I have edited the original 80 minute recording to 75 mins long, but it still shows the original file size in “properties” and I can’t burn the CD. Do I have to re-record all over again to keep the time within 80 minutes?
Ignore the filesize completely. It’s irrelevant. Your Audio CD Authoring Program will format the sound in minutes – only. We call the limit 78 minutes. Some software can hit 79, but nobody can do 80.
I had a “magic event” recently when my clearly correct music would not fit on an Audio CD. Would. Not. Turns out I had two musical events selected by accident instead of one. I was trying to jam 150 minutes of music on a 78 minute CD.
People assume if they compress the heck out of their music in MP3, they can get a lot more on. Nope. The system gets to 78 minutes and stops dead – plus you have added MP3 sound damage to your show.
Make sure you are trying to make an Audio CD. Look for the settings that allow you to change the gap between songs. Only Music CD has that setting.
You can put billions of hours of MP3 audio on a DATA CD. That does work, but those will not play in your mum’s music CD player.
Koz
One more. Include the silences you put into the show as part of the time limit. Don’t just add up the song durations.
Koz
Thanks, Kozi, but I still don’t understand why my recording, re-sized to 75 minutes on the project, doesn’t get burned to an 80 minute audio cdrw. The Windows cd burning tool shows “disc filled”, yet in “properties” it shows as empty.
What is this “Windows cd burning tool” that you are using? If it is “Windows Media Player” then that could be the problem/ Windows Media Player is not good for burning audio CDs, it frequently does weird things. “Nero” (non-free commercial) and CDBurnerXP (free) are popular CD burning programs. There are many others.
Invest in at least one or two CD-R disks. That’s the type recommended for Audio CD applications. Sometimes CD-RW can be used but the process isn’t optimal and sometimes it just doesn’t work.
Koz
I am trying with Windows media player and will try your suggested alternative and report back, thanks
Try it with CD-R. You’re doing two wonky things. Windows Media is not a great gift to authoring and you’re using CD-RW which may also create problems. Together they may never work.
Koz
Thanks, will do, and let you know.
We call the limit 78 minutes. Some software can hit 79, but nobody can do 80.
What kind of Mickey Mouse software/media are you using? 
And, umm, no… not “nobody” can do 80. I can. Or rather, my mega-awesome burning software can. I (it) can burn an 80-minute CDR to capacity and even overburn an extra minute or two if necessary, without any playback issues (skipping, etc). I even use 90-minute discs if 81-82 mins is not enough. 
Only the 99-minute discs exhibited some limitations, but I think it’s mostly due to the quality of those discs, since 99/100-min discs are pretty rare, and admittedly pushing the envelope.
Maybe it’s the dumbing-down of all the modern technology lately y’all are using that limits you to 79 mins? You poor souls. 
That Romper Room level crap is useless for people with specific needs and customization preferences (i.e. professional standards). Modern tech is for conformist sheep. 
If you are using a CDRW, is it possible some data was written to it, but NOT FINALIZED… That could be preventing your 75 min programme form fitting on an 80 min capacity disc and why it is being read as blank/empty despite not accepting your proposed programme.
I would run that CDRW through an “erase all data” process, just to rule out a full/partially-full disc. Maybe [*]you didn’t put any data on it, maybe no one did, but something is causing a problem. Can’t hurt to clear a disc you plan to record fresh onto anyway. (If you’re using regular CDRs, try a different disc - I have known brand new discs to yield the odd lemon that is better suited as a coaster).
But failing/barring that as the problem, I would have to say it’s possibly due to whatever modern/trendy dumbed-down software you’re using - it probably has some default setting to limit recording to the old standard of 74 minutes (which is odd considering 80 mins has been the standard for years). See if you can modify any settings within the software to recognize and record 80 minutes. After that, check your optical drive’s settings and make sure it can recognize blanks over 74 mins. If not, then if only to establish some kind of benchmark, try editing your program down another minute to fit the 74-minute limit as a test to see if the disc/software accepts it.
So there’s your troubleshooting checklist :
- formally erase the CDRW (even if it’s brand new)
- check your software’s settings for any disc capacity limits
- check burner drive settings
- edit your programme to fit within 74 mins
After that, if none of these things resolve the issue, I’d recommend finding a better burning software and/or trying different media (another brand or something). There were lots of good burning software options that are much more user-friendly, though many have disappeared because of that stupid MP3 indoctrinating all the conformist sheep away from using CD media.
Good luck getting it sorted out.
The “Red Book Standard” (IEC 60908, second edition 1999-02) specifies the physical parameters and properties of audio CDs. The standard specifies a running time up to 74 minutes. However, it is possible to cram a bit more onto an audio CD and still be within Red Book tolerances for track density. At maximum Red Book track density, the running time is about 79:57.
So yes, it may be possible to cram more than 74 minutes onto an audio CD, but no-one can create a standard 80+ minute audio CD.
(Ref: https://webstore.iec.ch/publication/3885)