Introduction

There are two companies online that I like a lot (love?) and will always patronize (as long as they stick to their formula); Amazon.com and Newegg.com. Put simply, the prices are great, I’ve never had an issue, what I order shows up fast, and, when I need it, the customer service is great (Newegg’s service is off-the-charts great). As such, I also give them respect on here and by word-of-mouth.

Someone clued me into the whole Amazon Affiliates program where you advertise books you like from Amazon on your site. Since I wanted SOME kind of monetization and I like to show my support for things I really like, it seemed like the perfect combination. I think, however, it requires a bit of explanation so you don’t think that those are just random books. I actually picked them out and read them myself and now I think you should do the same.

I’m a newbie so what’s in it for me?

So, let’s say you’re a bit web savvy and let’s say you’ve got a lot to say so let’s say you start yourself a little blog. You start off slowly, write a few posts, get some momentum and now you want to see what you can do about raking in the dough.You get to researching blog advertisements and, BAM, too much information.

I don’t think you can go wrong with the Amazon widget, to be honest. Pick books that match your content, pick books you support and why wouldn’t people click on the links? I think it’s honest, it’s up-front, you can support something you agree with, and their widgets look great.

I’ll report back when I’ve retired off of the revenue and tell you how to do the same.

So what’s so great about those books?

In the spirit of being honest, I thought I might put a little review on here of each to prove that I ACTUALLY own these books and ACTUALLY read them (well, you don’t so much read a CSS guide or an Illustrator book.. I did read the XHTML one though). Here’s why I like them (I’m posting these on Amazon as well)…

The Elements of Style (Illustrated) by Strunk, White, and Kalman

I wish I could remember who originally recommended the original Strunk & White Elements of Style to me. If I could remember, I would find them and hug them unabashedly.

If you’re writing ANYTHING and care AT ALL about how it turns out then do yourself a favor and pick this one up. The organization is very strange (there isn’t any to speak of) and the writing style is very direct. The result is a no-nonsense book that teaches you to cut the crap out of your writing.

There are many, many valuable lessons contained in Strunk’s short and useful guide but the best ones, for me, are the ones regarding comma usage and his favorite command, “Omit needless words.” During everything I’ve ever written since reading this book I’ve heard a disembodied voice telling me to remove words. I’ve noticed while editing other people’s work that the piece can be improved dramatically by deleting all the words that say nothing.

It’s a quick read but a necessary one for anyone doing any kind of writing.

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

As with “Elements…,” I’m not sure how I heard about this book. It was one of those odd series of events that ends with something in your mailbox. I read a few quick things about it online and suddenly decided that I must read the book. I’m glad I did because this was one of the most enjoyable books I’ve read in a long time.

Anne has a casual but polished writing style that you can’t help but to get lost in. She writes like a close friend speaks to you, eschewing ego and pretentiousness to deliver her simple, personal message. It started out a  bit slow but the stories she told were very entertaining. By the time I reached the middle of the book, I was totally hooked and found the last half hilarious and very informative.

This book is, in the end, a guide on how to be a writer, not a guide on how to write. What I mean by that is you won’t really develop your style or improve your sentence structure by reading this book. What you will do, however, is come to terms with a lot of the obstacles facing writers at every stage of their careers. Her humor and her honesty makes you feel really good about contributing, failing, hating yourself, and moving on.

Though I would definitely recommend this book to anyone writing their own book, I would recommend it even more to anyone living in this world and doing the best that they can. She talks a lot about failing and self-hatred and giving up and charging through. I found myself particularly centered after reading about her embarrassing reactions and consequent success over jealousy and writer’s block. I learned more about my life and myself than I did about writing. I don’t necessarily consider myself a writer but I explore my creativity in different ways and this book really speaks to all of them.

Pick this book up, read it, and feel better about just being yourself.

Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by Al Ries and Jack Trout.

Finally, a book with a history I can share.

This book was given to me by my dad, the king of business books and the fastest, most prolific reader I know. This guy blows through almost 1,000 pages a month on top of all the magazines, newspapers, and online sources he devours. Though our reading tastes aren’t completely aligned, when he recommends a book, I typically read it (or at least add it to The List in earnest).

This is the kind of book I don’t read. Though I find the advertising industry slightly interesting, I mostly hate it and wish it would go away (despite having a hand in it). This book, however, really cuts through the crap and explains positioning and branding in a way I’ve never heard before. In terms of marketing and branding, I pretty much live by the concepts in this book. Oh, and it’s about 30 years old. That’s how good this book is.

