No problem with a Sony CFD-S26, an inexpensive unit. Plays cd-rw and cd-r
fine, cd-r's are Phillips burned at 32x (48x rated). No problem with Timex
clock radio with cd-r. I would suspect the player.
Dave Cohen

"Dave Platt" wrote in message
...
I just bought an inexpensive JVC boombox CD player. It is advertised
as playing CD R/W. Some of my CD-R's play fine, some don't. I tried
to burn the non-playing CD's again on my computer on different CD
brand, they still do not play. Is something wrong with this JVC
boombox? Should we get a better boombox? Or is it a problem that is
bound happen in these inexpensive boomboxes.

CD-R and CD-RW compatibility is often an issue on CD players, with the
less-expensive ones sometimes being more of a problem. Unfortunately,
the "speed-rating wars" which have pushed drives (and media) to higher
and higher burning speeds and capacities seem to have had a negative
effect on CD-R compatibility. Blanks which are rated for high-speed
burning seem to use dye layers which are thinner and less reflective
(and thus produce a lower RF signal leven) than the older, lower-speed
blanks. "80-minute" blanks require a data-packing density which is
right up against the limits of the Red Book standard, and many drives
have difficulty tracking these discs.

For best compatibility with CD-R media, I suggest the following:

- Try to get some of the older CD-R blank media, rated for lower
burning rates.

- Similarly, try to find 650-megabyte / 72-minute blanks. These have
pit/land, and track spacings which are right in the middle of the
Red Book specification range, and may be easier for your player to
track.

- Burn at a lower speed - you may get better pit/land pattern
readability on the disc. A decent rule-of-thumb is to burn at
speeds around 2/3 of your drive's maximum - e.g. a 12x drive may
produce its best burn quality at an 8x burning rate.

The other thing you could do is exchange your boom-box for another
one... possibly of the same model, possibly different. If it's
advertised as being CD-R compatible, but rejects a large fraction of
well-burned high-quality CD-R discs, then I'd say you have a
legitimate beef.

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Hosting the Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
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