Mods for Que 24x Firewire CDRW and IDE Plextor 24/10/40 CDRW Drives: (from the 11/7/2001 www.xlr8yourmac.com news page)
Several owners of recent Que 24x Firewire CDRW drives have noted no iTunes support (due to the fact some drives had Plextor 24x mechanisms instead of the Sanyo 24x drive Que sells as their IDE model.)
One of today's Drive Database entries notes the mods to support files (similar to previous mod files/info noted here in the last year) that enabled support for the drive. (Since it's modifying the Plextor support file - IDE Plextor 24/10/40 drives should also work.)
Que Firewire 24x in Dual G4 (OS X)
Comments:
"
QPS Que!Fire 24x10x40 with Plextor mech on a G4 500 DP. Drive works like a charm -- effortless, fast, beautiful burns and no coasters yet. Drive supports buffer underrun, but most do now.
Authoring Support had to be hacked. Here's the details:
For OS 9, use ResEdit with Forker to modify the data fork of:
/System Folder/Extensions/Authoring Support Files/PlextorCDR
[To download Forker, click here-Mike]
For OS X, I used HexEdit
(http://hexedit.sourceforge.net/) to modify:
/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/DiscRecording.framework/
Versions/A/Resources/DevicePlugIns/PlextorCDR.device-plugin
In either case, look for "PX-W1210A" and change to "PX-W2410A" (unless you have a 12x Plextor mech attached, in which case pick another entry).
[The original reader comments had a typo ("PW-W2410A") - only the numbers change so you only need to change the "12" to "24" in the ID string.-Mike]
Save the file... and you're done. As always, work off a backup, then copy the file to the location listed above. For OS X, use Terminal and sudo cp or su to root then copy.
Everything works beautifully at full 24x burns: In OS 9.2.1 -- Toast 5.0.2, Disc Burner, and iTunes 1 & 2. In OS X 10.1 -- Toast Preview 2, Disc Burner, iTunes 1 & 2. I'm using the Hypermedia 24x discs I got free with my order from Outpost.
(NOTE: for OS 9, I disabled the Disc Burner FireWire and USB authoring extensions in favor of the Toast extensions.)
Steve H
"
OS X/OS 9.1 iTunes Mods for Toshiba R1102 Combo DVD/CDRW Drive: [Update: My Toshiba R1102 Combo drive in my Dual G4/500 works with OS 9.2.1 and OS X 10.1 (iTunes and Discburner, etc.) without needing any mods. See my 9/27/2001 OS X 10.1 DVD/CDRW Features article for more info. The report below is from earlier this year in June with older versions of OS X.)]
(from the 6/15/2001 news page and Drive Compat. Database entries)
A reader sent an update on his experiences with the new Toshiba R1102 (8x8) Combo Drive:
"
Toshiba Combo SD-R1102 Addendum
OS 9.1
Revisiting the ToshibaCDR authoring support file yielded positive
results to get iTunes/Disc Burner working on this drive. I changed the
string from TOSHIBADVD-ROM SD-R2002 to TOSHIBADVD-ROM SD-R1102 and it
worked perfectly after the changes were saved.
So now everything works with Apple's stock CD/DVD driver except the
mounting of Audio CDs.
OS X
All normal CD operations were fine in OS X. Audio CD's mounted and
played correctly and I even got iTunes to burn some CDs.
My first attempt at editing the OS X support file for burning was
unsuccessful with BBEdit 4.1 (the latest version I have currently), so I
decided to use Tex-Edit Plus (a classic app)--this is just my preference
for editing unknown text files. These are somewhat of novice
instructions. I actually did the manipulating through the comand line. I
suppose emacs, vi, and others text editors will work just as well.
I was able to successfully burn an Audio CD. Here are the steps to take.
These are not strict guidelines. If you know an easier way with this
outline then by all means.... :
-You have to log in as root.
-Make sure iTunes is closed.
-Make a COPY and edit the ToshibaCDR.device-plugin file located in
"/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/DiscRecording.framework/
Versions/Current/Resources/DevicePlugIns/"
-change the string, "TOSHIBADVD-ROM SD-R2002",
to string "TOSHIBADVD-ROM SD-R1102" (no quotes)
-save it as a generic file. In Tex-Edit Plus, I did a Save As and
selected Other as the file type and cleared the TYPE code.
