david_ulmer@corp.adaptec.com
(2/10/97)
Last month we featured an overview of compact disc-recordable (CD-R) technology, which is fast becoming the laser printer of electronic publishing_an inexpensive desktop peripheral suitable for making draft proofs of CD-ROMs, masters for CD-ROM replication and final products for short runs of CDs. In this month's follow-up piece, we suggest some of the factors to consider when buying your first recordable CD.
SHOPPING FOR A RECORDABLE CD, like shopping for much computer gear these days, can be a bewildering experience to the uninitiated. The falling prices and improved performance of CD-R writers, software and media have turned CD-R into a near-commodity technology, but, as yet, it is not a technology that is as easy to select or install as other peripherals, such as printers or disk drives.
The reason is that the operating systems do not yet provide built-in support for writing data onto CDs. This means that third-party premastering software is needed just to copy files onto a disc that can be read on a CD-ROM drive on your machine. If that's all you want to do, most drives can be purchased with a simple file-copying premastering utility. But if you want to do anything more sophisticated, such as making discs that can be read by multiple platforms, or making drafts of CDs that will be replicated, an additional authoring tool is required.
Both authoring and premastering software tools need to work in concert with the drive itself, and the hundreds of potential combinations that can be made from the dozens of available packages create a daunting mix of possibilities to consider. To assist you in your shopping, here are some suggestions for finding the right CD-R software, hardware and media.
It is obvious, but before you talk to vendors, formulate some notion of why you need a CD-R recorder. Is it for making prototypes of multimedia CD-ROM titles? Building a digital photo library? Transporting prepress files? Storing archival documents? Backing up hard drives? Distributing computer-generated reports or databases? Beta testing software and documentation? Your applications will of course shape the hardware and software decisions.
Once you know the primary purpose for buying the machine, you're ready to compare software for driving it. In CD-R, as with desktop computers, it pays to evaluate the software first, before jumping to conclusions about which hardware is best.
Select your authoring tools first. Before looking for recorders and premastering software, have a good idea of the authoring tools, if any, that you will be using to produce these CDs. You will need authoring tools if you are doing anything to assist the user, other than simply copying files to the CD. "CD authoring" refers to the software that will index, organize and present the information on the disc to the user. One reason to consider the authoring system first is that it may constrain the selection of hardware and premastering utilities. (It may even come bundled with premastering utilities, as with Dataware and Knowledge Access.)
There are literally dozens of authoring tools, for applications as diverse as database directories, electronic books, image archives and multimedia titles. (The "authoring" tools might even be part of a document-management or computer-output-to-laser-disc (COLD) system, rather than software designed for authoring CD-ROM titles per se.)
Among the types of authoring software are these:
- Many established vendors offer tools for efficient retrieval of information from structured or text-intensive databases residing on CDs. Examples: Dataware, Folio, Knowledge Access and TMS.
- Other tools are designed more for browsing, searching and presentation of documents. Examples: Acrobat, DynaText, Ntergaid.
- Still other products are best suited to multimedia presentations and titles. Examples: Director, Momentum.
Authoring systems are usually packaged distinctly from the premastering functions of file organization and disc formatting, and, depending on what they do, their cost may be several times that of the CD-R hardware and software. (CD authoring tools range in price from $500 to $50,000, and runtime fees also vary from being free to costing thousands of dollars per title.) Their cost alone is a key reason to consider authoring tools before shopping for the premastering software and CD-R hardware.
Selection of authoring tools is beyond the scope of this article, but we cannot state too emphatically that it is crucial for the success of many CD-R applications, particularly those that involve prototyping CD titles.
Premastering. After the material is authored, premastering makes the data on disc readable to the operating system. In CD-R, you always need premastering software to write the disc. If your authoring software doesn't come bundled with premastering utilities, your authoring software supplier will be able to advise about compatible premastering programs. We'll discuss premastering in more detail momentarily.
Production issues. In addition to the decisions about the authoring software, consider these questions: What platform will the CD writer run on, and which CD format or formats must it be able to produce?
What is the volume of discs that you expect to produce in a day, week or quarter? What kind of turnaround is needed? Will recording a disc in a half-hour or so (2x speed) be adequate, or will it pay to invest in faster drives or even automated disc handling?
Is this a stand-alone or network application? If network or multiuser, how tightly integrated with the network operating system does the CD recorder have to be for your applications? Will you be copying files from different workstations onto a CD-R disc? Do you need the premastering software to be able to do this, or can you easily copy the files to a local hard disk first?
