CDR Essentials

The simple rule of thumb is that whatever you have stored as a file on any other storage medium can also be stored as a file on a CD-ROM. To the recorder, a file is a file, and an ISO doesn't care whether or not the file contains pictures, text, or even audio sound.

There are a few special cases, as to where you would want to record a file to a CD in a special type of format. The most obvious here is CD-DA audio. If you wanted to record an audio file to a CD so that you could play it back on your home stereo, you would need to write a CD-DA (or Digital Audio) disk.

When you copy data to a CD, you need to ensure that your data doesn't exceed the capacity of the CD that you will be recording to. Due to the audio requirements of CDs, the amount of information a CD can hold is measured in minutes/seconds/sectors. Each second can contain 75 sectors, each of which are capable of holding 2,048 bytes of Mode 1 user data.

By using the CD Size command in the edit menu, you can set the capacity of the set you wish to produce, which will help you to prevent exceeding it. The status bar will show you how much space you have used, how much remains free, and the percentage of each one.

Even though this may sound a bit confusing at first, keep in mind that it may take some time if you are new to computers. Even though copying a CD is quite easy, knowing the limits and how things work is a bit more complex. Give it some time, and you'll be copying files to CD like the pros do it.