Audio CD-R's versus regular CD-R's?


Hello,

I have a computer cd burner which I use for copying music from friends' "store-bought" cd's. I am wondering if the "audio" cd-r's are really better designed for recording music and have better sound quality than the standard cd-r's, or is this just marketing? The music or audio cd-r's are more expensive so if there is not a difference between these and the standard ones, I'd rather save the money and get the standard ones. Does anybody detect a difference? Also, what brands are recommended to buy?
hamiltonmktg2d2c
Get the standard ones - there's no general difference save for the royalty charge and use-prevention code to go with it. Consumer-market standalone audio CD-R burners/players don't permit the use of such computer disks because they look for the proper code before recognizing the disk, but the pro-market audio machines and of course PC-burners ignore the code, and so should you.

BTW, Dogeatpuppy, how do you figure that purchasing used records or CD's gives royalty payments to artists? Sure, they might have gotten a payment from whoever bought the disk new, but that's the same as the case where Hamiltonmktg borrows the 'store-bought' disk from his friend and copies it.
Dbamac,

"Wrong side of the grass"? I love it! Reminds me of when I worked on a golf course in my college days..we had to lay a bunch of sod and I worked alongside a guy who mumbled "green side up, green side up" all day.

Of course you're right in pointing out that once the artist is dead they really don't need much money. In general any royalty payments go to the estate (family), and maybe those monthly checks make a huge difference in their lives? That's not that important to me but thought I'd mention it all the same.

In any event there is a perception that the music companies use their marketing muscle to reap obscene profits, and to some extent that's true. On the other hand they also use some of their profit to take risks and invest in new bands. Like many businesses the overwhelming majority of new acts are a commercial failure, but fortunately for us many are artistic successes. As much as I love Pink Floyd or Led Zeppelin I do crave new music and by buying CD's I help fund the launch of new bands. I could list dozens of new bands that have come on the scene in the last ten years, many on indy labels, so not everything that gets pressed is a "formula band". Steal the music and the funds will dry up and we'll be left listening to "Dark Side of the Moon" over and over and over again (many feel there are worse things to do but we'll leave that for another thread).
Thanks guys for your advice. And Jeff, I see your point about buying cd's to support the artists. I do want to say (in my defense) that just in the past few years alone, I've bought hundreds of cd's and spent thousands of dollars in various record stores. So, if I copy a few from a friend every now and then I'm not going to feel guilty about it.
It's not illegal to make analog copies, only digital. And making digital copies is a felony? Wow, sort of like hurting someone's dog is a felony while attacking the owner is a misdemeanor. Or so I've heard.
Cdc, I could of course be wrong, but I have a very hard time believing (in fact, I don't believe) that it could even be a misdemeanor, let alone a felony, to make a digital copy. However, maybe you meant to say *selling* one, which could be.