MP3/CD Player

If you're running XP, and don't wanna spend money,Windows Media Player 10, built into Windows, gives you some ripping/burning capabilities, greatly improved over previous versions of Windows/Windows Media Player, and there are free versions of other media players which offer some ripping/burning capabilities, however, for-fee 3rd Party media management/burning software is much more flexible and does a much better job. You pretty much get what you pay for.

tnx timber,

I am currently running xp pro and have upgraded WMP to the most current version, WMP10. I have only a few of my cd's saved in my files because even though I work frequently with my computer, I rarely have loaded any music to it. Maybe I am misunderstanding MP3 files completely, but I thought mp3 files took up considerably less space and could make a standard cd become several in one. Please correct me if I am wrong and enlighten me on how to convert the files to mp3.

tnx again

MP3 files do take up a lot less space than CD audio.
Normally MP3 files are created at 128kbps. Don't worry about what that means indetail yet. Just know that the higher the number the better the quality of the MP3 file.
160kbps is better than 128 and 240 is better still etc...
Naturally the higher the quality of the MP3 file the more space it takes up.
Even using 320kbps they are a lot smaller then CD audio.
128kbps is supposed to be the same quality as CD but in actual fact it falls far short of CD quality.
However for use with a portable MP3 player or a CD/MP3 player etc... it makes not a jot of difference so don't worry about it.
If you are going to run side by side comparisons with top quality gear then yes, you will easily hear the difference but at work, while you're not concentrating on it and either chatting or working then the liklihood of anyone being able to tell the difference is practically nil.
So, 128kbps is fine.

As for size...
Well a CD audio file is 10 megabytes per minute roughly.
An MP3 file at 128kbps is 1 megabytes per minute roughly.
So MP3 files are only one tenth the size of a CD audio file.
So on a CD you can get 10 albums instead of one. Depends on the songs naturally but you get the picture.

As for converting your songe into MP3 files...
Well honestly it couldn't be easier.
You need some software to do it for you. You have XP so you already have the software built into Windows.
Windows media player will let you put a normal music CD into the drive and then rip (this means convert or copy to...) MP3 files that are then stored on your hard drive in the computer.

So basically you can spend an hour feeding CD after CD into your PC and ripping them onto your drive.
When you get bored or you have finished you will have the start of an MP3 library.
You can play the songs/albums etc... that you have ripped through the PC while you write letters or play games etc... Saves you having to swap CDs etc...
Basically the same thing you want to do in work.
So how do you get the files into work where you have no PC ?

Well you need a CD burner in your PC to do that. A CDR/RW drive.
What you do is call up your CD burning software (Nero, Easy CD Creator etc...) and tell it to put the MP3 files you select from your library (wherever you told Windows media player to store them) onto a new, blank CD. It will tell you if the disk is full but as guide you should be getting 8 to 10 full albums on a single blank CD. Maybe a lot more depending on the type of music you like.
I like metal and some songs are very long so I only get 4/5 albums on a disk sometimes but I can get 20 albums by The Beatles on a single disk because they have short 2 and 3 minute songs.

So you get your burning software to burn you a disk full of MP3 files.
Now the last thing you want to do is stuff this new disk into a normal CD player. You can only put it into a CD player that can also read MP3 tracks.
And you already have one of those.
When you put the disk in it will take a second or so to be recognised and then (if it has a clever display) it will show you the title of the song your playing when you press the play button.
The CD player will just keep playing the songs on the disk until it's done in exactly the same way as a normal CD would be played.
The diffference is that you have 10 albums one one disk and don't have to mess about changing disks every five minutes.

wow!!! This is more like it!!! I love "support" and most sites are difficult to get such detailed and PATIENT explanations. Thank you so very much. (it is people like me who give techies their jobs, ya know!!!)

Getting into the music end of my computer is new territory for me. I do understand the numbers and kbps stuff....but when it comes to music and "playing" with my computer, I am still a puter dummie.

I have "ripped" a couple of cds already, but does this mean they are automatically an MP3 file? I was thinking I had to convert the files like pics of bmp to jpeg to downsize the space required. Quality is not a major factor for me...I think I am half tone deaf anyway. I liked the transister radios where others preferred sterios when I was younger. The music I listen to.....I can hear you groaning and see you rolling your eyes already....is Yanni and opera and some of the oldies soft rock. Opera is great music to work by. So...I think I can get a full day's work from one MP3 disc in my player.

So...one more ?......is a standard cd all that is required? should I have a RW cd to put the music on? Can I pick and choose the songs I want to put on it or must the entire cd list be burned? Okay..so that was 3 ?'s.

You are my guru and I am your grasshopper....teach me oh master.

No worries.
I know it can be a bit frustrating sometimes.
Anyway...


Yes.
That's what the ripping process does. You stuff the CD into your drive and then start the ripper off. It then reads in the digital data (CD audio) on the disk and converts that into an MP3 file at the bitrate you selected or whatever is the default.
Then then it's done that track it goes onto the next until it's done an entire CD.
It's much faster than actually listening to the CD as all the ripper/converter is concerned with is the digital data so the faster it comes in the faster it finishes.


No, not when you use a ripper.
Imagine you had a CD full of pictures someone had given you and they were all very large bitmap images. You stuff it in your computer and then use your image ripping software that copies them all onto your computer but converts them into smaller JPEG files as it does so.



I know what you mean. For MP3 files it's never going to be really good anyway.


Yep. A standard CD-R will do. 700 megabyte blank CD. Just the usual $5 for 10 disks thing. Or cheaper.


Personally I'd suggest you steer clear of CD-RW disks for putting into music players. They are more difficult to read and sometimes they can't be read at all by consumer electronic devices like normal CD players etc...
Stick to CD-R disks. They're cheaper too.


You pick and choose.
When you have your CD burning software open just look at the list of songs you have and drag the ones you want onto the disk until it's either full or you have all the ones you want on there.
It's all up to what you want on the disk.


Here's a bit more advice actually.
I personally recommend using iTunes as your ripper and general music organiser.
It takes care of everything for you and is intuitive to use. It will also burn disks for you so you don't even need another application.
You don't have to have an iPod to use iTunes to organise your music collection.
And it's free.