The  book shows you what successful companies have done to become that way and what other successful companies have done to screw it all up. With tons of examples and a very straight-forward writing style, this book will explain why certain products win and why others fail.

I read this book quickly and moved onto others by the same authors. They really know their stuff.

The Noonday Demon by Andrew Solomon

This is the best book I’ve ever read and likely will ever read. Period.

I have suffered off and on from depression throughout my life and this book, the first and only book I’ve ever read on the subject, did so much for my understanding about the condition. I’ve really never read a book that explained what I think and feel better than this.

First off, Andrew Solomon is an excellent writer. He gets a bit verbose at times but I found each sentence, regardless of it’s complexity, an adventure in and of itself. He paints such an incredible picture of the feelings and thoughts that accompany depression. Like anyone able to describe depression, Andrew has been through it and reading what he’s suffered from made me realize how lucky I have been with my own depression. Andrew has seen hell, been through hell, and came out enlightened.

Strangely, I always find this book difficult to describe adequately. His words were just so well chosen and the research so personal and interesting, I feel like it’s a book that needs to be experienced to be understood fully.

If you suffer from depression, clinical or occasional or undiagnosed or anything, I completely recommend reading this book from cover to cover. If you know someone who suffers from this condition and are struggling to understand what they’re going through, this book will go a long way towards helping you see what they see. I’ve really never had a book that explained something as well as this.

The Non-Designers Design & Type Books by Robin Williams

I wanted to write a quick blurb about this little book that has gone a long way towards teaching me proper design.

I’ve been dabbling seriously in graphic design for about a year now and find it one of the most frustrating things I’ve ever done and also one of the most satisfying. It’s very subjective, hard to describe, very time consuming, very sensitive, and totally maddening. When it works, it really works but when it doesn’t work, it shows you the highest level of frustration possible.

Robin explains all the basics very well which puts you in a position to begin to experiment. If you just stick yourself in front of Photoshop and try to bang out a business card or a menu or a technical document (which you really wouldn’t do in Photoshop), it’s probably not going to work out well unless you’ve had some experience. If, however, you read this little guide and try it, you’re going to have a few more ideas and at least understand the contrainst you’re working with in terms of color, alignment, etc.

This book is great for people without any experience in design who want to improve the way their documents, webpages, application screens, and printed material looks. You’re not going to win any contests with this knowledge (and neither are her examples) but what you produce will immediately look better. The writing style is a bit goofy but I use what I learned every day in everything I produce from graffiti to webpages to technical documents to resumes.

CSS: The Definitive Guide by Eric Meyer

A solid plot, well-formed characters, and an intriguing writing style make this… wait, what?

This is a boring, very useful book. I’ve read a lot about CSS on the web and nothing came close to the  explanation in this book. Instead of saying things like “we won’t bother you with the complex way this is calculated,” Meyer bothers you with the complexity. Each property I read made me really understand how it works and how it should be used.

I’ve been reading this bad-boy from cover to cover and I think I’m doing myself a bit of a disservice. I think I’m going to skip to the positioning section (everyone could use a better understanding of this mysterious and magical world), read that, maybe read a few other things I’m interested in mastering and then leave it as a reference. It makes a lot more sense to read the properties you don’t understand than trying to get through it all.

Learn (x)HTML and CSS online, then buy this book is you’re serious about getting into web page design.

Visual Quickstart Guide to HTML, XHTML, & CSS by Elizabeth Castro

I think I bought this book a bit late in my web design learning process but I still find a lot of use out of it. I use it as my general reference book and I’m constantly in the appendix and the chapter about forms.

Though I would recommend this book to people because I found it useful, I think there might be better books on the subject. I say this because it does not go into the level of detail you really need to master HTML. It does a great job explaining what it does but there are quite a few things left out or breezed over to keep the book and appropriate size. Also, combining HTML and CSS in the same book is probably a bad idea. The CSS book I reviewed above is bigger than this book and, ostensibly, covers 1/3 of the material.

If you want to learn enough about HTML to get by creating simple web pages or fixing your own, this is a great book for you. If, however, you want to really understand HTML and get into web development, I would suggest finding a book with a bit more content (probably something from O’Reilly [publishers of the CSS book above]).

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I read a blog post yesterday about saing money (there are a lot of them out there) and one of the sample questions I’m supposed to ask myself is ‘do I need internet access on my phone?’ In the spirit of saving money, I asked myself and here’s my answer.

