CD technology has certainly matured. I remember getting my first CD player for my car (my beloved 1984 Camaro Berlinetta) back in Kingston NY. The affair started in a common manner for computer electronics these days: the cassette player/FM in the Camaro stopped working and it was out of warranty. The Camaro has a very exclusive radio - it stood upright from the center console (like a book) and swiveled so the driver or passenger could operate it. The cost of either fixing or replacing it was prohibitive (I thought).
I went to the local independent car stereo dealer, and was introduced to the first car CD player I had ever seen. Now, at that time, I didn't have any CDs or a home CD player. But I saw the trend coming and bought into it early. The dealer made a "stack" of an FM/tape player, equalizer, and CD player and put a 140-watt amplifier in the back. For its day, awesome!
What is interesting is that I realized that once I started buying CDs, I would have to buy a home CD player also, which led to buying a portable CD player to take on trips or when jogging, etc. It certainly ended up costing my far more than repairing the original radio, but such is the price of progress!
These days, CDs are the exclusive choice for music, and now also for computer data. Writing CDs is easy. But, as with most things these days, it can be somewhat technically challenging.
Here is a quick primer on CD writing.
First, buy a CD writer (CD-RW) for your computer. You can get external writers (usually using the USB interface - stay away from parallel port attached units) but they are somewhat expensive and slow. If you have an open drive bay in your computer and are not concerned about opening the case, internal writers are fairly easy to install. They usually come with CD writing software. Almost all drives are the same these days, in terms of capabilities. They differ only by writing speed. Look for the best deal - fastest is not always the best deal, especially depending on what CD blanks you use (more on this later).
Next, you need to understand the two different types of CDs. There are CDs that can only be written once (CD-R) and those that can be re-written (CD-RW). The same CD writer will handle either depending on what CD medium you put in the drive. Now, it may seem that CD-RW would be the better buy, but it is actually not. Blank CD-Rs are so very cheap that it is worth it to buy them and just throw them away when done. You can get 50 for $15 anywhere. CD-RWs are much more expensive, are not always compatible with older car CD players, and you have to go through the process of erasing them when you want to reuse them. I would buy some CD-RWs for when you might need a re-writeable, but do most of your work on CD-R.
CD writers can write at different speeds. This is usually represented as something-X. A 4X CD is written twice as fast as a 2X. CD-R blank disks are rated for speed, but this is not checked by the drive. CD-RW disks, however, are checked and can only be written at the rated speed or less. Sometimes, it is not best to write at the fastest speed - I have found older car CD players that can read CDs recorded at 2X but not 4X. Experiment for your individual needs.
How you actually write the CD depends on your software. You can usually copy a CD very easily; most software provides a quick path to do that. But much better than that is making your own mixes. Choose the songs you want, usually by putting the original CDs in the player one at a time and selecting (usually drag-and-drop) the tracks to the target CD image.
A third way is to write existing MP3 files on your hard drive. Most CD writing software these days allows you to directly import an MP3 file to your new CD image; some require you to first convert the MP3 files to a WAV file (standard MS Windows audio file) - there are lots of conversion programs out there on the 'net.
Making your own audio CDs is fun and having your own compilations of songs eliminates a lot of the trash cuts you get when you buy a commercial album.
Now for the obligatory legal notice. Copying of copyrighted material is illegal. You can (I believe) copy tracks from CDs to make your own compilations if you a) own the original CD and b) it is for your personal use only. You can copy music you downloaded off the 'net, but be sure it is unencumbered by copyright restrictions. If you have any questions, consult a higher authority!
Be aware: newer commercial CDs are coming out that have built in copy protection and won't let you copy tracks.
(Bob Seidel is a local computer consultant in the Southport / Oak Island area. You can visit his website at www.bobseidel.com or e-mail him at bsc@bobseidel.com).