Music CDs made on Mac to play on other machines?

[jcarter]

I have a friend who plays keyboards and guitar in our local churches, and is starting to be asked to instruct and play in other locations(yes he is very good).  But he is not familiar with the southern gospel music like the Staple Singers and so forth.  He realllllyyyyyy wants to learn that type of gospel music, and I have a huge collection of blues/gospel type records and CDs that he could work with.

So my question is, can I make CDs on my Mac here of the songs that he would like to work on and learn, that would play on his truck CD player and in his ancient stereo, and in the keyboard player things?

I probably should make some and see if they work, but we dont want to take the time and effort to do this, if you here know that this wont work.

He does not have modern equipment nor a computer, so I cant lend him my iPod.  And he also uses the equipment supplied in the churches, and that sometimes is really old decrepit stuff.

Thanks,
Jane

[Xairbusdriver]

Have you ever heard of iTunes? That's all I use it for; burning music CDs. I hear it does some other stuff, also. And it's free!

<Burning with iTunes>

Probably stuff in the Help pages, also...

[RobW]

Burning a CD is really easy with iTunes. Just put together your playlist, and you're ready to go. Just make sure your iTunes preferences are set to burn as audio CD. See this recent TS thread. There are other programs that you can use to burn music CDs with (like Toast), but iTunes is very easy. You may also want to read up a bit on how to import your music to iTunes from your CDs before you start.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?pa....0/en/507x.html

[RobW]

Oh, one other thing. Before you get started, you'll want to make sure you have some blank CDs to use. Buy the CD-R type--not CD-RW--and I think most of us here prefer brands such as TDK or Verbatim.

[jcarter]

Actually I was more concerned if the CDs would play correctly, or play at all on his ancient equipment, I have made lots of CDs for myself and they dont play well on my truck player.  But they do OK on my newer stereo CD player, not the old one.
Ive got plenty of the blanks.
I will read up on the links that you all have given me, as perhaps there is a way to improve the way I have been doing it.  I can see in Steve's thread(which I missed earlier) that my problem of having my CDs play on the older equipment can be worked on.
So here goes,,,,,,,,Thank you all, and my friend will be saying thank you also.
Jane

[RobW]

Let us know how it goes! I wonder if your previous problems had to do with either a brand of CD-R (and again, not CD-RW) you were using, or perhaps a preference setting in iTunes. Over the years, I've not burned a CD with iTunes that wouldn't play in a CD player. (And I've burned lots for many different people. ) If what you do for your friend doesn't work, maybe a "step-by step" walk through of what you're doing, what he's using to play it, etc. would help.

[jcarter]

A while ago, I went to a local store to get some more CDs and the salesman insisted that the 'new and improved' CD+R would be what I wanted, oh, was that a pain.  I just couldnt figure out what was wrong, so I went to another store and got some Maxell CD-R and that solved it. Actually someone here clued me into this CD+R mistake, and the next time I was in that store, I told that salesman that these would not work in Macs.
He just didnt know, just had plenty that he wanted to sell.
Jane

[Gregg]

I've found that the CDs my sons have made using iTunes skip every now and then - always at the same places. I think you have to treat it like nitro when you're recording. Don't touch the computer, don't jiggle the desk, etc.

[RobW]

QUOTE(jcarter @ Mar 10 2007, 09:03 AM) [snapback]121503[/snapback]

A while ago, I went to a local store to get some more CDs and the salesman insisted that the 'new and improved' CD+R would be what I wanted, oh, was that a pain.  I just couldnt figure out what was wrong, so I went to another store and got some Maxell CD-R and that solved it. Actually someone here clued me into this CD+R mistake, and the next time I was in that store, I told that salesman that these would not work in Macs.
He just didnt know, just had plenty that he wanted to sell.
Jane

Jane, I'm wondering if he sold you CD-RW and not CD-R. CD-R is what you want for an audio CD. It's not that they won't work on a Mac, but in some cases (so I've heard) there have been problems listening to an audio CD that was done on a CD-RW--especially in some older players.) I know in the past that Tacit and others have mentioned problems with one brand--possibly Memorex. Again, I've never had a problem with Verbatim or TDK CD-R for audio (or data) use.

EDIT:  

On a quick search, I did find this previous thread. See Tacit's comments about Memorex. I know there've been other similar posts about that brand.

