I recently purchased a new computer with Vista (upgrading from Win98!) and, while I have been using Roxio's CD burning program for years, I had to purchase the Easy Media Creator 9 to work in the new OS.

Since then I have run into problems with about 1/3 of the CDs I've copied. They all seem to burn just fine through the "copy disc" program but when I try to play the copies the display shows they're playing but there's no audio. I assume that the index has transferred because the song titles display but nothing else. And yet others done in the same way are just fine.

It's been awhile since I've been dealing with disc to disc copies, so I'm not sure if this is a program issue, a Vista issue, a new computer issue or has something to do with some sort of copy protection on the discs themselves.

Can anybody enlighten me?

To start, are you trying to play them on your PC, or in a home stereo, or in your car, or all of the aforementioned? Try multiple playback devices if you can and see if there's any new information. On the discs that don't play, you may want to try extracting the tracks to .WAV files using either Sound Editor, or Disc & Device Utility (under "Tools"), then check the .WAV files first, and if they're good, try using those as the source for your new CD. I'm not exactly sure what it proves if that works, other than the discs are readable. You could also try slowing down the writing speed and see if that makes a difference.

Let us know how you make out.

I've tried playing the discs in two different PC players and in my home stereo. I looked at the files on the newly created disc and they're all .cda files - just as on the source disc.

Are you suggesting trying to change the tracks on the original or the duplicate CD to .wav files?

What mystifies me is that in copying around a dozen discs - all by the same method - 6 or 7 of them work just fine. Which makes me think it might have something to do with the source discs rather than anything else.

I'm suggesting that you insert the original disc, and extract the tracks to your HD as .WAV files first. While they're on your HD, listen to them and make sure they play properly, and if they do, write a new CD using the .WAV files from your HD as the source, instead of copying directly from CD.

Let us know if that works.

Thanks! I just tried it with one of the "bad" source discs and it seems to have worked.

So now my question (yes, I'm full of them!) is, since straight copying worked for over half of the discs, is there any way to know in advance which ones will need the "pre-burn method" or will I just have to waste a blank CD and find out afterwards? And now that I know the work around, still wondering why this happens.

And thanks again for the assistance.

I would suggest "no, there's no way to know in advance." But, there's never a reason to waste a CD if you always extract first... or if you use a CD-RW for your initial test. But, if you always use a CD-RW, you'll always have to do a second one... so going to HD first may be as quick.

OK, here's another question (I warned ya!):

On a few of my CD burns I am getting audio interference on playback. For lack of a better description, it sounds like you're listening to music on an AM radio and somebody is detuning it to the point where the static is overwhelming the signal. This seems to happen as the disc gets closer to the outer edge. (IOW, none of the discs start out that way.)

Again, this doesn't happen with all of them but I've had it happen to probably a half dozen - sourcing from both original discs and mp3s.

As with the "silent disc" problem, this didn't happen with the old (Win98) computer and I'm wondering if this could be caused by some sort of digital rights thing in Vista or (more likely) the speed at which the burner is running. I've gone from 4x burn speed to 32x or higher at times. Should I set it for a slower burn rate?

Yep... I'd definitely try the slower burn rate. Even with your 32X burner, the inner area only burns starting at about 12X-16X, and then the speed increases as it gets toward the outer edge. It sounds like somewhere the data is getting messed up, which isn't a good thing. That shouldn't happen even at the higher speeds, but that would seem like the symptoms. Personally, my "main" CD burner is only a 12X burner anyway, and I have no intentions of getting a faster one.

If it were a DRM issue (of which there isn't any on a true Audio CD) then you wouldn't even get the first half of the disc.

I am having the same issues as Iamwalrus. New vista PC. Some of the copied CDs play on portables, but not on home or auto, mine and others. There seems to be no rhyme or reason. I do not seem to have any of the options listed as changing burn rate, etc. I am wondering if the Roxio installed at the time of purchase (an HP Vista loaded PC) is the Roxio I should have even though it says Roxio Creator Basic 9. In any event I have pre-loaded onto hard drive the audio tracks, also have tried copying from original cds through itunes, no luck. I have used Roxio in the past (windows 98/creator 5) with success. Is this a vista issue or do I have a Roxio Creator that is missing something. My creator window does not look like the one in the manual which I downloaded. I am not a techie so I need a simple solution and/or explanation. On line help is out of the question since I work and cannot phone in between the hours of 11 and 6 (which is really not adequate). I hope to get some answers. thanks in advance

For a start, the HP version bundled with your PC is just that - a modified version by HP (and they do the tech support for it). It is as you suspect a cut-down version with some parts not available

Not copying tracks - this could be the DRM in Vista which is far tighter than in previous MS Operating Systems

Just to clarify, you're writing Audio CDs, all of them play on some or all players, but from disc to disc it's not consistent? That is, they all play on at least one player?

