My brother just got a computer and he is having a heck of a time...

HE says he is following directions but when he puts in the CD it tells him it has to be formatted, then asks if he wants to format it, he says yes, it does its thing, then it says it needs to be formatted again? What's up with that?

Also, anyone have a good site for downloading music to burn?

Thanks!

Does your brother use any type of CD-writing software? I believe Windows XP has the ability write to CDRs (and CDRWs) in itself, but I would not recommend doing that.

The software that I use (and recommend) is Nero. You can find it here:

http://download.com.com/3000-2140-10128080.html?tag=lst-0-1 (demo version available).

As far as I'm aware, it has least problems with different cd writers, cd's, etc.

It would be helpful if you would tell me what CDRW drive your brother has, what software he uses, and what CDRW's, so I can checkif there are any known problems with any of those items.

ok, got Richard on the phone right now.

HOw the heck do we find out what brand name his write is? lol... Neither of us have a clue abut these things... I have him checking his control panel in hopes we can fine something that makes sense there.

ok, here is the writer:
Philips CDD 4801 CDR/RW

the CDs are Memorex CDR recordable compact discs for computer CD writers.

And we can't find anything for argh!!!!!!!!! my toddler just came in and ran his car over teh keyboard and deleted half my message!!!!!!!!!!

;)

anyhow, we cant find a program to write the cds with, where would we look for that?

Thank you sooo much for helping:) I am sorry we are so scattered:)

So he tried writing to a CD without any CD-writing program? That won't work well, you can't just drag files to a writable CD like you would to a floppy (Windows XP can do that, but as I said earlier, I do not recommend it).

I suppose the cd-writer was included with the computer when he bought it. If so, the manufacturer should have enclosed some software - most popular is: Nero and EZ CD Creator. Look for those names. Some others to look for: Blindwrite, CloneCD, can't think of others right now :)

The CDRW drive that your brother has is a little older, and quite slow by today's standards. If he's using high-speed rated CDRs, they may not work well (it should be marked on a CD something like 2x, 8x, 12x, etc). The drive is rated as being able to write CD's at 8x speed, thus faster-rated CDRs may not work well (or may not work at all).

First thing that he could try is to download the Nero demo version, and try writing the CDRs with it - it's quite easy. Once the software starts, let hinm choose the CD_ROM (ISO) icon, on the "multisession" tab choose "no multisession", on the "burn" tab choose "write", "finalize the cd" and write speed "8x" (once he's familiar with what each setting does, he can change them, but for a test this should be ok). Then click "new" button. After doing this, he'll be presented with a screen divided in 2 sides: left side will be blank, right side will look something like windows explorer. To select files for writing, you have to drag them from right side to the left side. When done, choose "file->write CD", click "write", and it'll start :)

LMK if this helps any, or if there are any other problems.