Difference between "music" and "data" CD-Rs?

[Big Wheel]

I'm shopping for media tomorrow and there's a deal at Best Buy on "data" CD-Rs. The discs I'm going to buy will be used mainly for burning non-musical data. Is there a big difference between "music" and "data/computer" discs?

[rockefeller center]

Subject: [1-13] Do I need "music" blanks to record music?

(2002/10/12)

You only need "music" blanks if you have a "consumer" stand-alone audio CD recorder. If you have a recorder attached to your computer or a "professional" deck then the "music" blanks will work no better or worse than "data" blanks.

See section (7-17) for details.

Subject: [7-17] What's the difference between "data" and "music" blanks?

(2003/01/13)

"Consumer" stand-alone audio CD recorders require special blanks. See section (5-12) for details. There is no difference in quality or composition between "data" blanks and "music" blanks, except for a flag that indicates which one it is. It's likely that "music" blanks are optimized for recording at 1x, since anything you record "live" is by definition recorded at 1x (though some dual-drive systems allow track copying at higher speeds).

You don't have to use "music" blanks to record music on a computer or on a "professional" stand-alone audio CD recorder. Nothing will prevent you from doing so, but there's no advantage to it.

The "music" blanks are more expensive than the "data" blanks because a portion of the price goes to the music industry. The specifics vary from country to country. In the USA, the money goes to the RIAA, which distributes it to artists who have navigated through a complicated application process.

Some manufacturers have on occasion marked low-quality data discs as being "for music", on the assumption that small errors will go unnoticed. Make sure that, if you need the special blanks, you're getting the right thing.

(Technically, there are actually three kinds of blanks: type 1a for CD-ROM or professional audio recording, type 1b for special-purpose applications like PhotoCD, and type 2 for unrestricted use. "Music" blanks are type 2, "data" blanks are type 1a.)

Some disc manufacturers label "music" blanks as "universal use", since they will work on anything.

http://www.cdrfaq.org/

[Dan Gould]

My understanding is that data discs will not accept music files in CD format, so as long as you are only burning data files (and I imagine, even audio files in wav format) then data discs are fine. But if you have music to burn in CD format, you need music discs, not data discs.

[rockefeller center]

My understanding is that data discs will not accept music files in CD format, so as long as you are only burning data files (and I imagine, even audio files in wav format) then data discs are fine. But if you have music to burn in CD format, you need music discs, not data discs.

That's wrong.