[Xairbusdriver]

And Macs can use CD+R, assuming you have the correct burner. System Profiler will tell you what kind CD/DVD you can read and write to. Skipping output from a CD is easily caused by lack of or a too small cache in the player. Most home players don't have any cache, since they are not usually moved during play back ( except in California, of course ). All portable and vehicle players should have a cache built in. The cache simply stores the bits while checking for missing data. If anything is found missing, the cpu tries to reread that data. But this re-reading can't take 'all day', the player wants to send the data out to the speakers. And it will, whether the stream is totally complete or not.

Older players could only run at slower ( X1 ) speeds, this makes the cache less capable of maintaining a steady supply of data to stream out to the speakers. Newer players can run at much higher speeds making it easier to re-read 'tracks' to fill in the missing data and make the play back 'normal'. And older vehicle may very well have an older player. It could very likely also have a dirt covered laser! It may be trying to re-read almost every thing on the CD.

Finally, the CD film layer is subject to malfunctioning. That's why quality counts.

iTunes is fulling capable of creating CDs that will play in any standard player. CD-RW CDs are not reliable for anything, IMHO. And are certainly not worth the extra cost. Nor are "Music" CDs. Any quality brand CD-R is all one needs to use with iTunes or any other CD burning app. If they don't play 90-95% of the time, it's a cheap CD or dirty laser lens. The other 5-10% is because of moon phases!

[jcarter]

Good info, thanks,,,,,,I gave away my CD+ ones and also the CD-RW ones, so I wouldn't make the same mistake over again.

I do find the CD player on my GMC truck(11 years old), does fine with a new store-bought music CD and not too good on my Mac-made ones.
I should get our youngest daughter to clean it for us, as this afternoon, she is going to fix our old VCR which loves to eat tapes unless I stick my finger in and grab the tape before it sits down to dinner.
Oh the joys of old equipment,,,,,,,,
Jane

[tacit]

QUOTE(jcarter @ Mar 10 2007, 05:18 PM) [snapback]121528[/snapback]

Good info, thanks,,,,,,I gave away my CD+ ones and also the CD-RW ones, so I wouldn't make the same mistake over again.

I do find the CD player on my GMC truck(11 years old), does fine with a new store-bought music CD and not too good on my Mac-made ones.

99 times out of 100, that means it does not like the brand of blank CD you are using. There is a BIG difference between different brands of blanks; each brand uses its own patented dye formulation.

I have had consistent repeatable problems with Memorex (the bottom of the barrel; I was offered a spindle of Memorex blank CDs for free by a client once, and refused it) and Maxell. I've found that car stereos are generally the most picky about blank CD brands; for that reason, I stick to Verbatim or TDK (work in everything I have tried so far).

Any brand of blank CD has lower contrast than a store-bought CD, though, so sometimes a CD player won't play a CD-R when it will play a manufactured CD. In those cases, I have found that the reason is usually a dirty laser lens, and cleaning the lens with one of these CD cleaner kits you can get at Radio Shack fixes the problem right up.

[jcarter]

I guess I shall pick up some of the better brand CDs and give the Maxells away too.
And our daughter just left, she did fix the VCR, I was in the sunroom with my grandson and the dog, so I didnt see what she did to it, but my husband said it works fine now.
Then I will pick up one of the cleaners from the Radio Shack next week.
Then I can get about making the CDs for my keyboard playing friend. I am thinking about getting a Roland(not that I play well) but all our kids do and when theyare here it would be nice to have something a bit more modern.
Then my friend can give me a few lessons too.
So Verbatim or TDK are the ones I wil buy from now on.
Thanks again,
Jane

[Xairbusdriver]

If you can afford them, Taiyo Yuden are often said to be the best. I think they are one of the oldest CD manufacturers around ( and probably make many for what end up as different brands ). You can usually find them in 100 blank spindles for about $.35 a piece ( occasionally less ), but that is probably triple what some 'good' brands might cost. BTW, here's a <great site> that has more info than you'll ever want to know about CDs! I think the "How do CDs behave when microwaved?" might be interesting!

[jcarter]

That is certainly not a bad price for something that works, thats why we buy Macs and not PCs. Eh?
And thats why our youngest daughter works for Toyota, their trucks and cars are soooooo reliable.
So here we go, I can now make good Gospel/Blues CDs for my friend that will play on all the old decrepit antique players in any of his churches or lesson places.
 
Jane