Superdrive Problem?

[Grasbak]

I burned a CD yesterday with iTunes and when I put it in my stereo the playback was awful - badly distorted. I tried another CD and it was fine.

I wouldnt probably be bothered but I had problems the other day with iDVD. I could burn a project, then next attempt it didnt work (burn/multipexing error). I got over this problem by saving an image and burning through disk utility.

Should I be concerned about my superdrive? I dont burn stuff that often so its hard to know what is normal behaviour.....

 

[mad jew]

Try slowing the burn speed down in iTunes to see if the quality is any better. Also, have you tried a different brand of blank media?

 

[Grasbak]

Thanks Mad Jew, you helped out the other day with the iDVD problem!

I havent tired what you suggest - will do when I get home from work.

Shouldnt i be able to burn at max speed without issues? Or are audio CDs more problematic anyway? I have burned maybe 10 from the same batch without problems. Coupled with the iDVD burn problem (although this is only my second time burning with iDVD) I was starting to worry something is wrong with the drive!

Thanks again

 

[mad jew]

Yeah, full speed burns should be fine but slowing the speed down may help us determine whether this is a superdrive issue or a media issue. Generally speaking (and this is quite general), lesser quality blank CDs don't play nicely with full speed burning but are okay at slower speeds. Therefore, if a slow burn works properly with this media, then you might benefit from getting slightly better blank media rather than replacing or repairing the superdrive.

This is a very general rule, but it's a good place to start troubleshooting.