Match the computer to the CD-R requirements. If you need to connect the CD-R drive to an existing computer, you should specify to prospective vendors the processor, clock rate, RAM and hard-disk size that you have available, and make sure that the hard disk does not interrupt data transfer to perform thermal recalculations. Typically, you will need at least a high-end, '486-class computer, and for some premastering software (the kind that builds a physical CD image on the magnetic disk before copying files to the CD), you will need free disk space of more than twice the amount of data to be copied to CD. This could mean a hard disk with 1.5 gigabytes or more in free capacity.
Identify hardware and software in the existing configuration that might conflict with a new SCSI adapter and drive or might interrupt the flow of data from the hard disk to the CD recorder. Existing programs or boards might have to be at least temporarily disabled for successful CD-R disc creation. In general, a computer specifically configured with the processing speed, disk space, disk access time and data transfer performance needed for CD-R will work better than retrofitting an older PC or Mac.
The faster the writing speed of the CD-R drive, the more sensitive to computer performance the configuration will be. Drives that write discs with four or even six times the original CD playing speed are more finicky, too, about media than the 2x drives that are now standard, and they are more expensive. Don't plan to pay for speed unless you really need it. And don't hesitate to invest in a CD writer with a 2-MB or expandable buffer; it will help to prevent buffer underruns. A buffer size of 1 MB seems to be the minimum for current drive purchases.
Look for bundles. Since recording CD-R discs is still much trickier than, say, formatting a floppy, most users would be well advised to purchase the CD-R recorder and premastering software as a bundle, from a single source, preferably one that will take the time to examine your requirements and system specs, guarantee that you will be able to make discs, and support you when you find that you can't. The bundle may be created and marketed by drive manufacturers and OEMs, such as JVC, Sony, Kodak, Pinnacle Micro and Plasmon; or by experienced CD-R and CD-ROM distributors, such as Smart and Friendly, Microboards, MicroNet, DataDisc, Todd, CD-ROM Strategies and Law-Cypress.
Historically, drive manufacturers made their own premastering software. Some CD-R bundles, such as those from JVC (Personal ROMMaker or Personal Archiver) or CD-ROM Strategies (CD-Gen), include premastering software that is available only from the bundler. Sometimes a vendor will purchase the right to distribute widely available third-party premastering software under its own private label, so it is worth quizzing the vendor about the source of its software if you're unsure. An increasingly popular alternative is to bundle a third-party program that works with a variety of drives. (See the table at left for a list of popular premastering programs.)
Most premastering programs support only some CD-R drives, so mix-and-match flexibility is decidedly less than perfect. A bundle from a reputable vendor should be a well-tested and reliable combination.
In the past, CD-R premastering software in general was difficult to use. Manufacturers presumed that the user was a technical expert. At the expense of simplicity in user interface, the vendors offered a great deal of control over many specific parameters involved in publishing CD-ROM titles. (In the old days, premastering was limited to preparing master tapes of titles, from which the glass master CDs were created for replicating the actual CDs.) Newer software, compatible with CD-R recording, has to set many of the same parameters, but it can successfully hide them from the nontechnical user (with defaults) or provide the operator with a less cryptic interface for changing these defaults.
Premastering software writes a disc in a specific CD format: ISO 9660 (the "standard" CD-ROM format), CD-DA (digital audio or Red Book CD, the original compact disc format that replaced the LP phonograph record), CD-ROM XA for interleaved compressed digital audio and data, and so forth, as we described in our overview last month (Vol. 9, No. 12, p. 6). A basic difference in the features offered by the various premastering packages is in the specific recording formats supported. Some only support standard ISO 9660, while others allow that to be extended into multimedia formats. Some handle multiple recording sessions; others do not. Some can burn CD audio discs or one of the mixed-mode or newer CD-Plus discs that combine Red Book CD audio with data. Some premastering software allows you to extend the ISO file-system conventions to allow Mac or Unix file names and directories to be copied unaltered to the CD. Others permit hybrid formats to present data that can be read on Mac, Unix, Windows 3.1 or Windows 95 discs. Some packages even format CDs in native Mac (HFS) or Unix file-system formats.