- I always have something to read. Google Reader is my homepage and, as long as I stay away from the graphics heavy posts (like Design I Trust), I can breeze through a few of my feeds while waiting for class or eating lunch.

- My business email comes directly to my phone. The pros of this are mobility, quick response to clients, and the ease of being able to send an email to people I meet (so they have my address). The annoying part about this is that I have my emails sent to a Gmail account so I basically have an echo if I’m on the net (which is a good portion of the day, it seems).

- I’ve been able to get directions on the fly and find them on Google Maps. Part of this is frustration waiting for a page to load or not being able to find what I need (suring on this 250 by 500 window is frustrating). Still, I’ve gotten myself out of a few jams and for that, I’m glad.

- Some day, I’ll figure out how Evernote will work well for me. If you’ve never heard of it, got to evernote.com nd see what it’s all about. There is something to be said about a mobile repository…

- Streaming radio is actually pretty good quality as long as the 3G service is good. I’ve been able to get Shoutcast stations and play them with Windows Media player. I have a 1st gen nano for running but if I’m studying or want some music privay at work, it’s a good option. Word to the wise: streaming radio CAN be free so don’t pay for it unless you’ve searched around.

Message to anyone considering AT&T 3G or any unlimited mobile internet service:

If a budget is not an issue, do what you like. If you’re trying to keep expenditures down, though this is a write-off, it isn’t worth it unless you have an actual reason to get it (as in you’re missing email or need to be available for chat or need Gogle Maps).

To be honest, I use it less than I thought I would but I’ve become fairly reliant on it. I use it much more when I’m in school and have more downtime (between classes, etc). The speed is, for the most part, great and it’s quite rare to be without 3G service (the fast service).

In general, however, I’m always looking for ways to get more from the service. I want to manage contacts a bit better and I need a better, more universal to-do list with the ability to handle projects. It’s rare to have the time/wherewithall to research things like that thought.

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My first thought is that it would be nice to be able to watch movies at high wuality when I have a High-Def TV. My second thought is that we have all of our music on two different computers (and have a hard time backing it all up). Third, it would be great to be able to easily watch streaming Netflix movies without always having to hook up and plug in a laptop… same deal with streaming TV shows from the network sites. Fourth, it would be great to have a way to easily stream music and play it for the whole apartment. Clearly, we’re in DESPERATE need of a solution!

There are specific media boxes out there but I really want to build my own to my own specs. Here is my Newegg wish list for parts. I basically picked the lowest price with the highest rating that did what I wanted.

Case

SILVERSTONE SUGO SG02B-F Black ABS / SECC Steel MicroATX Desktop Computer Case

I already have a power supply so I looked for a MicroATX case that could hold full-size video cards. This one got fairly good ratings and was not too big. I was actually surprised that this one is on the low end of pricing. I thought these smaller cases would be cheaper but I was definitely wrong.

$69.99 (sale)

Motherboard

GIGABYTE GA-G31M-S2L LGA 775 Intel G31 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

Like the case, another great deal. Besides the microATX form factor (to fit in the smaller box), I was looking for one that would use DDR2 800mHz so I could use the RAM from my desktop. I’ve been considering more RAM in my main box and this was a good excuse to go for it.

$59.99

Processor

Intel Pentium E2180 Allendale 2.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80557E2180

Nothing special. I figure a dual 2.0GHz is probably a bit more than what I actually need it for but it’s only $10 increments for 0.2GHz of processing power. I’d rather shell out the extra couple bucks and have a potentially more usable computer.

$69.99

Video Card

EVGA 256-P2-N751-TR GeForce 8600 GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card

This is a tough one. The main computer upgrade people do, besides a new stick of RAM or two, is a vidoe card. As such there are A LOT of options and A LOT of configurations. I went with one of the cheaper ones but made sure it was highly rated. It’s easy to see the $25 video cards and want to cheap out but the ONLY thing I need it to do really well, play DVDs, might need some major playback power.  EVGA is a known brand and this got pretty high marks. There’s also a $30 rebate going on which is tempting…

$79.99

Hard drive

Western Digital Caviar Blue WD4000AAKS 400GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

I knew I needed over 250 gigabytes, SATA and 7200RPM were no-brainers, and Western Digital is my brand of choice. This one represented the best of everything and 400GB made it very attracted. This may end up being my secondary back-up for pictures, documents, and everything else.