If that's the case, and since this is a new drive/system you're using, I'd get a few different brands of discs and try them to see if you have any better luck with some different discs.

Just because you may be using the same discs that worked just fine before, you have a new system and new writer, it may not work as well with these discs, so get a few different brands of discs, and see what happens. It's one of the easiest and cheapest things you can try.

Thanks for the HP info. I couldn't figure it out. I'll call them. Also I'm using TDK discs which I thought were pretty good, but I guess I'll try some others. Not real impressed so far that Roxio would let HP put an inferior product into a new PC. I would have rather paid a little extra. In the meantime, here's hoping for a really Vista compatible program.

I'm having a roughly-related problem. I convert TWIT podcasts & burn to CD to listen while driving to/from work. I was converting the .mp3 files to .wav using a separate program; I was able to produce CDs that were usable on my older CD player(s) using an older version of Roxio.

With my newly purchased Creator 9 I "assumed" Roxio was converting to .wav; now I can see its converting to .cda. Can I force Creator 9 or convert to .wav rather than .cda befor the burn? Or is there a utility within Creator 9 that will let me convert .mp3 to .wav and then burn .wav?

I didn't see anything obvious in my quick perusal of the manual...

Thanks!

Brooks

Do you have the suite version of EMC? If so, you can use Sound Editor to convert to mp3.

May I presume that you're looking at the finished CD when you see the ".CDA" extension? If so, then EMC9 has done what you wanted, decoded the file to the standard "WAV" style format before writing the Audio CD. The "CDA" extension is just Windows way of showing that you're looking at an Audio track, it's not a file, it's a track, and it's what you want.

If you're seeing a .CDA extension on a file on your HD, let us know.

I have the suite version. I want to burn CDs usable on older CD players. At this point I'm assuming I can't tell EMC to burn using .wav format (this is question #1). So I want to convert .mp3 to .wav during the burn
(probably not possible, question #2), or pre-convert the .mp3 to .wav (how? Sound Editor? Question #3) before using the CD burn package to create a CD containing these .wav files (I assume this is possible? How? question #4).
Thanks in advance!
Brooks



Our messages are passing in the air! I haven't actually looked at the CDs. I burned several last night using the new suite. They play in my car but don't play in my (somewhat older) CD player at home. I had this problem in the past, getting around it by pre-converting the .mp3 source files to .wav using another package, and then burning with an older version of Roxio (came installed on my Dell 4 years ago, but gone due to recent disk replacement).

Again, thanks!

Brooks



Oh, BTW, when I said I "saw" Creator 9 was writing .cda, I meant that I saw from previous posts in this thread. ..

You need to actually look at your discs to see what you're creating, don't assume anything. It's possible that you're creating a .MP3 CD, which your car stereo (if newer) may play, but an older home stereo won't recognize at all. In that case, you'll see the file names and .MP3 extension on them.

If you see "Track1.CDA"... etc., then you've created an Audio CD, and the problem with the discs not playing on your older home CD player would probably be a mismatch between your writer, the discs, and the player. Slowing down the burn may help, but more likely, a different brand of blank would solve the problem. Also, make sure you're using CD-R (write once) discs, not CD-RW (erasable) discs.

Hope that helps!

Well, here's the resolution. I originally down-loaded a .mp3 podcast and burned it to a CD-R. It plays in my car but not in my older CD player at home. I down-loaded another .mp3, converted it to .wav using Sound Editor, and then burned it using Music Disk Creator. This disk plays on my home player.

The fully-playable disk also shows as containing .cda when shoved into my PC.

So its a 2-step process for me - but I can live with it...

Thanks!

Please tell us what the disc looks like that you burned the .MP3 file onto. If you see the filename.MP3, then you burned a Data CD with an MP3 file on it. Of course your older home stereo won't play it. Now, if instead you had gone into Music Disc Creator, and selected "Audio CD" and used the .MP3 file as the source, it would have been decoded into the proper format for a true Audio CD and you would have seen .CDA on that CD. It does not have to be a two step process! Just make sure you select Audio CD as the project type, and you can still use your .MP3 files as the source.

Back here to thank everybody for their assistance. I slowed the burn rate down to 16x (I believe that's the slowest option in EMC9) and have not had that problem since.

Although, as Dewey knows (since he helped out with this in another folder), my burner's been dead for the last couple weeks and have just now gotten things up and running.

Thanks to all!