It makes sense to narrow your selection of premastering programs according not only to compatibility with your recording platform, but also with the delivery formats that you must create. The packages vary from those that record PC-compatible discs under Windows_and that's all they do_to those that can run efficiently across a Novell or Unix network and create sophisticated hybrids and multimedia formats for delivery on multiple platforms.
All premastering software permits files or whole directories to be selected and copied from a magnetic disk to the CD. Typically, this choice is made by clicking, dragging and dropping, in a manner that mimics the operating system's own file-copy utilities, such as Windows File Manager. Most premastering software runs, however, as a separate application, not as a transparent extension of the operating system or its user interface. It is the rare premastering product, such as Moniker's Spira, that lets you save a file from within an application (your word processor, for example) directly to the CD-R drive, as you would to the hard drive or to a floppy.
Premastering software also differs in the manner in which the programming code of an application can be tied to CD writing functions, and the charges for the APIs and toolkits that may be needed.
Premastering software has to have some way of converting file and directory names and directory structure to a style consistent with the CD format selected. ISO 9660, for example, without Mac or Rock Ridge (Unix) extensions, is more restrictive in its file naming rules and directory depth than the native formats of Mac or Unix operating systems. If you plan to make Mac or Unix discs, you will want to make sure that you can automate the file-system conversion process and that these truncated names do not cause trouble, rather than laboriously complete this tedious task by hand.
Optimizing for access. Optimization of file placement and control over disc geography was a major feature of premastering software when it was used primarily to prepare CD-ROM titles for replication. It can still be important, depending on the application. Premastering programs can give you highly specific control over where each file is located, they can allow you to ignore this issue, or they can give you some higher-level control over prioritizing file access without worrying about what the physical map of the disc looks like. The location of files on the spiral CD data track makes a great deal of difference in the speed of access. The compact disc was not designed for true random access, and a CD reader has to do some hunting to confirm that it has found the right file. For archiving files that all have an equivalent probability of being retrieved, it matters little where each file is placed. For a prototype or premaster of a CD-ROM title, however, with a specific retrieval program needed to present the data on the disc, it may be important that the retrieval program and index data be placed near the beginning of the spiral, where they are found most rapidly, and that files that are likely to be called in close temporal proximity be placed in close physical proximity on the disc.
An additional way to speed up the performance of a CD-R or CD-ROM is to install the most frequently accessed files, including the indexes, on the hard disk. Some premastering software helps you to evaluate the usefulness of doing this for a particular title.
Data Flow. Good premastering software must be concerned with preventing buffer underruns. Because burning a CD-R disc involves writing data sequentially in a spiral track (asynchronously at constant linear velocity) the interruption of data flow to the recording laser within a CD audio track or data recording session creates a disc that cannot be read. Sophisticated premastering programs have utilities for presetting, pretesting and monitoring the flow of data from computer to recorder in order to prevent or recover from data flow interruptions between the computer's hard disk and the receiving data buffer of the CD-R machine. Newer premastering programs have better self-diagnostics that can adjust data flow or anticipate a problem. Older-style premastering software gives the recording technician an array of settings to change and monitor "manually."
Formatting. As we have already described, formatting of the recordable CD's file system and generation of error-correction codes can be done first on a hard disk, before this information is copied to the CD. This is called creating a physical CD disc image. Or the CD-R formatting can be done on the fly, inserting the additional CD-required information as files are copied from their native formats on the hard disk to the CD-R disc. Formatting on the fly saves time and disk space, but may slow down the computer sufficiently to cause buffer underrun problems. It is nice to have software that lets you choose either creating a disc image on the hard disk or formatting on the fly.
Simulation. Simulation of a CD-R disc's final characteristics prior to actually burning one may be useful, and it is a feature supplied by some premastering programs or their accompanying utilities. Simulation for standards compliance, recording errors and file-access performance can be carried out, to some extent, from the physical disc image on a hard disk or sometimes from a "virtual disc image." Another kind of simulation sends the data to be recorded to the CD-R unit but turns off the recording laser.
Multisession recording. Multisession capability, which is becoming a necessity for many CD-R applications, is increasingly supported by premastering software. Some vendors claim to implement incremental or packet writing, which creates much less of an overhead penalty for simply writing a file to the disc. These discs must have sessions closed in the conventional way, however, to be readable on current CD-ROM drives. Some premastering programs can save files as separate "tracks" (based on the CD-Audio disc format, which allows up to 99 tracks) within a recording session, stopping the recording process safely at the end of each track.
