CD and DVD Recording For Dummies

Contents

Introduction

What's Really Required

About This Book

Conventions Used in This Book

Stuff you type

Menu commands

Display messages

In case you're curious about computers

How This Book Is Organized

Part I: Shake Hands with Your Recorder!

Part II: It's All in the Preparation

Part III: Hang On -- Here We Go!

Part IV: So You're Ready to Tackle Tougher Stuff?

Part V: The Part of Tens

Part VI: Appendixes

Icons Used in This Book

Where to Go from Here

Chapter 1: Optical Storage: It's All in the Pits

Always Begin with a Definition

How Is Data Recorded on CDs and DVDs?

It's All in the Dye

Behind the Curtain: Inside CD-RW and DVD Drives

The motor

The laser stuff

The tray

The controls

The emergency hole

Love Those Discs: CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, and DVD-RAM

"Hey, can't I buy just one drive?"

First on the block: CD-R

Reusable and loving it: CD-RW

Ready for stardom: DVD-R

The rewritable warehouse: DVD-RAM

Clouds on the horizon: DVD-RW and DVD+RW

What's Wrong with Tape, Disks, and Removable Media?

More reliable

Higher capacity

Cheaper

Faster and more convenient

Compatibility

"What Do I Need in Order to Record?"

What you need for Windows

What you need for the Macintosh

"What Kind of Discs Can I Record?"

Briefcase backup

Computer files and data of all sorts

Digital audio

Digital video

Network storage

Photo discs

Caring for Your Optical Pets

You gotta grip 'em by the rim!

The deadly enemies

The Disc Hotel

Sometimes you've just gotta wipe

Chapter 2: Buying Your CD Recording Beast

Internal or External: Thinking Outside the Box

Stay inside with internal

Breathe the open air with external

"Edna, He Says We Need an Interface"

EIDE

SCSI

USB

FireWire

Parallel

The X Factor Explained

Features on Parade

Make use of every pit: Overburning

Three words: Buffer, buffer, buffer

The ultimate safety net: Burnproof recording

DAO: Funny acronym, important feature

Sorry, but We Have to Talk CD-ROM Formats

Packet writing

Video CD

CD Extra

Multisession/CD-ROM XA

Software You Just Gotta Have

A sharp-dressed disc

Slick recording add-ons

Tools to organize and play your stuff

Scavenging a Fossilized CD-R Drive

Buying Your Drive at the Maze o' Wires Mall

Buying Your Drive on that Web Thing

Chapter 3: DVD Is Not a Bad Word

"Do I Need DVD-R or DVD-RAM?"

"Hey -- I Can't Copy 'Curse of the Mollusk People'!"

Weird, Wild DVD Format Stuff

DVD-V

DVD-A

Additional Toys You Just May Need

The MPEG card: Aye, Matey, 'tis indeed a tiny file

The FireWire port: The real information superhighway

The digital camcorder: Your digital muse

The A-D converter: A bridge to the past

Video-editing software

Chapter 4: Poof! You're a Computer Technician

Preparation Is the Key

Read the instructions

Collect what you need

Ask for help

Choose a spot to be external

Installing an EIDE Drive

What you need

The EIDE dance, step-by-step

Plugging and Playing with a USB Drive

Running the SCSI Gauntlet

IDs 'R' Us

Coming to grips with termination

What you need

Your step-by-step guide to internal SCSI happiness

External SCSI stuff

Installing a FireWire Drive

"Um, It's Just Sitting There"

EIDE troubleshooting

SCSI troubleshooting

USB and FireWire troubleshooting

Chapter 5: Letting Loose the Software Elves

The Windows Tool of Choice: The Roxio Easy CD Creator 5 Platinum

Formats and disc types out the wazoo

Wolfgang woulda loved this

Extra stuff they give you (without even asking)

Burning Up Your Macintosh with Roxio Toast

Packet Writing Made Easy with DirectCD

Introducing the Editors: iMovie 2, iDVD, and Premiere

Chapter 6: Fine-Tuning Can Be Fun

Creating Elbowroom

'Course, you could just buy a bigger hard drive

Locate unnecessary stuff

Let the wizard do it!

Call in the professionals

Checking Under the Rug

Fixing your drive the Windows way

Fixing things with Mac OS 9.1

Avoiding Fragments

Avoiding the Unexpected

Scheduled events and scripts

Network access

Power-saving mode and screen savers

Terrific Tips and Tweaks

Avoid disk-intensive, memory-hungry behemoths

Give your recording software some elbowroom

Speed up your hard drive

Beware the flagged-out laptop

Chapter 7: Getting Ready for the Ball

Picking a Jazzy Format

Data, lovely data

Sweet audio for the ears

Straddle the line with mixed mode

Throw caution utterly to the wind with packet writing

"Disc at Once? Track at Once? Why Not All at Once?"

