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Burning CD's ~ Help please!

A

Always An Alien

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*Teen* has a new computer with the cd writer thingamajig. Before I get into all the techie talk, can anyone give me a basic run down? Just so I have a clue what I'll be looking at when I sit down to check this out for her. (She wants ole mom to show her how to do it.)

Odds & Ends ???????

*Where do you go to download your tunes?
*What else can we burn on these?
*Any helpful hints?

I know when I get over my fear and look at this thing it will prob be simple, but I need to get over that fear.
(Maybe, you should see the list of songs she wants me to *burn* for her.)
rolleyes.gif


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I can't tell a lie
-not even when I hear one.
 
I'll try to tackle everything one at a time. Everyone has their own opinions on most of the issues you've raised, so I'll give my own.

First off, all you need is some CD burning software. Adaptec Easy CD Creator is the most popular package, followed by Nero.
Some people find Easy CD Creator to be buggy, but I've never had a problem with it. Nero doesn't has as friendly an interface, but is more configurable than Easy CD Creator. For the things you'll be doing, I'd probably say Easy CD Creator is what you want to use, since you'd probably never touch the advanced features of Nero, and could possibly have problems finding your way around it's interface.

What else can you burn?
You can make music CDs that you can listen to in an audio CD player.
You can make backups of your data.
You can burn large amounts of data, that wouldn't fit on a floppy or Zip disk, for use on someone else's computer.
You can make a PhotoCD (basically, a CD photo album).
You can make a CD-Extra, which combines data and audio on the same disc.

You really don't have too many limits on what you can do with it.

Helpful Hints?
I would say the best advice you'll get is to read through http://www.cdrfaq.org/. It really is the best collection of information, and explains everything very clearly, from the basics to the advanced.

Where to download songs?
Since the demise of Napster, which I didn't like that much to begin with, a lot of people are asking this question.
My favorite source for music is Usenet, which you should have access to via your ISP. Specifically, the group alt.binaries.sounds.mp3 has the widest array of songs. To access it, you'll need any basic newsreader application. Outlook Express has a news component built-in, but it's not very good for binary downloads. I recommend Free Agent for a basic newsreader.

The downside is that it's not a collection. You can't just search for a song and find it.
It's simply a binary newsgroup, so the songs available are only those that others post. However, they do have a requests group in place, and many of the users are excellent about fulfilling requests.

Hope this did well to cover the basics. If you have more in-depth questions, feel free to ask. I really recommend reading that FAQ though, since it will probably answer 95% of your questions.


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here's my two cents...

i wouldn't rule out napster just yet. they are still fighting and you can try to work around the filtering. but i guess there has been some court decision that i quite frankly don't understand but it is good for napster.

as for adaptec easy cd creator, i really like it. but i would like to recommend version 4 or above because of the spin doctor which will easily convert mp3s to wav files for you.
 
Another service you may want to check out to find music is http://www.audiogalaxy.com/ I always seem to be able to find what I am looking for. It is just another one to concider.

as for burning software easy cd creator works great. And if its a new computer that *teen* got then it probably came with the computer.

anyway good luck with it and tell *teen* to have fun.
smile.gif


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Mother Should I Trust The Government - Pink Floyd

Everything under the sun is in tune but the sun is eclipsed by the moon - Pink Floyd

Those times I burned my guitar it was like a sacrafice. You sacrafice the things you love. I love my guitar - Jimi Hendrix
 
SwissSmiss&gt; With Easy CD Creator 4 or above, you don't need to go through the process of using SpinDoctor to convert MP3 to wav.
Both Easy CD Creator (v.4 and 5) and Nero 5 allow you to burn an audio CD directly from MP3 without having to convert to wav. IOW, it does it on the fly.

SpinDoctor is a nice app if your recording is from a noisy source, such as vinyl or tape, since it can clean up some of the excess noise. But I've also found that it's not a miracle cure, and hasn't gotten rid of every annoying pop, hiss, and crack from any of the files I've passed through it. It will clean it up some, but not enough for me to be content.

As for Napster, if one has to work to circumvent the filtering mechanisms in place, then it's not easy to use. That takes away from 70% of its appeal, with the other 30% being the selection of mp3s. However, the filtering kills that part of it for the most part.
To make matters worse, I'm now finding that something is happening where files are being blocked at the user level. IOW, when looking up a specific user, they'll have almost no files being shared. I have roughly 80 users on my hot list, with many of them previously sharing hundreds, if not thousands, of files each. Now, I'm lucky if the majority of users on my hot list have even a dozen files shared. I have a hard time believing that each of these random users just decided, out of the blue, to stop sharing their files, while continuing to use the service.
Although, it's possible, it's highly unlikely.

They've made it a chore to use, and thereby killed most of it's appeal. It's still usuable if you're willing to work for your files, but what made Napster good in the first place was the ease by which you could get the files.

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oh danny boy: i realize that version 4 of easy cd creator has spin doctor. it also appears that you are anal about audio recordings. even more so than i. but for the general population, it is pretty cool.

and napster, you can't really blame them. it was an innovation. but for reasons beyond their control, it has to suck. but i have faith in napster...
 
Originally posted by SwissSmiss:
oh danny boy: i realize that version 4 of easy cd creator has spin doctor. it also appears that you are anal about audio recordings. even more so than i.
Click to expand...

