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You
can burn a CD disk on your own, with no technician necessary.
Just drag-and-drop your files directly from your own computer
straight into the CD burner software. In ancient times (two
years ago in computer time) you had to prepare your files to
burn on a CD. So don't waste your money buying an overpriced
Jaz-CD-burner combination sold by some companies. You do not
need a special hard drive or Jaz to burn a CD.
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This
is the software for a PC; the similar software for
a Mac is Toast.
I
do not recommend using CD-Direct mode (Mac). You cannot
share your CD with anyone else unless they have loaded
CD-Direct. Use the Toast format for Mac, it is also
faster than CD-Direct, and just as direct.
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Just
pop your blank CD-R disk into the caddy, drop your
files into the software just as you would move files
from one hard disk to another, and press the GO button.
Your
CD is toasted in 18 minutes if you use a 4x burner
or about 10 minutes if you use an 8x burner. 12x burners
are now becoming available.
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Some
blank CD-R disks are rated for burning at 4x speed. But we
have found the basic low-cost HiVal generic sort of disk,
with no rating at all, burns just fine (out of about 168 burns
fried only three disks). ProDirect probably has a favored
brand which they will recommend, since many good brands are
available. Sure, perhaps it is safer to use a name-brand disk,
but they are more expensive. Maxell send us some generic disks
that we burned at 8x speed. Now, with 12x (12-speed) CD-R
burners available I need to test the new media in the new
faster CD-R burners. Verbatim, for example, makes DirectCD
disks rated for 12x burners.
I
would suggest buying paper sleeves in bulk (500 per lot) and
save money and space. Plastic jewel cases break almost immediately
anyway (the hinges especially). Paper is more economical.
A plastic jewel case costs as much as the disk (ever wonder
why packs-of-5 disks are so expensive? You are paying for
the jewel cases and the packaging. Buy in bulk and save.
You
can also save by asking for the newer 700 MB disks. You can
get extra files on these disks, which hold about 10% more
digital files than the older CD-ROM disks (otherwise the new
disks are identical; they burn and play in all CD-R units).
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All reports by Dr. Nicholas Hellmuth
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UPDATED:
August 02/2001
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