Hi Everyone, I am new here!!!

First off, I've had my burner for 4 yrs, so it could be time for a new one. Up until a few months ago burning a cd was never a problem. I noticed how the first half of my cd's would play perfectly, then the songs started to get static and jumbled. At first I though my cd player was overheating in my car, but then realized the cd played like that in my home stereo, computer etc. I've used different software to burn, so I'm convinced it's not the software and that it must be the actual burner. I've even cleaned it to no avail. Do I simply need a new one? And why would it burn the first half smoothly and the last 10 songs crappy? Please help me. (I'm using XP and my burner is like 16x-it's an older one).

One reason why your cd burns ok in the beginning, but not at the end may be a heat issue.
The guides that hold the laser pickup in place are thin pieces of metal, and it may take them a little bit to heat up and not allign exactly straight.

Another possibility is that your spindle motor is failing. Since the rpm's of the cd are slower in the end it could be that your motor isn't spinning at the right speed to burn ratio causing the corrupted audio.

Have you tried burning at 12x or so? I have an old cd-r/w too, and it won't calibrate correctly at 16x with media that supports it. If I use it on 12x all is well.

All in all if you have narrowed it down to the drive it self, I would replace it since the price of a fairly good cd-r/w is fairly inexpensive nowadays. newegg dot com is a good place for puter parts imo

Thanks for the info. I will first try to burn at 12x. I have been burning at the slowest speed that past few months for some reason, I guess I thought slower would be better. I'm anxious to try to see if this resolves the problem. I'll let you know. Thanks again.

I tried 12x and it burns great up to about the 15th song now, so the last 3 or 4 start crackling. I'll try 16x.

I agree with atroph, slow the burn speed down!