I'm really not sure what you meant by that.
Spin Doctor's purpose is to clean up audio files, whether they be mp3, wav, or whatever. It's not meant as a converter from mp3-&gt;wav, per se, but it's designed to clean up an audio stream. It will do the conversion, but that's not it's primary function.

All I was saying is that it's an unnecessary step with Easy CD Creator 4 and above. To make an audio CD in Easy Creator 3, it wouldn't accept mp3 as a valid audio file type, so you had to first convert the mp3 file to wav, then burn the wav file onto disc as audio.
However, Adaptec saw that this was a PITA, and decided to make mp3 a valid audio file type. However, to be burned as audio, the file still needs to be converted. So, what they did is take the conversion process out of the end-user's hands. With Easy CD Creator 4, the program will take the mp3 file and do the conversion in the background for you.

In most cases nowadays, people are doing digital recording with regard to their mp3s. With digital, you don't have the pops and hisses since the recording isn't coming from an analog source. This means that no cleanup is necessary for the files, hence Spin Doctor isn't really needed for 99% of the mp3 files out there that someone would want to download and burn.


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I have the Easy Creator 4, and I use the CD to wav function to cut out any unneeded intro's or additions to the ends of songs. Then I use FreeRIP to change wav to MP3 and IMO it sounds a lot cleaner when I do a CD-&gt;WAV-&gt;MP3 than CD-&gt;MP3.

CD burners are the best thing to come out in years and I can't wait till a DVD burner comes out that's reasonably priced.
cool.gif
 
well, i have only used easy creator 4, and something else that i don't remember what it is called. i just find it nice to be able to convert and burn your mp3s in one simple step through spin doctor.

i understand the recording processes. but you can do some good with digital recordings through using spin doctor. whatever. this is just how i find burning cds simplest.
tongue.gif
 
I have the Easy Creator 4, and I use the CD to wav function to cut out any unneeded intro's or additions to the ends of songs. Then I use FreeRIP to change wav to MP3 and IMO it sounds a lot cleaner when I do a CD-&gt;WAV-&gt;MP3 than CD-&gt;MP3.
Click to expand...

Usually, that is the better way to do it. In fact, most all-in-one mp3 programs, such as AudioCatalyst, allow you to use an intermediate wav file, then balance the levels on that wav file, THEN compress to mp3. It's definitely more beneficial to use the intermediate wav file, although it adds some time to the encoding process. However, you come out of it with a better sounding file, which is what's really important.
smile.gif


SwissSmiss&gt; I think I understand what you're saying, but again, with Easy CD Creator 4, it's not necessary to convert the files, since it will do it for you, even without using Spin Doctor.

Maybe I'm just not explaining myself clearly enough...

The point I'm trying to make is that, if the audio rip is digital, the resultant audio should be clean as a whistle, and shouldn't need to be cleaned up through filtering. Spin Doctor is designed to clean up analog sources which, almost always, have hiss, pops, and crackles as a result of the analog media onto which they were recorded (99% of the time, the media is either vinyl LP or cassette tape).

If the audio is ripped digitally from a CD, then running it through Spin Doctor is really doing nothing but adding an unnecessary step to the recording process.

Spin Doctor is a great utility, especially when dealing with older recordings that can't be found on CD. It really can recover audio from a crappy recording and make it sound halfway decent.
All I'm saying is that using it on digitally recorded audio is just wasting time without really doing anything to improve the quality of the audio.

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i used napster until it went crappy, and i don't feel like finding a way around the annoying filters

so i've been using audiogalaxy, and i absolutely love it. it's easier to use than napster when on a dialup.

i use easy cd creator 4, and it's suited my purposes very well. i recommend it.

btw, i think it's very amusing that *teen* is asking you for advice. i'd expect it to be the other way around!
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"I've never been sigged." - PsychoticIckyThing

"Maybe *this* is what 'cooties', the disease that every grade schooler is terrified of, yet knows not the symptoms of which, is!" - KNSinatra at 3:34 AM
 
confused.gif

Guess I better start with Step 1.
Nothing in her manuals about it.
Looks like this will be one of those get on & just do it type projects.

Step one being software. Right?
Heard there was some to download online. Were they right?

Sorry, this burning is all new to me.




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I can't tell a lie
-not even when I hear one.
 
AaA&gt; Yes, step one would be software.
However, chances are that if you bought the CD-RW, or it was preinstalled in the machine, it should have come with burning software.

While there are some downloadable programs available that are decent, I think you'll really be happier in the long run if you purchased Easy CD Creator 4 or 5 (provided you didn't get some version of it included with the burner). While it's not necessarily cheap (read: free), it will make using your CD burner much easier on you.

Once you've made a decision regarding software, we can then walk you through the process of burning.
Again, Easy CD Creator makes the process quite simple, since it gives you a very easy to use interface, and burning an audio CD is as easy as saying you want to make an audio CD, selecting the files you want and clicking okay.


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Alien Soup Folding@Home Team Leader

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Thanks!
Plan to climb on and check out her PC this week.
Will let you know how far I get.

I really do appreciate all the help.
<IMG SRC="http://cwm.ragesofsanity.com/kao/otn/pcomputer.gif" border=0>
 
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