With all due respects to MEB's very helpful post, I am adding a
few comments since I know you won't understand a few of the
things he mentions, plus I got a new small burst of energy from
somewhere...

"MEB" meb@not wrote in
:

SNIP

| On the other hand, I have never burned a CD or DVD or
| anything. This drive came with Iomega Hot Burn Pro. I
| have played with it, but have not yet purchased any
| blanks. One thing I am not sure whether to get the Write
| once or Multi-write ones. Worse yet, which are which. In
| the store they had R and RW. What do these letters mean?
| I thought that R meant READ and RW meant READ-WRITE. But
| what good is a blank CD that is only readable? The
| Walmart clerk did not know what I was talking about
| (typical Walmart idiot), so I left the store not buying
| any discs because I did not know what to buy.

CDR - write once
CDRW - write more than once - deletable/re-writable

Most people use CDR, due to the present low cost.

| Then, when I finally do get the disks, what do I do next?
|
| The software has the following options to select.
| Music Disc
| Data Disc
| MP3/WMA Disc
| Disc Copy
| CD Label
|
| MP3's are music, so why is there both a "music disc" and a
| "MP3/WMA" option?

Different sound formats, different storage techniques ...



"Music Disc" is a largely meaningless (or at least multi-
interpretable) term which the Iomega software uses, which is one
of the many reasons I suggested you dump it and forget
everything about it. All you need is the drivers for the
machine, which you have already installed. You can use ANY
burning software. Go with my suggestion (funny I should say
that, huh?).

Music, photos, text, it's all DATA.
cdrfaq!!!




| I am sure the Data Disc is for backups and saving files
| off the hard drive. And I know that CD Label makes labels
| (which my laser printer would unlikely be able to make.

Actually it probably would. The Label Maker program would
be controlling
the printer..



As I believe cdrfaq mentions, NEVER apply ANY labels to CD-R's
UNLESS the blanks are the "print-on" kind (with a layer of -
usually white - paint on them), which is not worth bothering
with. Write a few descriptive words using a Sanford Sharpie (not
the thin kind!!!, the regular one!) gently. You can print the
contents as an insert or just a page to put in the
case/envelope.

[If you want to know WHY, take a useless (you'll get a few until
you get the hang of this, but they're ONLY a quarter) CD-R (NOT
a real Compact Disc - different animal entirely) and scratch the
printed side with a nail or razor blade and see what happens.]



| Then I started to select a bunch of MP3 files on my
| harddrive and it told me that they will not all fit.
| Well, DUH..... Why does it not tell me where to stop,
| assuming I will need several discs?




The goldenhawk software tells you EXACTLY how much space you
have left, and whether you should be using an 80 min CD or
whether a 74 is enough. There are 74 min and 80 min discs (they
use minutes since it's a term most people can comprehend) and
they are 650MB and 700MB respectively. 700MB will actually store
about 715,000,000 bytes... Remember - cdrfaq!




It should have if you were using the burner program... you
weren't trying
this in Explorer were you? That type of copying would
generally take a packet writer/driver..



Don't even bother trying to understand/use the packet writing
technology. Just perceive the CD-R as a write-everything-at-once
technology, as opposed to a floppy disk.



| Do I need to manually copy the files to a special
| directory until I know I have no more than 700 megs (or is
| it 650, since several websites do not agree and list 650
| on some and 700 on other sites for the max capacity).




cdrfaq




| Then it says that MP3's can not be played on a standard CD
| player on a stereo. What's the point of putting them on a
| CD if they wont play (other than as a backup).

Some DVD/CDROM home players support MP3 as do some car
stereo systems, and
some home stereos. However, they general state such support
somewhere [label or manual]. The key word was *standard*,
though in today's world MP3s are pretty standard, so most
players generally have that support ...




Pretty much every DVD player made in the last few years, and
many car CD players and walkman-style players and blasters will
play mp3's. Some will "play" WMA and jpg photos as well.

SOME may not play the highest mp3 bitrate (320) rips, but no one
REALLY needs to use the highest rate. Go with "192 true stereo"
for your mp3's and don't worry about the other options. Stay
away from WMA.




SNIP

| I'm seriously thinking that although it will cost more, I
| may be better off just buying a pile of those memory
| sticks for backing up my computer, and forgetting the CD
| burning. At least I got a CD player now.

Not a good idea,, as with any device based upon a chip,
some degradation
may occur over time. They're good for temporary storage,
but not recommended for long term. You're not likely to be
able to continually supply an electro-magnetic free
environment in your own home. CDROM's [or DVD style] can
also decay to some extent over long periods, and certainly
can be damaged, but for the cost per disk they can't
presently be beat for long term occassional use permanent
storage.




Amen.




| By the way, if I ever do get this thing to work, how can I
| label them with a pen or something like that? I dont have
| the printer to make labels and it all seems like too much
| hassle anyhow. But they do need some soft of label, even
| just numbering them would help. I have at least a dozen
| CDs that other people made for them, and none have labels,
| so I got to install them one by one to see what is on
| them.

You can use a regular "magic" marker or paint pen to label
them [on the
label side]. Make sure you do NOT scratch the surface
trying to use a pencil or pen...



See above.




To view the disks: Just put the CD in the drive and look at
it from Explorer...



You MAY need to eject the disc from the drive after burning it
to properly see it. I don't know why this is, but if you try to
look at it and see gibberish, don't panic. Eject, insert, try
again. It will take a few moments for the disc to spin up to
speed and read the directory.





| Either I'm too old for this, or I just dont understand any
| of it.
|
| By the way I'm runing 98SE.



So am I (on my other computer, a 2GHz) and I will NEVER run
anything more recent.

THIS machine is 95B, 166MHz :-)




Hey, we all went through the learning curve,,, you should
have been here when CDROM devices first came out, not fun or
cheap at all ...



I remember when at work we got the first 1x speed HP for what, a
thousand dollars or something, and the smartest guy was the one
who had to learn the Adaptec software to burn stuff on Quantegy
(formerly Ampex) CD-R's... I wish I could remember how much the
blanks cost!