Yes, Nero conforms to redbook standards.

You can go out to 79:55 now and the dup. plant can handle it.

Check your head and tails out with a magnifying glass, make them perfect before burning.

Make certain that "finalize CD" is checked.

I have no experience with the software you're using to burn your disc so you probably want to stick to Bill's advice for that. But I can tell you that just making the disc to red book standard does not guarantee that the manufacturing plant will not reject your disc. The big thing the manufacturing plant will look at is BLER or block error rate. That has more to do with what kind of burner and what kind of disc you are using to make your production master. You will probably be fine, but you may want to ask your sales rep at the plant to send you a copy of the report they generate when testing, so you will know for your own peace of mind what kind of BLER rates you are experiencing with your current burner and disc combination. This may be more important to you if at some point you are regularly turning out production masters for clients.

You may want to check out this link. The info is a few years old but will give you a better idea of the potential quality differences experienced with different burner / disc combinations. This is a CDR test done by Glenn Meadows that was published in AudioMedia magazine. http://oneb.solodev.com/index/pmodule_id=11/pmdmode=fullscreen/pageadder_page_id=76

Lyle,
It's not even as easy as that! There are other potential problems that we see here as a replication facility on CD-Rs that are submitted as "Masters for Replication" from our clients.

E-32 errors are physical defects in the burned disc that are invisable to the naked eye. They will cause rejection of the master. Sometimes they may cause an audible noise in disc playback. You canprevent these by making sure that the burner you use matches the blank discs in terms of laser burn temperature. Some burners run too hot for some discs & make micrscopic holes in the burned discs.

CU errors cause the player to use the correction circuitry to ensure that the playback does not have any pops or clicks. It is uncorrectable data.

Do not send CD-RW discs to be replicated (CD Re- Writables).These may cause C-1 errors. These errors identify the disc either as a Re-Writable or a CD-R. If you send a CD-RW it can cause playability problems. CD-R discs do not have the C-1 point & are OK to replicate from. If you use a CD-RW, transfer the program to a standard CD-R before sending off to the plant.

There are other potential problems that we see dealing with ATIME & Table of Contents disagreeing. This error occurs on some CD-Rs when the writer software is not properly debugged. In this instance the table of contents which tells the player where each track is, does not agree with the subcode which is supposed to have exactly the same data. If they disagree, the CD player may clip off the top of a track at the track marker.

There are ways to avoid having your disc bounced back to you by the plant. Find out from the burner manufacturer what kind (gold, blue, green) or what brand of discs are designed to work best with that model burner. Some definately work better than others & not all CD-Rs are the same. Look at all the track start markers & make sure they are precisely placed. Burn a sample disc & test it out on old & new CD players. Different drives have different lead-in times relative to track starts.

Be very careful to submit a clean, unscratched master to your plant. I am amaized at the number of discs that come in as masters all sctatched up.
Keep a back up copy!!

Ask the plant what format is best for submission. Some plants prefer Exabyte to CD-R.

You know, now that I think of it, it's pretty amaizing that CD-Rs work at all....

Bring your disc to a mastering studio before submitting, just for a quick evaluation. It might open your eyes as to what they can do both in artistic & replicating-ready terms. I know everyone has a budget, but I think that last step check up is a good investment.

Good luck,
Don