TASCAM CD-RW900SL Slot-loading CD Recorder

I bought this to replace a Tascam 700-CDRW which served me well for almost eleven years of solid duty. About a month ago the jog dial for the recording level went a little haywire and would cut out when I tried to do any adjustment and other times I would only get one channel of sound and one channel of a big nothing. Well, that nonsense isn't to good for my psyche, so I thought to either spend a couple hundred dollars to fix the 700 or just break down and get a new one...as long as it was a Tascam!So I bought this one and because of the 700...the learning curve of the 900 is somewhere between zero and 1%. And, I'm back in the race without so much as a minor stumble! :)

I bought one of these machines in U.K. where I live and -whilst it records and seems to do its job very well- I have a problem which Tascam U.K. has never heard of! I use Maxell XL-II-80 blank discs (audio-only; the gold ones) which I have been using for years on other machines (Yamaha & Sony)and they are generally very reliable with a very low failure-rate.Well, with the Tascam I have had a failure rate of about 1 in 4...and the two problems which have arisen seem not to be addressed in the booklet:1) The recorder is recording from another source and suddenly the message 'TR 2' appears bottom-right of the display. It then sometimes switches to 'TR 1' and back again...or any similar combination. Within about a minute the recorder stops recording as though I had pressed the stop button! This message is not listed in the booklet.2) When on auto-tracking, I press 'REC' either on the recorder or on the remote, in order to add another track (like all CD recorders do). However, sometimes when I do this (only sometimes) the recorder stops recording; again, as though I had pressed the stop button!I have had a replacement recorder but the second one acts in exactly the same manner; thus TWO faulty machines are unlikely.Anyway, I spoke to an engineer at Tascam U.K. (for the third time in a week!) and he and his colleagues had never experienced either problem before. When we discussed blank discs, he said that the recorder was happier with DATA discs than with audio discs, although I can't see why that would be so.So, I tried some Sony CD-r 'Supremas' 700MB discs (which I had bought by mistake some time ago and couldn't use on my previous Sony recorder) and they seem to work O.K. so far (6 tried).The questions I am asking are:- Has anyone experienced similar messages or "record stop" as described above?- Why should data discs which are cheaper to buy be better on this machine than audio discs?- If data discs are indeed the ones to use, are they as good for recording (classical) music -with wide ranges of volume, tone, etc- as specifically audio discs? And if that is the case, WHAT ARE THE BEST POSSIBLE DATA DISCS TO USE, or doesn't it matter?Another small point is that, unlike previous machines, the Tascam doesn't seem to have an auto-shut off (say, after 30 seconds of silence). I like such a feature because I can leave the recorder transferring from an analogue source (like an HD recorder on which I have recorded an opera broadcast)and not get a huge wasted amount of now-unusable space at the end of the disc. Perhaps the Tascam DOES do this but the booklet is not telling me...If anyone can help me with the above I would be very grateful - it's frustrating when a perfectly brilliant machine like this is so choosy about its discs!THANK YOU!!

I have a music studio and do a lot of vocal recordings..In the past, I have used VocoPro recorders, however, the Tascam is unquestionably the easiest and most complete recorder I have used. I have had no problems with disc type (audio or data) or with brand type. The volume limiters are very precise so you don't have distortion of sound at high volumes like I did with other brands. The sound quality is great! The finalizing process is very easy. I recommend this unit highly! I have recorded over 30 discs so far with no problems whatsoever!

I just love the fact i don't have to shop for CD recordable disc that are for "music only". Just pop in a "data" CDR and it's ready to go.I should have got this 10 years ago!

this professional cd recorder is great. i am recording my extensive record collection and many live concert tapes to cd.

This is a great machine, quick learning curve, even for an old fellow like me, easy to operate. It does what I paid for.

We order this for the church that I go to and it works perfectly. Hope it will last us a good while.

A wonderful machine!! Excellent....