Meet you at the track

Do it all at once

Multipurpose multisession

Long Filenames Are Your Friends

The Right Way to Organize Files

"Thumbnails? You're Kidding, Right?"

Converting Files for Fun and Profit

Chapter 8: Taking Easy CD Creator for a Spin

Recording Data: Putting Files on a Disc

Recording Your Music

Copying a Disc

Using a Disc Image

Using Multisession Discs

Erasing a CD-RW Disc

Project: Developing MP3 Fever

Project: Archiving Digital Photographs

Project: Backing Up Important Files Using Take Two

Chapter 9: A Step-By-Step Guide to . . . Toast?

Putting Files on a Disc

Recording an Audio CD

Ooh! It's a Hybrid!

Project: Creating a Temporary Partition

Project: Recording a Basic DVD-ROM

Chapter 10: Using DirectCD: Avoid the Hassle!

"Whaddya Mean, I Have to Format?"

Just Add Files and Stir

"Wait -- I Didn't Mean to Trash That!"

Eject, Buckaroo, Eject!

Adding Files to an Existing Disc

Erasing a DirectCD Disc

"Whoops, I Can't Read This Disc"

Project: Creating a New Employee Disc

Chapter 11: Heavy-Duty Recording

It's Data, It's Audio, It's Mixed!

Putting data before your audio

The extra behind CD Extra

Doing Vinyl with SoundStream

Adding Effects in SoundStream

Giving Your Disc the Boot

Creating an Optical Photo Album

Recording that MTV Video

Project: Recording an Album to CD

Project: Recording a Bootable CD-ROM

Project: Recording a Mixed-Mode Disc

Project: Recording a CD Extra Disc

Project: Recording a Photo Disc

Project: Recording a Video Disc

Chapter 12: BAM! Add Menus to Your Discs!

Everything Uses Menus These Days

Discs chock-full of images, video, and sounds

Discs burned to distribute to others

Discs with Internet links

Discs with text files galore

Discs that include a Web site

Discs with dozens and dozens of folders

Designing Menus (But Not for Food)

Using HTML for Your Menus

Mentioning Animation

Project: Creating a Disc Menu with HTML

Project: Converting a Text Document to HTML

Chapter 13: Storing Megastuff with DVD

What's Involved in Recording a DVD-R?

The Heavy Stuff: Introducing DVD Authoring

Welcome to the World of iDVD

Letting Loose with DVD Studio Pro

Project: Recording a DVD-RAM disc with VOB InstantWrite

Project: Recording a DVD-R with iDVD

Chapter 14: Adding That Spiffy Touch

How Not to Label Your CDs

Hey, You Can Tell a CD By Its Cover

"Hmmm, Can I Label with Duct Tape?"

Project: Creating Jewel Box Inserts

Project: Creating a CD Label

Chapter 15: Ten Hardware Troubleshooting Tips

"Why, of Course the Jumper Is Set Correctly!"

It Does Make a Difference How You Turn Things On

Where Did That Click Come From?

Your Recorder Wants to Play Too

Driving Miss Data

Keep Your Firmware on the Cutting Edge

Speed Does Make a Difference

Leave This Cartridge, DVD-RAM, and Seek Your Fortune

Take That Cleaning Disc Far, Far Away

When Your Disc Cries "I'm Stuck!"

Chapter 16: Ten Software Troubleshooting Tips

Device Manager: Checking Under the Windows Hood

Your Image Can Be Everything

"Hey, Your Session's Open!"

"Captain's Log, Stardate, Uh -- Hey, Spock, What Day Is It?"

Don't Use Dated Software

Validation Is a Good Thing

In Case of a Disc Loading, Please Notify Windows Immediately

Slow It Down, Speed Racer

When All Else Fails, Reinstall!

Overdoing Overburning

Chapter 17: Ten Things to Avoid Like the Plague

Antique Parallel Port Drives

"Holy Aqueous Tragedy, Batman!" (Avoiding Liquids)

A Bad Labeling Job Is Worse than No Label

Copy Protection Works

Don't Settle for a Tiny Buffer

"We Interrupt This Network Recording. . . ."

How Slow Is Too Slow?

Give Those Discs a Home!

Putting the Worthless in High-Tech Cleaning

Keep 'Em Cool

Chapter 18: Ten Nifty Programs You Want

CDRWIN

GraphicConverter

PowerDVD

Final Cut Pro

MusicMatch Jukebox Plus

Retrospect Express Backup

Acrobat

CloneCD

FireBurner

QuickTime

Appendix A: Recorder Hardware and Software Manufacturers

Recorder Manufacturers

Recording Software Developers
Appendix B: Glossary
Index