-Put the edited ToshibaCDR.device-plugin file back into the
"/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/DiscRecording.framework/
Versions/Current/Resources/DevicePlugIns/" directory.
-Launch Itunes and enter the Preferences CMD-Y and click on the Advanced
tab and watch your burner come alive in OS X!
Ddukes"
Itunes Support File Mods for Ricoh MP7120A, Notes on Firmware Update:(From the 5/7/2001 www.xlr8yourmac.com front page news)
A reader sent a note about iTunes support file mods to add support for the Ricoh MP7120A, as well as a tip on a firmware update for the drive (that requires a PC to flash unfortunately).
"hi mike,
after reading about the plextor hack on the news section, I decided to try
it on the Classic version of iTunes with my Ricoh MP7120A (12x10x32) in a
SkyMaster Firewire casing. I opened the RicohCDR authoring support files; I
seem to have 2 lying around, and replaced the text string 'RW8040A' with
'MP7120A'.
Restarted with Authoring Support 1.1 extensions on and Toast 5 ones off, it
worked great. iTunes recognised it with no probs, so did Disc Burner...
burns with CDs were okay. Erasing CD-RWs seemed to take a fairly long time
though and the old prob of a blank CD not mounting on the desktop still
occurs after erasing to indicate that there's an empty CD-RW inserted.
This hack does not seem to work with iTunes X. The application unexpectedly
quits when I try to start a burn or detect it in the prefs.
On another issue with my Ricoh drive, I had this ongoing issue of not being
able to burn VCDs in Toast 5.0.1 with it for a while but the latest firmware
upgrade v1.3 seemed to have corrected the prob! :) the firmware can be
downloaded from Ricoh's website but requires a PC as they do not have
firmware flashers written for the Mac...
www.ricoh.co.jp/cd-r/cgi/e-/version.html
greg ^_^"
iTunes Helper Feedback from VeloCD Firewire Drive Owner: (from the 4/23/2001 www.xlr8yourmac.com news page)
Last week I posted a note on iTunes CD-RW Helper (http://www.ituneshelper.com). A VeloCD firewire drive owner wrote that it worked well:
"
mike.
I just downloaded this little thing. it is fantastic
i tunes now sees my TDK VELO CDRW 121032 in a ads firewire case
it was very simple i opened the itunes helper then selected the sanyo
option (i think the tdk has a sanyo mechanism) then i open itunes, created a
small 6 tracks play list, selected the burn option and bingo!!!
itunes now sees my TDK drive.
sam"
I welcome other comments on iTunes Helper (I'm especially curious on Combo DVD/CDRW drive owner experiences).
Toast 5.01 Update Notes: (from the 4/18/2001 main news page)
A reader noted in the 4/17/2001 news that the Toast 5.01 update (3.6MB download) includes support files that are iTunes/DiscBurner compatible and that his HP drive that was unsupported in iTunes/Discburner now works. Another reader with a SCSI Yamaha 8424S drive also noted it worked after the Toast 5.01 update. My copy of Toast 5 (upgrade) arrives in a few days, but if any readers that have Toast 5.01 can comment if it adds iTunes/DiscBurner support for the Combo DVD/CDRW drives from Samsung and Toshiba, please let me know. (Reports of other previously unsupported drives working are also welcome.)
Note: Although unconfirmed, there are rumors that the next update to iTunes will not be Toast 5 compatible.
iTunes/Disc Burner Mod File for Plextor 16/10/40 IDE CDRWs: Several readers with Plextor IDE 16/10/40x CDRW drives that tried the modified support file noted in the 3/13/2001 news said it worked. Thanks again to Theo for providing it.
iTunes/Disc Burner Mod File for Teac 12/10/32 Drive:
A reader's entry in the Drive Compatibility Database noted he'd found a modified support file that added support in iTunes/Disc Burner for the Teac 12/10/32x mechanism equipped Madlogix Firewire drive. (Also works with Que 12/10/32 Firewire CDRWs that use the Teac drive). He noted the file was available here (direct download link). Todd later wrote that he only burned at 8x rates but I asked if he had tested using the "max" rate setting. (He noted using 8x as it was the fastest speed under "max" but didn't say if he had tried the "max" setting, which might be 12x ). There were other issues with some Teac based Que 12/10/32 drives noted in the database here, which were reportedly solved by later firmware updates (which are PC updaters unfortunately).
