Can you use CD-R that says "For Music Use Only" for data?

#1

Wondering if you can actually use “For Music Use Only” CD-R for other things beside music?

#2

Yes you can,but it’s actually a waste of money because those discs are more expensive than cd-r and are initially meant for using in a standalone audio cd recorder,like for example,a Philips CDR770,.
Those blanc discs are more expensive than a pc cd-r because they contain a copy protection bit which means that no digital audio copy can be made of such recordings,only analog copies…

#3

What if the price is the same? Any downsides to using “For Music Use Only” CD-Rs for say video playback or video gaming instead?

#4

Hmm, I did not realize that the music CD-R discs had a copy protection bit encoded on them. I thought they were priced higher to provide royalties to the artists and the music industry. I never used them anyway.

#5

@ Lycian,no real downside that I’m aware of,except that most brands have a limited burning speed…
@ Vbritt,you’re right about that extra cost…but in this case,the manufacturers also have to pay royalties… not only consumers…:wink:

#6

And you’d be correct.

The only difference between CD-R for Consumer and regular CD-R is that CD-R for Consumer is tagged during the production process in order to work with standalone CD recorders.

#7

A nice read here :slight_smile:

#8

I had one of those recorders.

The “trick” described in that article did work, at least in that it allowed you to record on a non-certified blank.
The problem is that the burn quality could take a hit too.

Not stated in that article was the fact that, upon insertion of the CD-R blank, the recorder did more than just look for the “general use” bit in the ATIP. It also did an OPC run on the media, in order to reduce the start-up time when the user pressed the RECORD button. This is why you only got 99 uses out of a single “music” blank; eventually the allocated space for OPC was used up.

It was usually pretty impossible to find a data-certified blank which was optically identical to the “music” blank that the OPC was performed on. (I usually used TDK-branded music and data CDR’s which looked identical, but really weren’t).

So essentially the drive was recording onto a blank which it had not self-optimized for, with variable results. Witness that most of my discs, so recorded, would not play in my car without skipping; while discs recorded to the same media using a Philips computer burner at similar speeds, fared better.

All of purely historical interest at this point…

Relating to the OP though, and their question. Some music-only CDRs also had dye formulations that were optimized for 1X recording. If you try to use one of those at 52X in a modern burner … well … YMMV.

#9

Just one bit :rofl:

#10

I still have my CDR770,in great condition,as I never had the intention to try such tricks…actually,I think I’ve burned no more than 60-70 discs with it…:imcool:
Why?Because after a few months owning the Philips,I bought my 1st cdwriter,a HP 8110i (8200A) and never looked back…:bigsmile: