1 – Introduction—Finalizing
10 TASCAM CD-RW402 Owner’s Manual

Additional notes with regard to CD-R and CD-RW discs

There are additional precautions that you should take
when handling CD-R and CD-RW discs, that are dif-
ferent to those that you should take when handling
ordinary CDs.
•Avoid touching the recording (non-label) side of a
disc on which you will be recording. Recording on
a disc requires a cleaner surface than playing back,
and fingerprints, grease, etc. can cause errors in the
recording process.
•CD-R discs are more sensitive to the effects of heat
and ultraviolet rays than ordinary CDs. It is impor-
tant that they are not stored in a location where
direct sunlight will fall on them, and which is away
from sources of heat such as radiators or heat-gen-
erating electrical devices.
•Always store CD-R discs in their “jewel cases” to
avoid dirt and dust accumulating on their surfaces.
•Do not put labels or protective sheets on the discs
and do not use any protective coating s pray.
•When labeling CD-R discs, always use a soft oil-
based felt-tipped pen to write the information.
Never use a ball-point or hard-tipped pen, as this
may cause damage to the recorded side.
•Dirty discs may be cleaned using a soft dry cloth
and/or a commercial CD cleaning fluid or ethyl
alcohol. Do not use thinner, gasoline, benzene or
LP cleaning fluid, as these will damage the disc.
•If you are in any doubt as to the care and handling
of a CD-R disc, read the precautions supplied with
the disc, or contact the disc manufacturer directly.

Never use a stabilizer or printable discs

Using commercially available CD stabilizers or
printable recordable discs with th is player will dam-
age the mechanism and cause it to malfunction.

Finalizing

Although audio data may be written on a CD-R or
CD-RW disc, a standard CD player will not be able
to read the data (i.e. play back the audio) until a final
table of contents (TOC) has been written at the start
of the disc.
The process of writing this table of contents is known
as “finalizing”. Once this has been done, no further
data can be written to the disk. See “Finalizing” on
page 40 for details.
In the case of a CD-RW disc which has been final-
ized, the whole of the disc may be erased, or the disc
may be “refreshed”, and the disc re-used.
In addition, a CD-RW disc that has been finalized
may be “unfinalized”, i.e. the TOC is removed. This
allows further tracks to be recorded to t he disc, pro-
vided that there is space on the disc.

“Recordable” discs

In this manual, we use the term “recordable” disc to
describe a CD-R or CD-RW disc that has not been
finalized, i.e. further recording is possible on the
disc.

“Readable” discs

A “readable disc is one which can be read by the unit.
In the case of drive 2, this is all discs, finali zed or
unfinalized.
However, drive 1 cannot read unfinalized discs
(whether CD-R or CD-RW). It can also play back
finalized CD-RW discs.