Topics:

• Introduction
  • Cost
  • Size
  • Equipment
• CD Burning
  • Getting Started
  • CD Formats
  • CD-ROM XA (ISO 9660)
  • Audio CD (CD-DA)
• Step-By-Step Guide To Toast CD Pro
  • Checking the Write Speed
  • Changing Speed
  • Changing Format
  • ISO 9660 Information
  • Audio CD Information
  • Burning the CD

Staff Support:

Lab Phone Number: (510) 642-8155

Note: All instructions on this page are in reference to the PowerPC named Farley, on the left-hand side of the room as you enter from the hall.

Note #2: The Toast manual is sitting in a black, unlabeled binder on the shelf above Rosalinda. It is informative if you don't really want to know alot about the behind-the-scenes of CD creation.

Creating your own CDs is probably one of the more rewarding activities in which you can partake with a computer. Especially if you have a working knowledge of Macromedia Director or another multimedia presentation package, even HTML. Creating your own interactive CDs is fun and not overly difficult.

One of the main problems with creating CDs is Getting It Right On The First Try. Or, more appropriately, not getting it right on the first try. Though CDs are relatively inexpensive, it is not fun to have to throw one away. But until you have a feel for the process of creating CDs, expect to throw away one or two incorrectly made CDs.

Cost

You can buy CDs from most major computer stores, such as CompUSA. I am not sure of their price. PriceCostco sells boxes of 20 TDK blue-dye branded for $40 (plus a $20 rebate.) This is the best deal I've found, and I have not had any problems. Also, Costco keeps changing their deal, so don't trust the price above. Supposedly there is an internet site that sells CDs for $0.75 each. These were not name brand and had no warrenty, but they were cheap and we had no problems with them. Unfortunately the name of the site has been lost to me, but it exists.

Size

CDs are 650MB, or 74 minutes of audio. Unfortunately, the CD burning program which we use, Toast CD-ROM Pro, automatically inserts 2 sectors (seconds) between each chunk of data, meaning if you have exactly 74 minutes of music, on two tracks, you will not be able to write both of them without taking at least two seconds out of one of them. This is not usually a problem, but can add up if you have many tracks.

Equipment

In the lab, our CD burner is a Yahama CDR100. Reads/Writes at 4x and down. There is a manual with detailed specifications on the shelf. The burner is connected to a PowerPC 7100/80 (Farley.) The data to be burned should be stored on the 1.9GB disk named CDR Scratch. Farley is also connected to a Jaz Drive, which is IOMega's 1GB removable storage device.

Note: Due to limited space, data is routinely erased from the CDR Scratch disk. If you create a directory named the same as your login to store you data, we will be able to contact you before deleting any of your files. I suggest storing your data either remotely or on a Jaz disk, copying it on to CDR Scratch when the time comes, and then removing the data when you have your finished CD working correctly.

Creating a CD-ROM is the last stage of your project, but you must keep in mind this goal for the duration of your project. For example, if you want to create a HTML-based presentation on CD, you have to keep in mind the dynamics of links on a CD file system as opposed to another application of HTML links. When dealing with files which must reference other files, ensure that your references or links will work on the CD format.

Also keep in mind the platform at which you are aiming your eventual CD. It is possible to create CDs for multiple platforms, including PC, Mac, and UNIX. However, if you are using Quicktime video, for example, you should not worry about the UNIX platform, as UNIX cannot play Quicktime.

If you are just using a CD to store a bunch of static files, then you are set. You should have an easy time of creating a CD for your needs.

CD Formats

There exist many formats in which to write CDs. The formats you are most likely to use are ISO 9660 with or without audio tracks or Audio CD. You can also make a Mac-specific CD, PC-specific CD, Phillips' CD-i format, or Enhanced Audio CD.

CD-ROM XA (ISO 9660)

The CD-ROM XA format works across platforms and is most likely the format you would want to choose for data CDs. In addition, audio (CD-DA) can be included on the same CD. For example, if you have ever noticed some video games can play tracks two through whatever, with track one being the data, this is an XA track with following audio tracks.

