| Author |
Message |
    
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 5826
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Friday, March 11, 2005 - 5:54 pm: |     |
I've googled, and mostly, I just come up with software I don't think I need.
How do I make an mp3 CD? In other words, I want to burn a CD that has lots of albums, represented in mp3 format. (Shouldn't the plural of albums be alba?)
It might be as simple as arranging the hierarchy of folders (directories) and having some sort of index file. Where is the information? I will soon have two CD players capable of playing mp3 CD's. |
D.
Moderator
Username: Dave
Post Number: 5559
Registered: 4-1998
| | Posted on Friday, March 11, 2005 - 6:00 pm: | |
I use iTunes, which is available for PC and Mac. You can download it at http://www.apple.com/itunes/ |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 5828
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Friday, March 11, 2005 - 6:04 pm: | |
Excellent. I already have that.
While I'm at it, how do I download something I already paid for with itunes? I downloaded it onto my work PC, and then I wanted a copy at home. I ended up paying twice, which cost me $0.99, but I don't want to do that again. I believe I'm entitled to do this legally. |
D.
Moderator
Username: Dave
Post Number: 5561
Registered: 4-1998
| | Posted on Friday, March 11, 2005 - 6:37 pm: | |
Try to email the mp3 file directly to yourself and receive it on computer #2. Look in /~home/iTunes/iTunesMusic/(artist) for the file. |
growler
Citizen
Username: Growler
Post Number: 462
Registered: 11-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, March 12, 2005 - 12:13 pm: | |
Tom - I think iTunes has a folder called "Purched Music" or something like that on the left side menu. Look in there. All purchased music should be automatically in there. |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 5948
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 22, 2005 - 1:17 pm: | |
OK, I finally got around to trying to make an mp3 CD. I imported file alba (the plural of album) into itunes and created a playlist for them. Then I did "burn playlist to disc". The response is "None of the items in this playlist can be burned to disc."
What does that mean? |
Albatross
Citizen
Username: Albatross
Post Number: 559
Registered: 9-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 22, 2005 - 1:27 pm: | |
If you purchased the music & it's copy protected, I'm willing to bet that iTunes won't allow the music to be burned either... just a shot in the dark. |
Robert Livingston
Citizen
Username: Rob_livingston
Post Number: 976
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 22, 2005 - 1:31 pm: | |
Tom:
You probably have to go into the iTunes preferences and under the "Burning" category, check MP3 CD. Usually the default is Audio CD, and you have too many songs.
If that doesn't work (which it might not because iTunes will calculate how many songs CAN be burned to an Audio CD from a playlist and burn only those) make sure all the music are actually MP3s. The newer versions of iTunes sometimes default imports as ACC audio files, and if so, you'll have to convert all songs to MP3 format (which you can do under Advanced).
|
Robert Livingston
Citizen
Username: Rob_livingston
Post Number: 977
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 22, 2005 - 1:32 pm: | |
(I meant AAC audio files...too much college basketball lately...) |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 5951
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 22, 2005 - 2:14 pm: | |
Both were the problem. The files were imported into m4a format, and the "burn CD" option was set to audio CD. I had to convert all imported tracks to mp3, which took a while. Burning the CD took less than two minutes!
One small problem is that the library now has two copies of each song, which is messy. Clearly, I'm new to using itunes.
I will try the mp3 CD later. I'm kind of excited. I fit five alba onto it, and I could have fit more, since the disc is only 335 MB. And the songs are recorded at 160 KB. So I could potentially keep about three CD's in my car and not need any more.
I'm using a new CD player in my car, which only cost me about $149. |
Robert Livingston
Citizen
Username: Rob_livingston
Post Number: 979
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 22, 2005 - 2:40 pm: | |
Tom,
I've been using iTunes since it came out. I downloaded the latest version and had no idea the default download would change to AAC.
Under Edit, select "view options." Check off "kind." Hit "okay." Go to the iTunes Library and now "kind" will be the last heading (after "song name," "time," "artist," etc.). Click directly on the word "kind" and all your songs will now be grouped as either mp3 or m4a. Just highlight all m4a and you'll be left with only your mp3s.
And don't forget to reset your prefences to import only as mp3s.
|
monster
Supporter
Username: Monster
Post Number: 671
Registered: 7-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 22, 2005 - 4:21 pm: | |
A little change here and there to this JScript would probably do what you want, put your converted songs where you want and then delete them from the library, http://projects.nateweiss.com/nwdc/itunes/scripts/
Perhaps you could write your own JScript,
http://developer.apple.com/sdk/#iTunesCOM
iTunes COM for Windows SDK
This SDK provides header files, documentation, and sample JScript files demonstrating how to use the iTunes for Windows COM interface. COM is the Microsoft technology, similar to AppleScript on Mac OS, that allows programmatic control of iTunes from languages like JScript, Visual Basic, C#, and C++. This SDK requires iTunes for Windows version 4.7 or later. [Nov 8, 2004]
Some other scripts that may be of use,
http://maximized.com/freeware/scriptsforitunes/default.asp
http://homepage.mac.com/ckupec/iblog/C329697540/E1248873160/
http://blogs.msdn.com/dancre/archive/2004/05/08/128645.aspx
iPodlounge thread,
http://forums.ipodlounge.com/showthread.php?threadid=21729
I know there are scripts for this one the Mac side, but haven't seen one for Windows, just have to do it manually. |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 5952
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 22, 2005 - 4:55 pm: | |
Yikes! I took a break and walked out to my car to try the CD. It's awful. Totally unacceptable. Every half second or so, it skips about a quarter second of music. Did I do something wrong, or is there likely something wrong with the player? I looked in the player's manual, and there is no mention of this problem. The CD is clean of dust and scratches.
