[linux-help] Re: Burning music CD's

["Jonathan Hall" <flimzy@xxxxxxxxxx>]

CDRWs are actually entirely multi-session.  The cdrw is used like a
standard data disk and may get written  to once or many times before it
is finalized, including the ability to edit files stored there, which
cannot be done on a CDR disk.

That is NOT true.

There is _some_ software (for Windows, and probably Mac.. never seen any for
*nix) that _emulates_ a R/W disk with a CD-RW or CD-R.  But it does it with
proprietary drivers that don't use a standard ISO-9660 filesystem at all.

What it does, in essence, is, the first time you write data to the disk, it
will write a track of data, leaving the session open (to be added to later).
When you are ready to add more data (or change the existing data), it writes
a new track after the first one, reflecting the changes you've made.  It
will continue to do this until the disk is full.

Some implimentations of this method may automatically erase and rewrite the
CD once it's full (or maybe even every time something is changed), but it is
STILL a CD-ROM (Remember, ROM stands for Read ONLY Memory).

This "technology", while it is nice, and makes it "easy" for idiots to use
CD-Rs and CD-RWs, is a Very Bad Thing(tm), if you ask me.  Especially when
the idiots learn to use this, and then think it's the only way a CD-R/W is
supposed to work, and they call you day in and day out for weeks after they
upgrade to Windows XP, and the copy of Roxio DirectCD they have won't work
in Windows XP and they don't understand why they can only write to their CD
once.
</rant>

-- Jonathan

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