Afternoon all,

How do I convert an MP3 into "normal" format so it plays on any old cd player once burnt onto a disc? What program do I need to use to convert it?

Cheers

windows media player will do that for you - download from microsoft.

Cheers,

Would you mind elaborating a bit please, I am a PC numpty :(. I have Media Player (not sure which version). How do I get it to convert exactly? I want to convert various MP3's and put them in a certain order onto a disc to burn. I have various burning progs.

Sorry for my ignorance in this matter ;)

Thanks

edit to say its version 9

[Edited by ernie - 7/23/2003 5:02:08 PM]

Nero Burning Rom! Cancel wizard and go to compile new Audio CD, and just drag and drop in order you want.

You don't necessarily need to convert them. Basically there's two ways of burning a CD. The first is a data CD. The MP3's would appear as a list of filenames, so any player would need to support this. The Mb value of the CD would dictate how much info you could squeeze onto it e.g. 650Mb, 700Mb, etc..

The second is an Audio CD. This saves the data as tracks just like a conventional music CD. Your blank CD will indicate in minutes who much information you can squeeze onto it in this format e.g. 70min, 80min, etc..

I use Ahead Nero to burn my CD's. This allows you to create both formats of CD.

Just remember for old CD players, you need to be thinking in terms of the length in minutes of each track. If you can manage 100's of MP3's onto your CD, then most likely your creating a data CD and it won't work.

Does that make more sense?

Stefan

Rex, I have Nero Burning Rom :)

When I drag the MP3's over, does it automatically convert them into "normal" format then? I dont have to some how manually change their format?

Thanks

Scrap that, you've got Nero.

If you create an Audio CD, then yes. It's saving the music files as individual tracks.

It's not converting them as such, just writing it in a WAV format. You won't gain any quality that was lost when it was originally ripped as MP3.

Stefan

[Edited by ozzy - 7/23/2003 5:13:09 PM]

Ozzy,

Yeah I know MP3's are compacted up so are more "data" like than audio. I just want to convert them to "normal" audio format so they play on any old cd player.

Thats what I need to know how to do - convert MP3 to "normal" audio format

Thanks again :)

You don't need to convert anything. Just open Nero and select your CD as an Audio CD. Then select your MP3's and drag them across.

They will appear as tracks 1,2,3.... etc. and the bar along the bottom will be in minutes (not Mb's as with a data CD).

Should look like this:-

http://www.hosw08898.pwp.blueyonder....mages/nero.jpg

As long as you create an Audio CD, any burning software will write them as WAV tracks.

Stefan

Ozzy,

I'll use Nero then?

Is there a way to regain the quality lost when they are originally converted to MP3 format?

Thanks

Ozzy,

sorry didnt realise you had edited your post/changed pic. Thanks very much, I appreciate you doing that :). I understand now, thats great. I will use that method it seems pretty straight forward.

Thanks again :)

Yep, use Nero it's pi$$ easy once you've got the hang of it.

No, when you rip them as MP3's then the track quality is reduced to whatever you've set the rate to i.e. 64Kb/s, 128Kb/s, etc..

This is destructive and there is no way to put any of the quality back into the track. The only way to keep the original quality is to rip it as a WAV file.

A 5Mb MP3 track might equate to a 50Mb WAV file though.

Stefan

Nope it stays same.

Ozzy,

On that note, what is the minimum bit rate for acceptable quality for an MP3 track?

Cheers

I reckon 192kbps. Others would say 160kbps or even 128kbps.
Some would argue that 320kbps is the only way to go.

Basically what I'm getting at is that what is acceptable quaility on one sound system is not on another. To be honest on the average system you won't be able to tell the difference between any of them to a greater extent.

[Edited by DJ Dunk - 7/23/2003 6:32:02 PM]

I'm with Dunk. It really depends on the system you're playing it on. I have an in-car MP3 player (on of those Dension's) and I ripped every CD at 320Kb/s. Then my m8 gave me some new albums ripped at 128Kb/s and I couldn't tell the difference in car.

So, I ripped them all again at 128kb/s and play them from my PC through my hi-fi and it sounds as good as I'll ever need.

When you're playing MP3's, then it's a toss-up between quality and filesize. I'd experiment with 192Kb/s and 128Kb/s and see if you can hear any differences.

When it comes to burning them back onto an Audio CD, then you'd want a decent quality to begin with, but it's all then down to the length of each track as too how many you can squeeze onto disc.

Too my ears 192Kb/s is the best of both worlds, but as Dunk said already it all depends on how good the system you're playing them back on is. A top of the range CD Player, Amp and speakers will exaggerate any reproduction.

Stefan

128kbps? 320kbps?

I use all of them...and those inbetween, use vbr when ripping mp3s, that's variable bit rate, and it highers and lowers the bit rate depending on when it needs it. So you get small mp3s with good quality. :D

What do people recommend as the best CD ripper software to use?