# Need opinions about Duplicating CD's



## Alrojoca (Oct 5, 2012)

Currently, use a Philips first generation CD duplicator, it only takes CD music CD's not data CD's. Pretty soon the Music CD's may be obsolete as it is very hard to find as it is. It is like 22 years old. According to Philips and some magazine that reviewed the unit, I get a 100% digital copy from the original. Copy of a Copy will never be digital the manual says also. 

Every time I do this I need to program all the the tracks and duplicate at normal speed, this is the only way to get the title, artist and track names to display on Itunes, if I do a 2X it will copy the music but not display the names most of the time. Then 2 minutes to finalize the copy


I know there are many audio programs some free some cost money, but I have no clue of what is good or give me the best sound quality or match the original, on line info can not be accurate, that is why I am posting here. 

What other options are there that may give me the same result I am getting hopefully in less time


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## Alrojoca (Oct 5, 2012)

Bump! or should I load up on Audio Cd's or move this thread to the General audio or off topic section?


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## minbari (Mar 3, 2011)

Alrojoca said:


> Currently, use a Philips first generation CD duplicator, it only takes CD music CD's not data CD's. Pretty soon the Music CD's may be obsolete as it is very hard to find as it is. It is like 22 years old. According to Philips and some magazine that reviewed the unit, I get a 100% digital copy from the original. *Copy of a Copy will never be digital the manual says also. *
> 
> Every time I do this I need to program all the the tracks and duplicate at normal speed, this is the only way to get the title, artist and track names to display on Itunes, if I do a 2X it will copy the music but not display the names most of the time. Then 2 minutes to finalize the copy
> 
> ...


Then what is it? a CD is digital, end of story.


I would suggest to use a computer to copy it, but you would have to use a software that lets you get around the copy protection that alot of CDs have.

Are you looking to copy the CDs for archiving purposes? If that is the case, then why not copy into a lossless format?


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## fcarpio (Apr 29, 2008)

Let me put it to you this way, a bit is a bit. Digital is only ones and zeroes or any other representation of the on and off states. If you make a raw digital copy you are making a clone of the original, as long as it has the same ones and zeroes in the same place. So a copy of a copy of a copy..., it still will be a clone. You can take the digital file of a song and copy it to an SD card or USB drive, it is still the same thing and it should have the same resolution (notice I did not say quality). The only differences you may hear from different mediums is how the digital file gets decoded to analog.

Off course there is a lot more to it, but I hope you get the idea.


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## minbari (Mar 3, 2011)

fcarpio said:


> Let me put it to you this way, a bit is a bit. Digital is only ones and zeroes or any other representation of the on and off states. If you make a raw digital copy you are making a clone of the original, as long as it has the same ones and zeroes in the same place. So a copy of a copy of a copy..., it still will be a clone. You can take the digital file of a song and copy it to an SD card or USB drive, it is still the same thing and it should have the same resolution (notice I did not say quality). *The only differences you may hear from different mediums is how the digital file gets decoded to analog.*
> 
> Off course there is a lot more to it, but I hope you get the idea.


Only if it is on different devices. 

If you have a file on a CD, USB stick, over a network and harddrive and play that file all on the same HU/computer/whatever. it will sound identical. It has to, its the same file being converted with the same hardware.

you are right about the copy of a copy of a copy, though. it digital, if the copy is not bit for bit the same, then the file is not the same and the checksum will not be the same. If you have a CD burner that cant burn a copy the same everytime, then you shouldnt be using it, lol.


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## fcarpio (Apr 29, 2008)

minbari said:


> Only if it is on different devices.


Off course.


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## Alrojoca (Oct 5, 2012)

Thanks for the education gentlemen, What do you guys use to duplicate or copy CD's, and software recommendations? I am just trying to improve speed and retain original quality.


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## minbari (Mar 3, 2011)

NCH makes alot of great tools.


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## fcarpio (Apr 29, 2008)

Well, I use Linux. Plenty of choices there. Windows alone with no other software will allow you to extract and burn CDs, but it is a cumbersome process (look it up). I don't know much about windows software anymore, or mac for that matter. Sorry.


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## kappa546 (Apr 11, 2005)

Exact Audio Copy. It's excellent and free.


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## luisc202 (Oct 29, 2013)

minbari said:


> NCH makes alot of great tools.


I just use Windows 8 with media player. My old days I used to use NERO.


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## Alrojoca (Oct 5, 2012)

Interesting, I have a laptop with windows 8.

Not long ago I got a new cd, tried to duplicate it 2 times with my old philips duplicator if failed in the last track, and tracks did not display the names of the songs. I used Itunes and used lossless format to duplicatr it, the only issue with Itunes is having to move the files to a playlist before burning the CD and songs displayed on my HU when I played the CD. I will check that exact audio copy software. 

Like I said I am afraid those audio CD's will not be available at some point, and an manual says very clear that a copy of a copy will not be digital due to rights, therefore it will be an analog copy and only the first copy will be original but many original copies can be created from the original CD not from a copy.


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