Audio CD (CD-DA)

The Audio CD format (CD-DA, or Digital Audio) will play in audio CD players. You can take your AIFFs, WAVs, etc, arrange them as tracks in any order you like on your CD, and create your own audio CD. This is by far the easiest CD to create. As previously mentioned, the program we use to burn CDs adds 2 sectors (2 seconds) between each track, so keep this in mind if you find you have close to 70 minutes of audio.

A program we do not own, ASTARTEs Toast CD-DA, will allow you to burn CD audio disks without pauses between tracks. In fact, this program has a variety of tools for doing "real" audio CD's.

To start Toast, doube-click the toaster icon on the desktop. Alternatively you can choose 'Apple Menu->*CD Tools->Toast Pro 3.0'

Checking the Write Speed

You should always check the write speed of your data track before burning the actual CD. To do this, just click 'Check Speed' at the bottom of the window. Usually CDs that fail at 4x will write perfectly at 2x. It will save you time and money to check beforehand.

To change recording speed:

• Choose 'Recorder->Write Speed'. Now choose your prefered speed (4x, 2x, 1x.)

To change the CD format:

• Choose 'Format'.
• Now chose one of the following: (* indicates detailed instructions below)
  • Mac Volume: Back up an entire Mac disk partition.
  • Mac Files and Folders: Create your own assorted back-up of Mac folders and files.
  • *ISO 9660: Create a generic set of folders and files.
  • Mac/ISO Hybrid: Using this option you can target a presentation for both Mac and ISO9660 users. This creates two partitions on the CD, a Mac volume and a ISO partition. Inserted into a Mac, the CD will display the Mac files, inserted into a PC it will display the ISO files.
  • *Audio CD: Create a audio cd.

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  • CD-i: Will take a pre-made CD-i image and burn it to disk.
  • Video CD: Takes MPEG movies and creates a Video disk with them. Not sure on which system this plays.
  • Enhanced Music CD: Make CDs that play in an audio CD player with hidden data track for computers.

  • ---

  • SCSI Copy: Back up the data from another SCSI device on the Mac.
  • Disc Image: Will take a 'Disc Image', and burn or mount it. A disc image can be created with Toast, or ASTARTE's CD-Copy, among others.
  • Multitrack CD-ROM XA: Burns combination of XA disc images and DA tracks onto one disk.

  • ---

  • Audio Tracks: If this option is checked, CD audio tracks may be added after the data track on any format.

ISO 9660 Information

• To start adding the files you wish to burn, choose 'Data'.
• The 'Files' tab will let you add files to the CD image and create folders.
  • You can use drag-and-drop between the CDR Scratch disk to make this easier.
  • Double-click on a file or directory name to see info and rename it.
• The 'Layout' tab will let you arrange the physical order of the files on the CD.
• The 'Settings' tab will let you change options relating to the ISO format.
  • 'Format' shoud be 'ISO 9660 XA', but feel free to experiment with the other two. Although I have no idea what 'Electronic Book' does.
  • 'Naming' can be any of the options, logically focused at your intended platform.
  • Leave the 'Append version numbers' off.
  • Turn 'Use Apple extensions' off.
  • 'More' will let you name all sorts of things. Not sure what the result will be.

Audio CD Information

• After clicking 'Audio', adding songs is a drag-and-drop procedure.
• You can drag a song to move it further up or down in the track order.
• I'm not sure what the 'Text' and 'Numeric' markers thing does exactly.

Burning the CD

• Make sure that the computer will not be interrupted during the burning. Turn off any unnecessary programs, disable Appletalk ('Apple Menu->Chooser'.)
• Check that your CD can be written at the set speed. If it cannot, lower the speed a notch and try again.
• Now click 'Write CD'.
• Click 'Write Disc'.
• When you disc is ready, the computer will ding. It also has a countdown, in minutes, of the estimated time to completion.