-pgh, that different speeds are a bit relevant to the drive and media. If you're comfortable with the chance that your discs might blow out in a couple years (or months?) then go with "max"-that is, after verifying that this is the optimum speed for your drive/media. If you think about it...you're only compromising your own collection when you burn without caution.
Personally anytime I trade optical discs with anyone the first thing I do after verifying the data I receive is to reburn everything on to one of my discs using my system and my methods. I started doing this a couple years ago when I started to realize that some of the discs I had received in trades (as perfectly readable) were rotting out over time while my own burned discs stored in the same manner were fine. Blanks are cheap enough for the insurance. Keep in mind that just because someone is smart enough to know how to put a blank in and press the "copy/burn" button doesn't mean they know what they're doing....they might not know that burning speed can be adjusted, or that they shouldn't be playing that cool game while burning because it's messing with the buffer.
BTW - Store your discs in a dark container/out of the light. Sun can rot discs out too.

[direwolf-pgh]

the first thing a burn prog will do is calibrate a constant bitrate test to your burner.

even when set to 'max' it will work within the parameters of that measurement.

im certain my audios burn at 20x - 24x
DVD's burn at 10X max

medium speed for a sony 48x / 16x DVD burner.

[paddington]

burn slow

never end a question with a preposition

[Five]

I heard slow is best.

I heard slow is not necessarily best.

so I've used the slowest allowed up to now. but then I read this stuff, I know its not the end of the world but I think I'll search for the most optimal speed for my config.

what free prog can I use to test for C1 & C2 errors?

[Thulani]

http://www.cdspeed2000.com/

[Five]

thanks a lot, man.

I've got some reading to do!
http://club.cdfreaks.com/f96/cd-dvd-speed-user-guide-192563/