Info on Resedit Mods to iTunes Drive Support File: (from the 3/8/2001 www.xlr8yourmac.com daily news page)
"
Hi Mike ,
Concerning iTunes and CD-burners I think i have found
the way to make any burners "unsupported" -->
"supported" which DOES NOT Mean that they will burn
correctly , however iTunes will report them supported
: all you have to do is open the "xxxxCDR" file in the
authoring support files Folder in the extensions
folder with
ResEdit and Open the Data fork (You need Forker for
Resedit to do that). Then go to the bottom of the data
fork code and look at the ASCII code ( right column) ,
there
you will notice the name of the burners supported .
For example , i have a yamaha 4260 cdr which is
reported unsupported by iTunes , but the yamaha 4416
IS supported ,
so i change the 4416 number in the ASCII part of the
datafork to 4260 save the changes and ... it WORKS! iTunes now reports the burner supported ,
however i tried to burn a cd , it burned well , but the cd will not
play in my cd player .... but i think it may work for
others burners ...
excuse my english , i'm french !!
see ya
Riviera from France"
If this works to add support for your drive let me know.
A reader replied to the post below on 320KB MP3 file burn errors to note that was not the problem with his Sony CRX-140 CDRW.
"
Mike:
I also have a Beige G3 desktop and a sony CRX-140 CDRW. I have also been
getting -7932 errors when burning with itunes.
With itunes 1.0, this would usually happen in the 3rd track or so. With
1.1 it has been happening in the last track of the cd-r.
The problem a reader referenced with bitrates in not the case...these are
all low bit rates (128 or so), and the MP3 files also work fine when
burning with toast.
the only thing I can think of is the toast extensions (I have 4.1.2. OEM
installed) are somehow interfering with itunes. I also was running itunes
under 9.0.4; have since upgraded to 9.1 and will let you know if it makes
a difference.
(name withheld by request)"
I reminded him of the past comments and notes at Apple's compatibility page that you should create a separate extension set for Toast use.
A reader replied to a Drive Compatibility Database report here with a note on iTunes and Toast errors buring 320KBs MP3 files. He also notes a mounting tip for the Sony CRX-140 in Beige G3s:
"
Mike,
A recent posting by Michael Wolfe in the Drive Compatibility Database
reports problems getting -7932 errors when attempting to burn CD-Rs using iTunes with the Sony CRX140E installed in his Beige G3.
My testing reveals that iTunes suffers from the same problems that
Toast 4.1.2 has, namely, generating errors when attempting to burn
MP3s that were ripped at a 320K bitrate. My bet is that Michael is
attempting to burn some 320K MP3s and the errors are happening when
iTunes gets to those files.
Also, if Michael inserts a bit of folded cardboard above the CRX140E
at the right corner (between the top of the drive and the chassis),
this will force down the drive just enough to perfectly clear the
bezel. Works like a charm and you can't see the cardboard with the
bezel in place.
... I will also post my own Drive Compatibility report,
now that my 140E has been installed for a week or so.
Mark"
I've added Mark's tips as comments to Michael's database entries.
Reader Tip for Adding Plextor 8x20 CDR Support to iTunes:
As noted last week here (below), iTunes 1.1 supports the Plextor 8220 drive (8x2x20x) but not the 820 (8x20x CDR) model. A reader sent a note on how he added support for the 820 drive:
Hello Mike,
I have a SCSI Plextor 8/20 CDR drive on my G4 and was a bit disturbed to find that iTunes had support for the 8/2/20 CD/RW, but not my own. I took
some time out to edit the data fork of the PlextorCDR file in the Authoring
Support Files of the Extensions folder, and viola! I can burn!
Note that
this probably drops support for the 8/2/20 CD/RW drive, but it should help
some of your readers out there.
Dave Rosen"
"
Well, I downloaded iT 1.1 and was disappointed that my Yamaha 2100 drive (I have the internal "S" (for SCSI) model) does NOT get recognized by iTunes. Furthermore, I have no problem with Toast at all as Apple suggested.
If anyone has suggestions, feel free to email me. gbpenn@yahoo.com. I haven't a clue as to what else to do. Perhaps their 2100 compatibility is only with IDE models?
"
Toshiba IDE SD-R1002 (Combo DVD/CDRW drive)
Apple G4/AGP system, OS 9.1
I bought this drive about 4-5 months ago (after reading many positive reports on this board). Thanks to everyone who posted. From the start, this drive has worked beautifully, with no problems with audio playing/extraction, DVD playback, burning, etc. Toast recognizes the drive without any problems and I have never had problems burning with toast.
