Part III - Authoring the DSD DiscIn this section you'll set up the directory structure and contents of the DSD Disc. A DSD Disc is nothing more than a data DVD (UDF format) with a specific directory structure and playlist text file (.ddp extension). Once you've set up the folder, moved the .dsf files to the correct folder and created the .ddp index file, you burn the project to a blank DVD media using Nero or whichever burning software you use to create data DVD's.
1. In the working directory you created in Part II, create a project folder for the DSD disc contents. Name it 'Disc 1'. If the recording you're burning to DSD Disc is longer than 1:43 and you plan on burning to single-layer 4.7GB recordable DVD media, you'll need to split up the recording among two discs. If that's the case, create a second project folder for the 2nd disc. Name it 'Disc 2'.
2. Double-click the 'Disc 1' folder you just created in Windows Explorer. Inside the 'Disc 1' folder, create a new folder named 'DSD_DISC' (all upper case). This root folder is required.
3. Double-click the 'DSD_DISC' folder created in step 2. Inside 'DSD_DISC', create a new folder with a descriptive name for the recording, ideally containing the date of the performance, artist and city. This folder name can contain upper and lower case letters and numbers. An example directory name is 'Snow Patrol 2007-07-18 Phoenix AZ'. This folder is where you'll be copying the individual DSD tracks created by the export in the last section.
4. Navigate back out to the project folder where all the DSD files for your recording are located. Select all the .dsf files with track numbers and descriptive names created during the Export in Section 2. Cut and paste the files into the folder created in step 3. If you're splitting up your recording between two blank 4.7GB DVD discs, only move the .dsf files you wish to include on the first disc. You'll be coping the rest of the .dsf files to the 2nd disc folder.
5. Navigate back to the root of DSD_DISC folder. Right-click in this folder and select 'New > Text Document' from the menu. This will create a new empty text file inside the folder. Give this text file the exact same name as the subfolder created in Step 3. For example, if the subfolder I created was named 'Snow Patrol 2007-07-18 Phoenix AZ', the text file must be named 'Snow Patrol 2007-07-18 Phoenix AZ.txt'. This text file will end up being the playlist file that the DSD Disc player requires for playback.
6. Double-click the text file to open it up in Notepad. Inside this text file you'll create a one-line text entry for each .dsf file inside the folder for your recording. Every line must have the format
'./<folder name>/< dsf file name>'
The folder and file names you list must exactly match the contents of the folder. So it's best to use copy/paste so you don't make any errors.
Here is the contents of an actual playlist file I created for the last DSD Disc I burned..
./Snow Patrol - 2007-07-18 Phoenix AZ/01-Intro.dsf
./Snow Patrol - 2007-07-18 Phoenix AZ/02-Hands Open.dsf
./Snow Patrol - 2007-07-18 Phoenix AZ/03-Chocolate.dsf
./Snow Patrol - 2007-07-18 Phoenix AZ/04-It's Beginning to Get to Me.dsf
./Snow Patrol - 2007-07-18 Phoenix AZ/05-Headlights on Dark Roads.dsf
./Snow Patrol - 2007-07-18 Phoenix AZ/06-Signal Fire.dsf
./Snow Patrol - 2007-07-18 Phoenix AZ/07-Grazed Knees.dsf
./Snow Patrol - 2007-07-18 Phoenix AZ/08-How to Be Dead.dsf
./Snow Patrol - 2007-07-18 Phoenix AZ/09-Ways and Means.dsf
./Snow Patrol - 2007-07-18 Phoenix AZ/10-Spitting Games.dsf
./Snow Patrol - 2007-07-18 Phoenix AZ/11-Make This Go on Forever.dsf
./Snow Patrol - 2007-07-18 Phoenix AZ/12-Chasing Cars.dsf
./Snow Patrol - 2007-07-18 Phoenix AZ/13-Shut Your Eyes.dsf
./Snow Patrol - 2007-07-18 Phoenix AZ/14-Set the Fire to the Third Bar.dsf
./Snow Patrol - 2007-07-18 Phoenix AZ/15-Somewhere a Clock is Ticking.dsf
./Snow Patrol - 2007-07-18 Phoenix AZ/16-Run.dsf
./Snow Patrol - 2007-07-18 Phoenix AZ/17-encore break.dsf
./Snow Patrol - 2007-07-18 Phoenix AZ/18-Finish Line.dsf
./Snow Patrol - 2007-07-18 Phoenix AZ/19-Open Your Eyes.dsf
./Snow Patrol - 2007-07-18 Phoenix AZ/20-You're All I Have.dsf'
7. Once you've entered all the tracks in the text file, save it and exit Notepad. Now change the extension of the text file from .txt to .ddp
8. The 'DSD_DISC' folder should now contain the folder containing all your .dsf tracks and it's corresponding .ddp playlist file. If you wish to burn more than one recording to the same disc, you can do this by simply repeating steps 3-7, creating a separate folder for each recording, copying the .dsf files to the folder, and then creating the corresponding .ddp playlist file for each folder created.
9. You can optionally include on the DSD disc the installation folder for the 'DSD to PCM' Windows Media player plugin which will allow any non-VAIO Windows PC (meeting minimum hardware requirements) to play back the DSD Disc. That way if you copy the DSD Disc for a friend, they can install this plugin on their PC to play the disc.
If you wish to include the plug-in install, you can download this plugin from..
http://www.hotlinkfiles.com/files/1404310_p3xwm/DSDtoPCMPlaybackPlug-in.zipunzip the file and copy the entire Plug-in folder to the 'Disc 1' folder. Do not place it inside the 'DSC_DISC' folder.
10. Other files you can burn to the root of the 'Disc 1' folder are the info file for your recording and any cover art files.
11. If you were splitting up your recording to two separate single-layer DVD's, you'll need to repeat the steps above for the 'Disc 2' folder you created in step 1.
12. You're now ready to burn your DSD disc. Fire up Nero Burning ROM (or other burning software), insert a blank DVD, and select the option to create a Data DVD (UDF). In your Nero disc project you'll include the entire contents of the 'Disc 1' folder. Do not include the 'Disc 1' folder itself, just everything inside it. It does not matter what label you give the disc. Burn the disc. If you split up the recording to a 2nd disc, burn the contents of the 'Disc 2' folder to a new disc. You're done!!!