Maybe I should have tried a different sample rate? I used 160 KB. Interestingly, I looked at the xml file at the top of the CD, and it claims that the sample rate is 44100, which must be encoding from one number to another. But maybe it is misrepresenting the mp3 files somehow. |
missmc
Citizen
Username: Ladymc
Post Number: 57
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 22, 2005 - 7:18 pm: | |
I usually make my mp3 cd's by using Roxio and creating a data cd. Painless 2 minute procedure and there's no need to worry about sample rate etc. PL me if you want the roxio cd. |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 5965
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 23, 2005 - 11:15 am: | |
Even if they didn't ask you what sample rate you wanted, there are choices. You just didn't make the choice actively.
I'm going to see if my car stereo likes 128 KB better than 160 KB, though that will diminish the sound quality.
I'm also going to call Crutchfield, from whom I bought the stereo, and ask for help. The stereo is not doing what I bought it for. |
woodstock
Supporter
Username: Woodstock
Post Number: 936
Registered: 9-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 23, 2005 - 11:36 am: | |
Tom, absolutely call Crutchfield. They are possibly the best company in terms of pre- and post-sales support I've ever dealt with. It's as if every support person has used, or knows someone who has used every piece of equipment they sell.
BTW, what unit do you have? |
Rick B
Citizen
Username: Ruck1977
Post Number: 516
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 23, 2005 - 3:27 pm: | |
Tom,
Try playing the CD in your PC, assuming you have speakers? Might help eliminate one step in the troubleshooting.
Windows media player can play MP3 files just fine. See if the skipping is present.
|
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 5975
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 23, 2005 - 5:07 pm: | |
Yeah, my PC plays the MP3's just fine, using itunes and Windows Media Player.
I called Crutchfield. The guy told me to be sure I wasn't using the Joliet format extension for making the CD. I can't tell how to control that with itunes. I googled "joliet itunes" and the like and didn't get anywhere. Maybe something is wrong with the stereo. |
AlleyGater
Citizen
Username: Alleygater
Post Number: 171
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, March 26, 2005 - 7:50 pm: | |
Well, regardless of whether you are using Joliet or not, just make sure that all of the file names are eight dot three (ex. jamesbro.mp3). Joliet let's you have long filenames even when the OS only really supports short filenames (like DOS). Also don't use any weird characters in the filename. And only burn a few files to save time, until you figure it out. Also, is it skipping because the car is shaking and the cd player doesn't have any buffering capacity. My MP3 CD player supports 80 seconds of buffering, which can handle a car drive. If you are worried about it being the file format, then I would suggest looking up the manual online for the CD player for suggestions. Also try some other CD burning apps. I know your on a PC, so figure out what app ROXIO creates (is is CD Creator PRO?) but I use Toast for my mac and it works like a dream. I actually don't care for the way that Itunes creates the MP3 cds, cause it dumps them all in one directory which makes them more compatible to read by cd players (although ironically it doesn't work for yours). But my CD player can handle directory structures and I prefer to keep my CDs which are also an archive of my music organized. Especially when I bring them to a new computer. I can do this VERY easily with Toast. |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 6021
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Monday, March 28, 2005 - 12:04 pm: | |
I think the long filenames are allowed in version 2 of the ISo 9660 format. If I remember right, the manual says version 2 is fine. I guess Joliet is like version 2.5 or something, but they don't call it that.
Well, I talked to Crutchfield again this weekend. This time, the guy suggested I try burning at a slower speed. I cranked it down to 8x. That seems to have worked. I listened to two tracks, and not a single skip. He said that perhaps, burning at slower speed burns more deeply. That's plausible.
So I think I'm in luck now. Time will tell.
Thanks, everyone. |
AlleyGater
Citizen
Username: Alleygater
Post Number: 182
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, April 2, 2005 - 3:03 pm: | |
What I was suggesting (which we now know is wrong) is that the cd player didn't support long file names. I'm glad there was such an easy solution.
All of my friends tease me that I don't have an iPod but I sorta like my MP3 cd player. I feel like I am constantly backing up my music collection onto CDs and if my hard drive failed, I would always at least have my music collection. I also like the portability of my collection. I started a new job and just brought a bunch of cds to work with me, and have a great start on a library (which my coworkers can listen to through iTunes).
Clearly, it's not an iPod, but I am glad I didn't pay $500 for a music player.
One last suggestion. I had a friend who always made two versions of every MP3 CD, one to listen to, and another for archiving. I always thought it was a great idea, but I am too lazy to do it. Just thought I'd throw it out there. |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 6118
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, April 2, 2005 - 6:21 pm: | |
Some mysteries still remain.
Writing a CD with Windows XP is basically dragging and dropping. Where's the option to control how fast I write? I used the control that iTunes gave me, but I'd like to drag and drop a CD.
Why, when I made a CD at work, it was partitioned into the different alba, but when I did it at home, it lumped all the tracks into the root directory?
How long do home-burnt CD's last? There was an article out about a year ago that was quite alarming. Turns out they may not last more than two years. Once again, the market's demand for low prices is not really all that self-serving. I have definitely noticed that it's easier to damage a home-burnt CD than a factory-made one. |
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