$64.99

Add it up

Toss in the $80 for RAM for my desktop (4 GB from G. Skill) and we’re at $425. Not too bad for a fully-functional media machine that can probably hold its own with a few games of Battlefield 2142.

Stay tuned for a build (maybe).

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Why Lulu?

My review post tells a bit more about why I picked this route but, to sum it all up:

• Low cost to get an ISBN and listed on books-in-print
• Great support material
• Seemed simple and straight forward

There is something to be said about a company that just puts it all out there. Between all of their FAQs and their user community, it seemed hard to go wrong with them. The most important, however, was the price. My client didn’t have any intention of building a marketing campaign behind his book besides what he could conjure up himself. Consequently, extra services, add-ons, and packages were simply of no interest. Lulu is bare-bones: you get an ISBN and you get listed everywhere important. That’s all we wanted and, for $100, that’s what we got.

How does it work?

Lulu lists out all the steps in their help section and it really didn’t stray from that (so far).

1. Purchase Published by Lulu or Published by You service and receive an ISBN.
   “Published by Lulu” ISBN’s are assigned immediately.
   “Published by You” ISBN’s take up to 3 business days to be assigned. This is because extra information needs to be processed with the ISBN Agency.
2. Revise the book to contain the ISBN number in the copyright page and add a bar code to the back cover (for one-piece covers).
3. Purchase a proof copy of this newest version of the book.
4. After receiving and carefully reviewing the book, either:
   a. Approve the book on Lulu. Go to Step 6.
   b. Deny the book and make changes. Go to Step 5.
5. Make revisions and upload this new manuscript. Go back to Step 3.
6. The book is uploaded to the distribution center within:
   3-5 business days for “Published by Lulu” distribution
   2 to 3 weeks for “Published by You” distribution.
7. Printer reviews the book to ensure it is up to standards. This can take up to 2 weeks.
   Once accepted for printing, it can take another 6 to 8 weeks before the book is available through online retailers.
   If rejected for not meeting requirements, you will be notified via e-mail that the book must be revised. Go back to Step 2.
8. The book becomes available for listing with online booksellers.
9. Online booksellers like Amazon decide whether or not they would like to list the book. (In our experience, they almost always list it.
   Once a month, online booksellers update their databases with new books. When they update (if the booksellers choose to list your book), you will see the book listed as “currently available.” This can take 6-8 weeks.

How did it go?

Step 1: “Purchase Published by Lulu or Published by You service and receive an ISBN.”

Sure enough, walk through the straight-forward form they provide, buy the publishing option (we chose “published by Lulu”), and you’re published. Wait, what?

Here was one of the few minor problems I had with this process. You’re asked for a title and an author right off the bat. Make DAMN sure that this is the title and author you want to use. The ISBN is tied to the title of the book so if you put in a title now and want to change it later, you have to buy a new ISBN. This wasn’t terribly clear and, in the end, we wanted to change the title a bit but couldn’t for fear of messing up the ISBN tie. So, word to the wise, your book content, cover, and description can change over and over but the author and title cannot.

Speaking of which, this information was in the FAQ (it was not terribly clear that the title would be finalized as soon as your get an ISBN). READ THE FAQ. Which FAQ? EVERY FAQ, READ EVERY ONE THAT PERTAINS TO YOU. I probably would have made a million more mistakes if I didn’t read that thing over and over. Pretty much every question you could have is contained in there. Don’t skip over this just because you think you know what you’re doing.

After entering in your author and title, it asks you to pick the size, binding, and color. We chose 6″ x 9″ (an odd size but it worked out in the end), perfect binding, and black and white. It doesn’t seem like it on the site but perfect binding is your typical paperback binding.

Next you need to upload the file. That came fast. This is my second minor gripe with this service. Lulu calls books “projects” which, to me, says “work in progress.” Instead, “project” means the finished product (kinda). Keep in mind, you can make revisions to the cover and text as much as you want before everything is finalized. Still, for the project to be created, you have to have SOMETHING to upload – same goes for the cover. If your book/cover isn’t complete, upload anything and come back and revise the content.

At this point, I was a bit freaked out because everything was not finalized and I was scared that I might not be able to edit. So I read the FAQs and it said that I would be able to make revisions. I’ll talk about the formatting and layout later.

Upload your book file (text, no cover) and Lulu coverts it to a print-ready file. You can take a look at the file or just move on (I never looked at their version of the file, assuming it was the same as the PDF I uploaded [it was]). Next, they ask for your cover to be uploaded, then the pricing and description. At the end you get a submit button which, honestly, was a bit difficult to press. Keep in mind, this submit button locks in your author and title but not your content and cover. Press the button and you get a the fairly exhilarating message, “You’re published!”

