A few inSync readers have been trying to wrestle down this whole Pro CD-R versus consumer CD-R issue that was covered a week ago (see TTOTD 10/15/98). The first misconception is that consumer CD-R’s are not capable of being used professionally. That is, not able to be used to manufacture discs on a large scale. This is not the case. The only difference between consumer CD-R media and general-purpose (professional) CD-R media is some subcode information and the price. The data that ends up being written to the disc is not really any different other than it may have copy protection flags.
Both media can be used as a master for manufacturing. The manufacturing plant simply wants low error rates (block error rates, etc.). Any CD-R that can do disc-at-once writing is capable of producing a good CD that can be read on most CD players, including the readers at manufacturing plants.
The second misconception is that when discs are burned using general-purpose media they are the same as manufactured discs. This is also not true. CD-R is CD-R. There is no fundamental qualitative difference between consumer and general-purpose discs, and only minor (not audio related) differences in the way they work. They both do not perform the same way a real manufactured CD performs. They will not always work on all players and they, depending on many factors, may have significantly more errors. On a good day, east of the Mississippi, if it’s not raining, and you stand on one leg, you can burn a CD-R that will perform 99% as well as a manufactured disc. It’s not quite that random, but the combination of burner, software, and media can create quite a few variables that make burning discs a crap-shoot at times. Feel free to search the TTOTD Archives for past tips on CD-R’s and CD burning.