Which brings me to my only complaint, which is that I had hoped iTunes would support it as a burner. I have tried everything to get it to work, but iTunes just won't recognize it. The thing that really bugs me, though, is that radiologic's (now discontinued) CD master can handle it, and even Disc burner can burn data files to it. Even with the release of iTunes 1.1 a few days ago (with a new authoring support file named 'Toshiba') the problem persists. Hopefully, Apple is working with Roxio to support this drive in the future.
Nick Fasano"
"
This report is regarding iTunes 1.1 compatibility with my QPS 8x4x32 Firewire "graphite" CD-RW drive. With the updater to version 1.1, iTunes still refuses to recognize the QPS drive. All Toast-related extensions, etc. are disabled.
Apple indicates that the Plexor CD-R PX-W8432T drive is compatible with iTunes 1.1. The QPS 8x4x32 has that mechanism inside.
Mike Dixon
(G4/AGP system, no OS version mentioned)
"
"
Works great with my toshiba combo drive. And my lacie 16x firewire burner.
George T.
"
George later wrote to the list saying that he was wrong, it *does not* work with the
Toshiba Combo drive. (See the Drive Compatibility Database for past reports on this drive in Macs.) Most other reports in the database and email
reported that the Toshiba Combo drive didn't work with iTunes 1.1. I've asked for more details.
"
I couldn't get iTunes 1.0 or Disk Burner to recognize my Yamaha
CDRW6416S (internal SCSI) even with a number of CD Master hack
attempts.
I tried iTunes 1.1, and at first it *still* didn't work, and then I
remembered that I had switched back from CD Master's ATA/SCSI driver
to Toast's (I have 4.1.2), because it took up more memory. So I put
CD Master's back, and voila! iTunes 1.1 recognizes my drive! No
joy with Disk Burner, though. But *Toast* also recognizes the drive,
so apparantly even though FireWire users have complained of
Toast/iTunes driver conflicts, the SCSI driver for CD Master works
with Toast.
I suspect that it's the SCSI that makes the difference. Apple isn't
supporting SCSI drives, just ATA, USB, and FireWire.
Brian G.
"
There are reports of SCSI 4416s drives working - in fact there was one report
here yesterday. (see below)
"
Hello Mike,
Last night I saw the new version of iTunes was posted and decided to
give it another try with my external drive. I was happy to see that my
drive was supported. I am using a club mac 12x10x32 Plextor firewire. I am
happy to say and wanted to confirm that you can burn data cd's with Disc
Burner and audio cd's with iTunes. Burned a data cd on my first try after
installing it correctly. I inserted a blank disc in the drive, a dialog
appeared asking me to choose which type of cd I wanted to create a standard
data cd, iTunes, or mp3 disc. Everything worked as it should, I was able to
burn in the background, launch other programs and work in the finder without
any noticeable speed hit.
The only problem is that when you want to make a
bootable cd, Disc Burner creates a disk image in your preferences file so
you just can't drag your system folder to the disk. I had to remove the disk
image from the preferences file first. Also if you take the disk image and
place it on your desktop, Disc Burner will not run until you put it back in
your Prefs. folder. One more thing, As per Apple's warning's, I had to
remove Toast extensions, but since I was using CD MASTER previously, even
though I removed all CD MASTER extensions, the program still works and
recognizes the drive. This is because the new firewire driver is almost
exactly the same code they just changed the creator code. I confirmed this
by removing iTunes firewire extension and replacing it with radialogic's.
Only con's are that Disc Burner is slow as it has to save the Disk Image
before burning as opposed to using Toasts,Drag Drop and Burn method.
-iTunes did not work at first, this was due to some old iTunes authoring
files which were not replaced. Also for third pary drives to work you must
do a custom install and select the USB/Firewire option.
just wanted to spread tthe good news,
Derek Gordon
"
"
Mike,
Just a note that I installed the Itunes update and I can now burn CD's with
my Yamaha 8424 EZ Internal IDE CDRW using Itunes.
William
"
"
It's a shame that it still doesn't work with my Que! USB 4x/2x/8x CD-RW
drive, which has been around for a LONG time. Maybe the next
revision...(sigh).