The work has only just begun.

Step 2: “Revise the book to contain the ISBN number in the copyright page and add a bar code to the back cover (for one-piece covers).”

We chose the one-piece cover (you design it from scratch as one big piece) so that’s what I’ll talk about.

I did all the design and layout in Photoshop CS3. It worked great for me and that’s what I would use again for the same task. You also need access to Adobe Acrobat to make the PDF file. There are free PDF making programs but Acrobat has all the document control you need (quality, size, etc). If you have neither one of these tools but want a quality cover, contact me at josh@joshcanhelp.com and I’ll help you with design and PDF-creation (or just PDF-creation if you have an appropriate file).

What you need, in the end, is a very high-quality PDF file that conforms to their size requirements. I looked to their Book Covers FAQ for information and found what I needed. Here’s the deal:

• Find your size on the chart from the link above (ours, for reference, was 6×9)
• Use their spine width calculator to find how big your spine is based on the number of pages (you’ll need to know how many pages your final version will be – if you’re one or two off, it won’t make a big difference but if you can, be exact)
• Make your new document in Photoshop or whatever program you are using. Set your resolution to 300 or higher (I used 600 and it looked perfectly clean) and enter in the dimensions (height is listed on the site, width includes the spine. For our 6×9 with 120 pages it was 9.25″ [9" + bleed, as listed] by 12.52″ [6" x 2 + 0.27" spine + bleed]).
• First thing, set guides to indicate the spine (for our 6×9, the vertical guides were set at 6.125″ [back cover + 1/2 bleed] and 6.395″ [spine]).
• Go crazy! Remember that there will be about 0.125″ cut off from every edge. If you have a picture/pattern that goes to the edges, you’re going to lose a bit.
• Now, you’ll need to add a space for the barcode and, if you want, the product number from Lulu (just makes it easy for people to find). Here is the information on how/where to place the barcode and here is where you go to generate the barcode (product code is the ISBN, I did add the auxiliary barcode [value = 90000],  I left the color settings the same, I did include the “>,” I left the font as-is and downloaded it from here, and I left the rest the same]. The barcode comes in EPS format (standard vector graphic, readable by Photoshop and Illustrator) and must be placed in the space you left. All of this seems really scary at first but it all comes together if you follow the directions.
• Saving the file was bit difficult. Make sure that the final size is correct and the resolution is what you set in the beginning. I set everything to the highest quality settings (highest quality for JPEG, reduce images to 600 DPI) and in the simplest format possible (do not retain Photoshop editing capabilities, PDF 1.5 format). The final file was 5.3MB, for reference.

The cover was a bit unnerving because I don’t have tons of print experience and this wasn’t my book! Using the information above along with the FAQs, I ended up with exactly what I wanted printed in very high quality.

Step 3: “Purchase a proof copy of this newest version of the book.”

$10.36 for ours, not too bad. I was VERY pleased with the quality:

The cover print quality was immaculate and the inside looked great. The paper is off-white (so is the cover but it has a background color) and super-smooth. The pages are not very thick but nothing about it feels cheap; it’s the real-deal. Black print was perfect but gray, because the printing is true black & white (not monochrome but “black ink or no ink”), is not smooth (see the fourth pic above). The binding is high-quality and exactly what I wanted. I was completely satisfied with the print quality… to be honest, I was taken aback by it. When I gave it to my client, he was speechless for a minute or so (this is his first real, published book).

What I wasn’t pleased about (which is entirely my fault) was the page numbers. Here are a few things to keep in mind when you’re making your content:

• Use their templates. That will eliminate a lot of problems.
• Be careful with your page numbers. If you have a title page and an introduction and other pages before the content, you’re not going to want page numbers on them. I made a total of 6 different Word files: one for the title page, copyright info, and dedication, one for the foreword and intro, one for a second title page I wanted, one for the first half of the book, one for the second, and one for the last couple pages. I compiled them all together in Adobe Acrobat. Page numbers in Word can be difficult to work with so make sure everything looks good when you’re done.
• Remember that you’re laying out the book from the VERY FIRST PAGE after the cover to the VERY LAST PAGE before the back cover. Leave two blank pages in the beginning (one page front and back) and one blank page on the end if you want it to be widely available (distribution services require a certain layout).
• When you read through your final PDF manuscript, pay very close attention to which side the page number shows up on (if you choose the Word option to have them switch sides). The first page in the PDF will be the absolute first page in the book. Look at that page and say out loud “right.” The next page falls on the left so look at that one and say out loud “left.” Do this through the WHOLE MANUSCRIPT, paying attention to how the pages line up and which pages are grouped together. If it isn’t right, insert/delete a page. Make sure your title page is the third page (“right”) and the copyright page is the fourth (“left”).
• I used another published book to lay out my pages and to make sure my copyright page had the right information. This was very helpful.

