# Burning a Multisession Disk



## dlwillie (Oct 6, 1999)

We use Nero to burn disks. We have no problem burning a whole disk, but we have songs saved to our music folder and would like to burn some of them now and some of them later. We haven't had any success and the Help with Nero hasn't helped us. Any suggestions what we are doing wrong?


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## Bryan (Jul 3, 1999)

You need to save the "compilation" and name it what ever you'd like. It saves it as a .nra type file. I created a new folder and called it NeroSaves to keep them in one place. Then when you want to add to it, re-open the .nra and add to it. Basically the most important part to remember is at the end of a burn click on File>Save and save it to be reopened and added to later. You'll see an "Open" button in the lower right corner when you first open Nero and the wizard appears to reopen it.

For example, I have two CD drives and this is how I would do it. Insert the music CD in the regular CD Rom drive and insert a new writable CD in the burner. Start Nero. The wizard should appear. Click on AudioCD in the left pane. Then click on the New. Click on the drive to copy from in the right pane. Drag/drop the .cda's from the right pane into the left pane. Now click on the "StartBurn" icon. Once the burn is done click on File>Save and save it as a .nra file. When you want to add to it later, click on AudioCD>Open and reopen the session and add to the CD.

[This message has been edited by bhesson (edited 07-04-2000).]


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## marcg (Jun 12, 2001)

I had the same prob and figured out what should ultimately be done. The programmers really need work on a way for you to be able to easily add to a "non-finalized" cd so that all you have to do is put the nonfinalized cd into the drive, and the software sees that its a nonfinalized cd and then automatically can start writing whatever you are trying to add. That seems to make too much sense I spose. lol


marcg


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## slipe (Jun 27, 2000)

There is a simple limitation you cant get around. With multi-session for a data CD you close the session and write the lead in for the next session  it cant be added later so the software has to know you are recording multi-session. You can add as many sessions as you like and the computer will read them all.

You can do the same thing with audio but an entertainment player will see only the first session. Until you close either the session or the disc an entertainment player cant play it at all. You might just as well close the disc for an audio CD as close the session because your players arent going to see any sessions you add anyway. The limitation is in the players and not in the burner or software. You are probably recording your multi-session audio CDs OK, but most players will see only the first session.


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## marcg (Jun 12, 2001)

Hmm, I know some of what youre sayin I think, lol. What I mean is, is that I didnt save the compilation that I had recorded this one time a while back, but I also didnt finalize the cd. So I thought what that meant was I could easily add more songs to the disk just by poppin it in the drive and dragging and dropping more songs to be burned later. Instead what I got was, Nero telling me that the disk wasnt empty and that I needed to load an empty disk and try again. What I was suggesting was that Nero needs to be able to some how figure out that its a cd that hasnt been closed and be able to add the songs where it can without needing a previous compilation. Maybe there is something that I'm not understanding about this, but I just figured in this world technological know how, this wasnt a big deal to be able to do. Like I said, maybe I'm missing something. So my next question is this, is there a way to be able to add to this cd that I didnt save the compilation to? Or am I stuck with a cd that only has 3 songs on it? Thanx

marcg


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## slipe (Jun 27, 2000)

For an AUDIO CD you can set Nero Up for multi-session and close the session after 3 songs and then add more sessions. The housekeeping for each session is about 15Mb, so there would be plenty room to add more songs. If you do that your stereo, boombox, car CD player etc will see only the first session and play only 3 songs no matter how many you add. You can play the entire CD only on the computer. If you dont close the session after the 3 songs you cant play it anywhere until you close it.

The limitation has nothing to do with Nero but with your entertainment players. Nero will do exactly what you tell it to do. If you dont specifically tell Nero you are recording multi-session when you record the first session you cant add more sessions regardless of whether you close the CD. Nero has to write the lead in for the next session when it closes a session. You evidently just closed the session but not the CD without selecting multi-session, and Nero cant add more. It wouldnt do you any good anyway unless you are writing the audio CD only for the computer.