Copying discs. Some premastering software contains utilities for producing or copying CD-R discs in quantity. If you need to produce more than one copy of a CD, or make a copy of a CD from a CD, with or without specialized duplication equipment, be sure that the premastering software will support these procedures or drive your duplicators.
Premastering software may be bundled with CD-ROM authoring systems, file indexing and retrieval programs, or multimedia editing utilities, as well as with CD-R hardware. If your authoring program includes premastering, that combination is a good place to start. That way, only when your premastering needs become more demanding will you have to search for a separate premastering program.
Corel as a starting point. All the latest premastering software presents a graphical user interface and uses familiar GUI procedures, such as drag-and-drop selection of files to be copied, but Corel's Windows CD-R premastering package, CD Creator, has set a new standard for ease of use, price-performance and error avoidance and recovery (see sidebar). It may be the natural starting point from which to evaluate other programs.
Do you need CD formats that CD Creator can't support, or hybrid combinations of formats for cross-platform discs? Do you need to write CDs on a platform other than Windows 3.1, or automatically across a network?
Does the speed of your recorder or the slowness of your PC require you to create a physical CD image on your magnetic drive first, not relying on formatting on the fly? Do you need to manage production of multiple copies of a disc?
These are some good reasons to look elsewhere. Otherwise, consider using the Corel package as your point of departure in your first CD-R system or as you discuss this acquisition with some of the distributors listed on page 29. According to Corel, in addition to the forthcoming Sony bundle, Philips, Yamaha, and Smart and Friendly offer or plan to offer CD-R bundles with Corel CD Creator.
Once you have figured out your software requirements, or, better yet, picked your package, selecting the actual hardware is much easier. There are only a few companies actually making the "guts" of CD-R drives. Currently, Kodak is the only company producing a 6x drive. Yamaha is the only company producing a 4x drive for desktop systems (the CDR100 or external CDE100), although Pioneer has announced that it will market its 4x drive, currently sold with its 500-disc jukebox, as a stand-alone product. (Yamaha's 4x drives, sold in the $3,500 range, are about twice as expensive as the most aggressively priced 2x drives.) The 1x recording speed is becoming extinct. Perhaps you will find some Ricoh 1x units still being sold.
That leaves 2x as currently the format where most of the action is, and these units are made by JVC (also available tweaked and packaged by Pinnacle Micro and by Smart and Friendly), by Philips (also available tweaked and packaged by Kodak and Plasmon), by Sony and by Olympus. The "third generation" 2x drives from Sony and Philips and Ricoh are expected to be available before the end of 1995. These may be worth waiting for, as they will offer such improvements as smaller size (half height), improved multisession and incremental read-write capabilities, and improved reading speed and range of CD formats supported.
JVC, Pinnacle Micro, and Smart and Friendly are known for their aggressive CD-R bundle pricing, and 2x machines are now readily available in the U.S. for under $2,000. But even the better-known brand-name suppliers cannot afford to charge much of a premium. Indeed, Sony's Spressa series CD-R drives, bundled directly by Sony with Corel CD Creator for around $2,000, will be very competitive when the new Sony drives are actually available.
Hardware features to consider. For nonautomated CD writers (recorders) the features and specs to pay attention to are:
- Platform compatibility. If you've already got a fast computer, start by finding models that will work with it. Otherwise, eliminate those that don't support your preferred operating system.
- Multisession and incremental writing support. If you want to lay down less than 600 MB at a time, multisession support is essential.
- Recording speed (1x, 2x, 4x, 6x, etc.). The faster the speed, the less time it takes to burn a disc, but the more expensive the recorder.
- Price. The prices of CD-R drives are dropping. Hardware prices right now are primarily a reflection of the recording speed of the drive and the platforms it interfaces with. Hardware and software bundle prices also reflect the recording platform and the premastering software's feature set, notably the range of recording formats supported. Don't pay for writing speed or CD recording formats you don't need, as these may bog down performance and encumber the user interface. Newer drive designs often support more features than older ones, and are more affordably priced and more compact at the same time.
- Formats supported (formats both written and read). These need to coincide with your premastering software and are, therefore, a critical feature_one that directly affects the price. For some drives, the read and write formats supported are not necessarily the same, though it is obviously useful to be able to read what you have written on the same drive.