Step 4: “After receiving and carefully reviewing the book, either: approve the book on Lulu or deny the book and make changes”

We made a total of 3 revisions (putting us on the 4th revision edition) before approving the book. Make sure everything is golden and that you followed all of the distribution rules before you approve the book. Approving the book just consists of pressing a button and reading another satisfying message:

Anything else to know?

I just approved the book before writing this article so there might be more to say about the publishing process. All-in-all, I’m very pleased with how this came out and I look forward to doing business with them in the future.

If you’re thinking about publishing on your own, as long as you’re somewhat computer/graphics savvy, I would recommend Lulu. If you’re not, you can always hire me to help out!

Stay tuned for my review of Blurb.com (spoiler: interesting but not as good) coming soon.

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Flash forward to last weekend and I stumbled into buying a new-to-me car. It has an MP3 capable head unit and I was excited to start using that feature again. Burned a Wu-Tang disc, brought it with me the next time I was going out, popped it into the player and… SAME PROBLEM. What the hell?

So I bought new/different CDs – same problem. Tried my other burner – same problem. Tried a different software – same problem. Tried a different disc style – same problem. Sometimes they would verify and sometimes they would error out but ALL the time they would not play properly. I was beginning to think that my music collection had gone bad except it played fine on the computer and on an iPod.

It was Google time, in a big way. Here are a few things I found out about burning a CD of any type. It turns out, the solution was easy. All I had to do was…

Turn down the burn speed

Just because your discs say they are capable of burning at a certain speed doesn’t mean they actually are. The Sony discs I bought were rated for up to 48x but, as soon as I turned the speed down to 24x, discs burned great and played just fine in the car. Try a speed much lower than the top speed, like 24x or 12x.

Thanks to Platinum GLS on VWVortex.com

Get rid of nested directories

You would think that a CD player would be able to figure out directories inside of directories but some just can’t. Some of that probably has to do with the fact that most CD players are linear, meaning that they only have forward and back controls, not up and down, so navigation might be a problem. If you are using folders, use them in the root directory only (meaning the “first level” of the file structure) and, just to be sure, if you are using directories, put all the songs in a directory (no songs in the root directory).

Yes

No

Rename long and/or oddly-named files

In addition to nested directories, some players also have problems with certain characters and file name lengths that border on infinite. Get rid of symbols and shorten the name a bit to make sure that your player can read and display the name. Some burning software will actually rename the file but that doesn’t always mean that your play can play them.

Yes

No

Update your driver firmware

Firmware is software that resides within hardware to instruct it how to function and how to run commands sent by your computer. If your burner is over a year old, there might be a firmware update to download and install. This sounds technical but it shouldn’t be that hard. Go to the website of the manufacturer of your burner and search for updates, find your model number, download and install.

Memory problems – not enough or going bad

It’s unlikely that the first problem you would encounter with bad memory on your computer would be burning a CD but stranger things have happened. Run a memory checker (like Memtest86+), just in case. It’s more likely that maybe you’re doing a little too much multi-tasking during your burn sessions. Surf the web, write a letter, or plan your next CD but leave your Photoshop, Crysis, and Maya3D applications closed. It is possible to overrun your burning buffer and affect the data that is written.

Finalize your CDs

MP3 players don’t like “multi-session” discs (when you can add data later) so make sure to finalize the CD. Every burn program should have this option available.

Defragment your hard drive

But you do that regularly anyways, right?

On an XP machine, go to Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter. Make sure to run it when you won’t be working on your computer, like overnight. I’d recommend doing this once per quarter or more frequently if you move files around a lot.

As a side-note, the disk defragmenter icon is probably one of my most favorite icons of all time. Yes, I have favorite icons.

Yes

Still not working? Here’s more options for you

Here is a great list of things to try from Acoustica.
Here is a whole site dedicated to helping you solve this little problem.

Hoped that helped!

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