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Looking for a simple audio CD copier

Marky_Mark

Marky_Mark

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 30, 2005
810
0
UK
Try as I might, I just can't find a simple copier for audio CD's. I've tried searching and to be honest, it's like trying to find a needle in a haystack. All I want to do is copy music CD's so I don't have to keep originals in the car, but I'm loathe to pay for something as heavyweight as Toast to do something so simple, and try as I might, I just don't get how to use the Finder for this stuff.

Can anyone recommend a good app? Only other thing that would be a nic e to have is being able to burn two copies off at once so I can do one for me and one for my good lady wife, without having to re-image the original first.

Thanks for your help!
 
Disk utility, just make an image of it and then burn as many copies of it as you want. Also any CD duper should work, nothing special about audio CDs that I am aware of.
 
I tried DU, but found that the image was too large to fit on the CD. I used to use Nero on my PC before I switched and it never seemed to be an issue. Not sure why I get the probs now. Is there something obvious I'm missing?

Also, you mentioned 'any CD duper' - can you recommend any specifics?

Thanks again. :)
 
Can't you just import into iTunes and then burn an audio CD? And while you're at it you can get rid of the songs you don't like, and make a nice mix of the songs you do like. You know, rip-mix-burn...
 
Audio CDs are different from data CDs in that they have no filesystem, so I don't know if Disk Utility can work with them. I'm not sure about other programs. Toast can, but it costs $$.

If it's not too inconvenient, try dragging the .aiff files off the CD in Finder, importing those into iTunes, and burning them as an audio CD (it's in the preferences).
 
THanks for your replies so far. I've resisted going down the iTunes route so far because I'm afraid I'll clutter up my Library with AIFF files I don't want to retain and by going track by track, won't I end up with gaps between the tracks on, for example, a live album?

I'm still really looking for an app that will simply create an image and then burn it back without all this additional hassle - does such a thing exist?
 
Marky_Mark said:
I'm still really looking for an app that will simply create an image and then burn it back without all this additional hassle - does such a thing exist?
Click to expand...

Just get Toast, stop quibbling. You may even find a cheaper version on eBay or something. Even Version 5 Titanium is OK... but you'll need to be registered with Roxio to get updaters.

A Finder image won't work unless it's dropped into Jam or something like that -- been there, tried that. Finder won't burn RedBook Audio CDs.

It's not heavyweight and is worth every penny. Be prepared to also spring for some 800mb disks if you want to cover every disk you may want to copy, whoops I mean 'back-up'. :rolleyes:
 
in your itunes burning preferences, there's an option to turn off gaps between tracks. mine's set to zero.

the only real concern with using itunes is the maximum import quality of mp3 is 192kbps (not sure about the others, i didnt look) and if you're ripping purely for audio cds, i'd suggest that that's too low (i'd be aiming for 256 at the least, 320 ideally)

try using Toast, it costs ££ but you get all the ripping/burning utilities i think you could possibly need...the only thing i've come across that i cant seem to achieve with it is a windows bootable iso...but you wont need that :)

edit:

Blue Velvet said:
whoops I mean 'back-up'
Click to expand...
lol :D
 
Sic said:
the only real concern with using itunes is the maximum import quality of mp3 is 192kbps (not sure about the others, i didnt look) and if you're ripping purely for audio cds, i'd suggest that that's too low (i'd be aiming for 256 at the least, 320 ideally)
Click to expand...


Through the Custom settings, you can select 320kbps for MP3s from a drop down list. :)
 
Thanks to everyone for their replies - it would appear that I'll either have to use iTunes or spring for Toast. I think iTunes is out as my car CD player isn't MP3-capable. There's definitely a gap in the market here for an aspiring shareware developer! All I want to do is easily dupe CD's without altering the format, so I don't have to worry that I'll lose my original media if my car's broken into. I did hope that there might be a piece of shareware out there already. Ho hum.:(
 
iMeowbot said:
If you don't mind using the terminal, cdrdao will do the job for free.
Click to expand...

Blimey that looks a bit scary for a simple soul like me - might give it a shot at the weekend though...:eek:

Thanks very much for the steer! :)
 
iTunes can burn MP3 CDs or normal Audio CDs (among other types). It's pretty rare for an audio CD burnt in iTunes to not work in a regular (car) CD player.

Import as AIFF or WAV to minimise quality loss and then burn as a regular Audio CD with Gaps Between Songs set to None. :)
 
Mad Jew, thanks very much for the advice - just tried it and it worked a treat. Have had iTunes for the best part of a year and never RTFM'd! Didn't realise all this was buried in there as well.

Thanks again for your help (and patience!):eek:
 
Toast is your answer

Disc Utility won't work for you... copying audio CDs is specifically disabled by Apple to appease the music industry.

iTunes could work... if you don't mind taking the time to import everything and also don't care about losing the gap times and seamless output.

Toast 5, Toast 6 or Toast 7 would all work.

Toast 5 runs on OS 9 and OS 10.2 and 10.3.
Toast 6 runs on OS 10.2, 10.3 and 10.4.
Toast 7 runs on 10.3.9 and 10.4.

You can get a copy of Toast 7 from MacMall now for $39 afer rebates.
 
Thanks Road Dog. I've got iTunes working for me now, might still invest in Toast sometime in the future. Appreciate your help!

:)
 
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