RawheaD
"
"
I have tried to install iTunes 1.1 update on my pismo running os9.1
International English. However, the installer told me that it would only be
installed on 'US or International English version of OS9'. I AM using OS9.1
International English! Maybe it is caused by having installed language kits
of Japanese, Traditional Chinese, Simple Chinese and Korean as well I will
investigate this problem further tonight.
Cheers,
Janus Ng
Hong Kong
"
This reader notes his Rio 500 MP3 player isn't recognized.
"
I wasn't sure where to send questions, and I couldn't find a n
answer to mine in your database. I have installed itunes 1.0 and now
1.1 , but my Rio 500 does not interface or show up on itunes or sound
jam. When i plug it in, I can hear the cpu go but nothing happens.
I've tried everything. Please help.
thanks,
Jeff k
"
I asked for more details from Jeff on his system/OS/extensions (and if the Rio500
had any firmware updates), but if anyone has a tip for Jeff (I don't own a Rio player, mine's a Nomad II), let me know.
[reader comments from 2/22/2001 follow]
"
Hey, what is the folder called "enu" that got deposited in my system
folder just now after the iTunes 1.1 updater? Opening the folder
produces a document/file called "NSVG.rsrc". Snitch reveals it to be a
ResEdit document 28k size, created/modified Jan. 25, 2001. Should I
leave it at this root level? Any ideas why it's there, completely apart
from the updated application folder itself, which was found, updated,
and runs just fine from the Applications (Mac OS 9) folder as created
for the 9.1 update itself.
Matthew
"
"
Yesterday I read an article that stated Roxio was helping Apple write the firewire/USB drivers for iTunes so that Toast would still work if you have iTunes 1.1 installed.
I just wanted to put in for feedback on that.
Toast 5b6 and Toast 4.12 would not see my burner (Que firewire with a plextor 1210a drive) after installation. I believe you can only have one driver controlling a firewire or usb device. If this is correct, then NO other CD burning software would work with iTunes drivers installed.
Jeff Q.
"
See the Apple TIL docs on issues like this noted at the bottom of the iTunes Drive Compatibility page. (Like this TIL in particular.)
"
Hi Mike,
I downloaded iTunes 1.1 but discovered that Toast 4.1.2 would no longer
recognize my Que 12X10X32 CDRW. In order for Toast to work, I had to
uninstall iTunes. Make sure you delete the "Authoring Support" extension
and "Authoring Support Files" that iTunes also added to the extension
folder.
Al Yee
"
See TIL linked on the iTunes Compat. page - making a 2nd extensions set for Toast use I think is the solution.
"
Hi Mike:
So I installed iTunes in my G4/500MP (Gigabit like yours) because it said I
have a compatible CDRW/Yamaha 4416SX external, connected to my OEM brand A
2930 SCSI card. This is the new version, V1.1...running OS 9.0.4 on this
particular hard drive.
(Update: I installed it on a drive with 9.1
and it did not work, just like the other drive. Does not recognize my CDRW. Toast works fine as usual. I just reinstalled it and tried it again.)
I removed all trace of Toast and SoundJam so there's no conflict there.
If you don't have any suggestions, I'll have to go back to the old stuff
I guess. The interface is so simple, and cool that it would be a shame that it doesn't work as advertised.
ps, Toast always worked 110% with my old external Yamaha burner---it's actually only 6 months old...I got an open box new unit from Yamaha and it's always worked
so good...slow, but good.
thanks for any suggestions you can think of...I really wish it worked.
later,
David
"
I could only suggest checking the TILs noted in the iTunes compatibility page.
"
Well at least they fixed the problems with the USB Freeze ups with iTunes
1.1 but still no support for the Toshiba DVD-ROM/CD-RW Drive, it is a shame
because the Toshiba Drive would be a great option for a BTO from Apple.
Peter
"
"
Mike,
Seems that iTunes is till broken (No Support) when used with my Plextor
Plexwriter PX-R820T. Yhis is a Write at 8X and Read at 20 X SCSI
External drive.
I am going to re-instal the hack (CD Master Hack from 1.0) for now...
Thought this would be something worth noting.
Mike Mielko...
"
They note the Plextor PX-8220T is compatible (the version of the 820 with CDRW compatibility).
Related Links:
I welcome reports or tips on iTunes compatibility with 3rd party drives - enter a report on CDRW drives in our Drive Compatibility Database. (Use comments field for iTunes compat. comments.) | 
