CD-RW speeds

[Dorian]

If I have a fast burner (48x) will I benefit from buying a fast CD-RW? My brother says that burners will never burn that fast so the speed on the media doesn't matter and that's just advertising. He also said that cd and DVD are just foil and plastic with no differences, so I'm starting to think he's an idiot.

Dorian

[Jester700]

Media speed DOES matter, but it isn't always what's claimed. Depending on the burner, some branded media labelled as 32x can do 40x or more, while some cheap generic 48x media can't even do 40x.

Try a few of a LOT of brands, and see what works in YOUR burner and players.

Yes, they're all plastic & foil, but there certainly ARE differences.

Yeah - your brother's an idiot...

[Heavensent]

your burner doesnt burn at full speed all the time.
somtimes its slower than stated, the burn starts at a low speed
and changes the speed later on.
about the speed of the cd's - it does make a difference.

[crahak]

The advertized speed is only it's MAX speed, and not the average one. They change speeds (different ones) at different times, so it is quite misleading as there's some faster 40x'es than 48x'es... My 40x LG burns around 33x really, which isn't bad. It's still good enough to reasonably think a 40x will be faster than say, a 24x...

[Jester700]

That's true. Most drives 24x and faster start at 16x or 20x (I think some newer ones even start at 24x) and speed up, ending at their max. If a 40x started at 20x, it might well burn a disk faster than a 48x that started at 16x. Especially if you only burn half the disc.