Prassi based software assumes you will use multi-session whenever you record DATA. I personally think it is stupid that Nero does otherwise as there is no reason to record data other than multi-session. Even if you are filling the CD, closing the session works as well as closing the CD for data. And there is nothing to screw up or check with Prassi based software recording data. No software will default to multi-session for audio CDs as it is an illogical way to record audio. I would guess there is no way for you to add songs to your CD.


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## marcg (Jun 12, 2001)

Thanx, hmm, I guess I just didnt understand the dynamics of recording audio tracks to the cd. When I saw the checkbox next to "Finalize CD (no further writing possible)", I assumed that if you "unchecked" the box, that meant that there "would" be further writing possible, but it doesnt seem like thats the case. I guess they just put that there to confuse the heck out of you, lol.

Ok, I just went back and read your post again and noticed something I didnt notice before. When you say "close" the session, do you mean "finalize" the cd? Just to make it clear, thats what I was referring to when I said "close" before, I was referring to "finalizing" the cd. And if that _is_ what you mean, I was able to play the 3 songs no problem on my car cd player even after I didnt finalize the cd.

marcg


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## slipe (Jun 27, 2000)

If you read both of my posts and still think closing a session is the same as closing or finalizing a CD then I would be wasting my time to blather on. Perhaps someone elses explanation will help:

Multi-session:
This used to be a major selling point in the early days of CD-R drives but now virtually every drive supports it. It's simply the ability of a drive to write to a CD in more than one session, giving you the ability to add data to it over a period of time rather than all in one go. It was first used with Photo CDs - remember the ads urging you to take your family snaps down to the chemist to get them put on a CD? Then you could send then to your granny in Australia who, of course, could read them on her state-of-the-art PC. Multi-session used to be an issue, because when a CD drive looks at a CD, it only sees the last session which was written to it and the file directory or TOC (Table Of Contents) only points to the files in that session. Most CD writing software, however, allows you to link earlier sessions to the one which is currently being recorded, so its file directory can point to earlier files. You need a multi-session drive to read multi-session CDs. That's all CD-ROM drives (and most have been multi-session-compatible for a few years) but standard audio CD players only look at the first session on a CD and hence cannot read multi-session discs.
Open and closed discs
When a CD is full or if you do not want to write any more data to it, you must 'close' or 'finalise' the disc. This prevents any more sessions being written to it and allows a standard CD-ROM drive or audio player to read the disc (the restrictions about a player reading multi-session audio CDs still apply, of course). CD writing software will ask if you want to close a disc, so it's not a special process you have to instigate. To get a wee bit more technical, just so you understand what's going on underneath the hood, a typical CD-R consists of a lead-in section which contains the TOC, the data area where program data or audio tracks are stored, and the lead-out which doesn't have anything of interest in it. On an open disc - that is, one which has not been closed - the lead-in and lead-out have not yet been written. If you leave a session open (you can have open sessions as well as open discs), the TOC is written into an area of the disc called the PMA (Program Memory Area). In spite of its name it is a physical part of the CD, not an area of RAM. A CD-R drive knows where the PMA is and so can read it. Standard CD drives and audio players cannot access the PMA and won't be able to see any data or audio tracks. When the session is closed, the contents of the PMA are written to the TOC so the drives can read them. When you write a multi-session disc the software includes a link from the lead in (TOC) of the current session to the lead in of the next session. Multi-session CD-ROM drives can follow the links to find any of the files on the CD. Standard players don't know about linked lead ins and can only find the data in the first session.
http://www.computermusic.co.uk/tutorial/cds/cdmain.asp

This is also good: http://www.cdrfaq.org/faq.html


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## marcg (Jun 12, 2001)

Hey, its cool. I get the impression you are tired of answering my posts. No big deal, seriously, I am not trying to irritate anyone. I notice most of the time things are lost in the translation of posts. In person, the tone would make the music as to what I'm actually trying to say. So anyhow, thanx for all your input, I appreciate it.



marcg


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