I got a new car and am trying to create a few composite CDs by selecting various songs from many other CDs. The goal is the reduce the stack from 20+ to 3 or 4 CDs by picking only my favorites songs.

I have two programs and neither of them seem suitable. One is called Sonic and apparently copies tracks from several CDs and saves them to one, but it doesn't allow the user to update the info to include song title, artist, etc. And it's not clear how it processes the audio, whether it leaves it unchanged (ie, no lost data).

The other is Windows Media Player, and while it lets the user add info, it clearly messes with the audio data. It converts the audio to wma format - which clearly compresses with loss of data - before saving it to the new CD. Not good.

So, can any of you recommend a program that extracts the data uncompromised from the CDs so that the new ones are created 100% true to the originals? And lets me add the extra info that gets displayed on the player?

TIA.

Doug


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Standard audio CDs (not MP3 CDs) do not contain artist/title information. Software-based players with Internet access can get this information for original manufactured CDs by calculating a hash from the tracks and using one of the Internet-based databases.

In other words, I expect your software ought to work fine. In particular, the Sonic package should work fine. If you are going to buy something, get Nero Burning ROM. Current Roxio software is too big and all-encompassing, IMO.

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Some of the newer car players will handle MP3s as well. YMMV, but if it can handle them, try AUDACITY. It's also FREE...

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Doug,

Windows media player (WMP) defaults to WMA. You can change the default to mp3. RIP the CDs to your hard drive in the largest mp3 file (this gives you the best audio reproduction). If you have internet access, WMP will even get the artist/album info and save it with the mp3. Then, you can select what files you want to burn to a CD, either in mp3 format if your CD player reads them or as the original cda file so they play on any CD player.

To change the default, open run WMP. Right click on the RIP tab. Select More Options from the drop down menu. Then select the RIP Music tab. You'll see a selection list for RIP format. Lower in the window is a slide bar for Audio Quality. Slide it all the way to the right for best quality. The mp3 files will be larger (I've got some over 5meg) but the quality is just about as good as the original.

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Don
NAR 53455
"Carpe Diem"

I want one of the car units that has an auxillary plug that allows you to plug in a jump drive. I would think that a 2 gig unit would hold as many songs as I could listen to in a day and changing them would be as easy as dragging and dropping.

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Yeah, I figured that out. I was assuming that there had been some sort of backwards compatible enhancement to audio CD formats, but it turns out my PC was just getting it from the web.

I haven't tried burning with the Sonic yet, but I did find www.exactaudiocopy.de on the web, and used it to set up uncompressed wav's on my harddrive, then burnt them to a new CD with WMP. I suppose (hope) that WMP didn't do anything stupid when it converted them for burning (such as running them thru some sort of lossy compression/expansion steps in going from wav back to audio CD format).

I still plan to try the Sonic as I make more CDs.

Thanks for the help.

Doug

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Thanks for the link, Craig.

For now, I want to avoid MP3, but later I may give it a try. I'm pretty sure my player can handle it, but I want to stay in uncompressed format for now.

Thanks for the help.

Doug


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Thanks, Don.

I wondered if WMP would let me change to a different format, but didn't get that far.

Is it just me, or does anyone else wonder how Microsoft can have some tools which fit user intuition like a glove while other tools, such as WMP, seem to be written by software writers who have never actually used a PC? </rhetroic>

Thanks again for the help.

Doug

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Bill,

I have a front panel plug, but I'm not sure what all I can run thru it. Right now, I know it accepts low level audio (from my son's MP3 player), but I'm not sure if it has any digital signaling multiplexed over it. Do the jump drives have audio outputs?

There could also be some sort of digital I/O on the back of the unit, although most factory radios are pretty limited in that regard. Aftermarket units seem to have much more I/O options. In this case, the car came with a decent Bose system with a 6-disk player - in the dash, no less - so I have no current plans to swap any pieces. I just don't have as much storage much space for disks, hence this thread.

My greater concern is getting to work and back home on less than a quarter tank I've been wanting a V-8, so I got the Impala SS, which I need like a hole in the head. But I ain't getting any younger, so I thought WTH and indulged myself with 5.3 liters of whoop@$$

Doug

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You could also use iTunes, right? My daughters only buy songs (not import CDs) but I know you can do that. Then you could make a playlist of CD and purchased iTunes music (assuming you have any) and then burn that playlist to a CD. The iTunes interface is pretty straightforward.

At least I think so.