Good OS X CD Burning software?

October 30, 2004 11:05 AM

Good OS X CD Burning software? I need a few specifics: a. able to burn playlists; b. able to check the length of the CD prior to burning. iTunes isn't able to do B and Audion is absolute garbage. Help.

One of my mefi swap CDs is 80 minutes and 38 seconds. Whenever I try to burn it in iTunes it tells me the 80 minute CD is not long enough. However, I know that many 80 minute CDs are slightly longer (I know this as I had the same problem a year ago for a different comp, when I was on Windows). iTunes doesn't bother to check the disc for a time. Any OS X software that will do this?

posted by dobbs to Computers & Internet (7 answers total)

I believe Toast will do what you want. At least, when I burn CDs it seems to not have a problem "pushing the envelope" in terms of data size. It's also a very capable program for normal backups/data burning and it comes with a handy slideshow-making program that does the "Ken Burns Effect" with your photos without the endless rendering times that iPhoto requires.

You can get it bundled with Jam, which adds many more audio-related features but isn't (IMHO) strictly necessary.
posted by bcwinters at 11:43 AM on October 30, 2004

cdrecord will allow you to burn longer than the nominal length of the CD with the -overburn option, but I don't know if it actually checks to make sure that particular disc has the space. Its playlist support is probably lacking.

I'd be interested in seeing the tracklist for your swap CDs, incidentally.
posted by kenko at 11:46 AM on October 30, 2004

on preview: kenko beat me to it.

if you have lots of free time and you are a nut*, do what I do: cdrtools.

an easy way is to install fink and then fink-commander and then cdrtools.

what I do is use mkisofs to make a {cdda, dvd-video, etc} image and then use the finder to burn the image to whatever media. it works a treat.


* i.e. you don't mind using terminal.app for unixy goodness...
posted by dorian at 11:46 AM on October 30, 2004

(also, the reason I use finder/discburner to burn rather than the actual cdrecord command is that cdrecord uses a very kludgy way of accessing non-scsi drives and that does not always work for everyone)
posted by dorian at 11:48 AM on October 30, 2004

Response by poster: Okay, thanks, I'll try some of these out.

Kenko, right now my swap is a double cd but it may end up being a triple. Some people commented on MeTa a while ago that they were keen on getting them but I can't afford to mail out that many (they all have full color art as well). I thought about saying that anyone who wants to pay my cost/shipping for the set is welcome to it. I'll burn 'em no problem. I just can't swallow the shipping/blanks/art (it's nice art, really).

Send me an email if you want details. I could of course give the tracklists in advance.
posted by dobbs at 4:48 PM on October 30, 2004

Response by poster: Okay, I made my last post about an hour ago and have already gotten 3 emails (2 from non-mefites!). Anyone who wants info on my swaps, sign up at my music mailing list (in my profile). I'll be mailing that list when I have all the details. Please ignore my previous post and do not email me directly for details as it could get annoying answering individually.
posted by dobbs at 5:39 PM on October 30, 2004

I don't want to start a new AskMe for this since it's OS X disc burning-related: Toast 6 Titanium and the Finder regularly (and iTunes frequently, though my iPod has pretty much taken care of my need for burning music CDs) craps out right at the end of a burn, in the verifying stage. I forget the exact error message, but it has some kind of code like 0x00... and says something illegal happened and the lead-in or lead-out couldn't be burned. It happens with such regularity that I wonder if it's my CD drive (iMac G4, Superdrive, 10.3.5). Doesn't seem to matter what kind of media I try burning, CD or DVD, or the brand. Anybody experience anything similar? How'd you fix it?
posted by emelenjr at 8:39 PM on October 31, 2004