- Buffer size. Buffer memory built into the recorder is useful, because the software needs to keep pace with the recorder, much like a RIP driving a typesetter that can't start and stop in the middle of a job. Look for machines with at least 1 MB of memory; more is often recommended.
- Support. These machines are far from plug and play; support is often required, especially when making discs for multiple operating systems. Be clear about what kind of support the vendor will provide before you buy.
- Durability. This is measured by various methods of estimating mean time between failures (MTBF). The higher the number, the more rugged the machine and the fewer trips to the service department.
- Internal vs. external. Do you want a half-height or full-height drive that fits into the disk bay of your PC, or is an external unit fine?
- Reading speed (1x, 2x, 4x, etc.). The faster speeds are especially useful for playing motion video on CD-ROM. Bear in mind that the read and recording speeds are independent specifications.
- Reading access time. A secondary consideration for most buyers, CD-R writers take longer to find specific content when reading a disc than do CD-ROM drives. Newer CD-R drives are closer to CD-ROM units in access time.
- Interface compatibility. Most units feature some flavor of SCSI interface, but make sure the host adapter and drivers are compatible with your system's bus and configuration.
Jukeboxes and transporters. If you want to burn multiple discs as a batch operation, there are CD-R jukeboxes, transporters and master-slave units. They introduce a new set of issues, including error rates, reliability, speed of the change from one disc to another, total throughput in discs per hour, amount of human assistance needed, method of loading discs and numerous cost parameters. Start with a conventional CD-R writer before investing in equipment that automates disc handling. For higher volumes than one recorder can handle, be sure to investigate CD-ROM service bureaus as an alternative to doing it yourself.
There have been incompatibilities between some combinations of medium (blank disc) brand, CD-R unit and CD-ROM reader, such that not all discs recorded by a given CD-R writer could be guaranteed to be readable on all CD-ROM drives. This situation seems to be improving. All CD-R media seem to be manufactured by one of the following companies: Kodak, Mitsui (MTC), TDK, Ricoh, Taiyo Yuden or Verbatim, no matter what the label says. The best way to avoid trouble is to use media approved by the drive manufacturer and certified for the speed of your CD-R drive. Faster (4x, 6x) drives appear to need media specifically designed to be compatible with them.
If it is not already on your desk, CD-recordable is at least in your future. Despite inadequate support by operating systems, the complexities of premastering software and the mixed blessings of a write-once medium, CD-R technology does appear to be emerging as the "laser printer" of publishing for electronic media and an important storage technology for print publishers. We hope our suggestions will help make your purchasing decisions less daunting.
-----------Bernard Banet
Many CD-R packages bundle proprietary premastering software with the CD-R drive. Increasingly, hardware vendors are bundling well-known software, rather than developing their own. The following are some of the better-known premastering software programs.
----------------------------For Windows
Company Product Price
CD-ROM Strategies CD-Gen $250
CeQuadrat WinOnCD ToGo $199
WinOnCD $1,200
Corel CD Creator $249
Creative Digital Research CD Publisher $495
Dataware CD Record Lite $495
CD Record $995
Elektroson GEAR $199
GEAR Multimedia $499
Incat Systems Easy-CD Pro $595
Kodak MultiWrite $1,000
Moniker Spira $249
Optical Media Int'l QuickTopix $195
OptImage CD-It All $995
Young Minds SimpliCD $285
--------------------------For Novell
Company Product Price
Celerity Virtual CD Writer $1,995
Meridian Netscribe 3000 $3,595
Young Minds Auto CD-R software $2,995
w/server $9,500
full bun. $47,900
----------------------------For Macintosh
Company Product Price
Astarte Toast CD-ROM Pro $699
CeQuadrat Vulkan 1.4 $199
Creative Digital Research CD Publisher last quarter
Dataware CD Record $995
Elektroson GEAR $199
GEAR Multimedia $499
Incat Systems Easy CD Pro $395
Optical Media Int'l QuickTopix $395
OptImage CD-It All $795
----------------------------For Unix
Company Product Price (starting)
Creative Digital Research CD Publisher Sun, $1,495
Dataware CD Record $995
Elektroson GEAR for Unix $1,695
GEAR Multimedia $2,695
Jodian Systems CD-Write $1,500
Kodak MultiWrite Sun, $1,495
Meridian NetScribe 3000 $3,595
Young Minds CD Studio $9,995
-----------------------------For Amiga
Company Product Price
Asimware MasterISO $550
-------------------------------------------------------------------