Ancient audiophile needs help with new technology

[Ray Garrison]

Hi. My daughter has asked me for help - she wants to set up her computer so she can burn CDs at home.

I'm the CTO of an Internet company, but I don't know dip about the different options here. I was able to identify the following:

1) She really does want to burn CDs as opposed to using an MP3 player or other CD-R alternative.

2) Her cousin downloads MP3s via Napster, uses "...the software that came with the PC..." (winamp?) to convert these into a format that can be burned onto a CD-R (.wav file?), and they are both perfectly happy with the sound quality ( ).

3) Her PC is a basic Pentium somethingorother wintel clone her dad got her (er, she's my stepdaughter), it has a CD-ROM don't know kind, speed or any other details.

4) She's not into editing, mixing, enhancing, creating or anything... she just wants to copy her friend's CDs onto a CD-R ( Did I say that? I didn't say that - I meant make backup copies of her freinds CDs for them ) and download MP3s from the web, burn them onto a disc and play it on her discman.

Hardware, software, ideas, suggestions?

Thanks from the old guy,

Ray

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Music is art

Audio is engineering

[Colin]

PC Magazine's Editors Choice:

http://www.zdnet.com/pcmag/stories/firstlooks/0,6763,2376470,00.html

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[Randy Bey]

I've had mixed results with EZ Creator.

Ray,

the first thing you need to ensure is that you have the right hardware to do the job. The functionality is called "DAE" Digital Audio Extraction and not all CD players can do it. Not all DVD players can do it either. The CD burner can do it but that means you have to swap CDs at midpoint.

Then get feurio and burn to your hearts content.

Remember, DAE.

[Seb]

I have had very good results with my HP CD-writer using EZ CD creator with the "copy existing cd" option.

One trick: if her CD Rom is not that fast, she has to use the "copy source CD to hard drive first" option in EZ CD Creator. I learned that the hard way, had all kinds of little crackling sounds on my copied cds...

It's all really easy, really.

As for mp3s, it's also very easy.

Just use any program (winamp will do it, but there are other, better, more user friendly programs out there) to decode the mp3 into a wav, then use the "make a music cd" option in EZ CD creator and drag-drop the wav files into the track listing of the disc.

[naka-pako]

Hi Ray,

Here's my son's 3 yr old setup:

Win98 SE

Pentium 233 mhz

3gb HD

64mb RAM

16x CD rom

HP 7200i CD writer

As you can see, it's pretty ancient by today's standard but it works. If your system is faster, the better. I recommend HP writers - they come bundled with the Easy CD software(Adaptec). Make sure the writer has at least a 1mb buffer to prevent underruns (the writer has to have a constant flow of data or you get coasters).

You can copy CD to CD but I recommend copying the files to the harddrive first then to the cd writer. When making a compilation, use Disc-at-once (the tracks are burned to CD in one operation). My son always copies at the slowest speed when burning audio cds (he's too careful!). Make sure to turn off your screen saver and try not to have anything else running while your burning.

Initially, you will be creating coasters until you learn how things should work. Just a few tips. I'm sure others will offer better ones. Have fun!

PS>

If you're running WinME or Win2K, be sure to check if your software/hardware is compatible before buying/installing it.

Cheers....d

[naka-pako]

One more thing Ray, use CDRs not CDRWs (re-writable). Most CD players cannot read CDRWs.....d

[Derek]

Perhaps the ultimate URL for discussions on hardware, media and software for doing any type of "back ups" is www.gamecopyworld.com

Derek

[XPhys71]

Ray,

I'd recommend getting the fastest reliable burner you can find. I have a 4x and it's painfully slow, about 15-18 mins. for a copy. The newer 10x and 12x burners clock in around 4 or 5 mins, I think, and are reportedly just as good quality as long as you have the buffer (about 2 megs).

I'd also recommend www.gamecopyworld for their articles on the topic. Interesting facts about different media dyes and longevity. I always thought CD's were forever . . .

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Next season begins today.

[DiGNAN17]

HP burners seem very popular and consistent. I'm a college student and most of my friends who have CDR's have HP's.

My model is the HP 9200i. It's a SCSI, which is nice because the burning process won't take up all your computer's resources in the process. And if it is an older computer, you definitely won't be able to do anything else while the CD is being made. The downside to this is that you'll need to buy an additional SCSI card, so I wouldn't bother unless you can't live without it.

Now that I look at it, the 9200 series isn't on HP's website, but their drives are good.

I use Adaptec Easy CD Creator as well and have had absolutely no problems with it.

As for extracting music from a CD to make into MP3's, I use a "bought" copy of Audiocatalyst. But I got the impression that MP3's weren't her main focus. As for turning downloaded music into CD's, I happen to use Winamp for that, but I agree with Seb that it could be a bit difficult, however if she saw it done once she would have no problems.

Good luck!

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FURIOS Df>c>

[ogAkira]

Ahhh...take my advice Ray.c> Who wuld know best then me, "The INFAMOUS bootlegger!" (ooops...did i say dat?:eek None of these other replies seem to answer ur question. Maybe they'll learn a thing or 2 too. Hardware, i suggest a SCSI, 8x burn speed(or higher), CDR. Reasons: SCSI, because faster and compatible with more burning and audio softwares.(i.e. Wavelab audio program werks with SCSI interface) CDR, because the CDR media is so much cheaper then CDRW medias. It'z so cheap that it over compensates for the ability to REWRITE and saves time. If U screw up on a cd, jus thro it away and use a new one. Cheap and saves time from reburning.

Software, I recommend Nero http://www.ahead.de/en/download.htm Download the latest demo and then(option) search for the crack. http://astalavista.box.sk/ It used to be, U wuld need an Audio program or Winamp to uncompress MP3(popular web format) files into WAV(format for audio cd) But with Nero it's as easy as drag and drop.(Auto uncompression when droppin MP3 files to ur new audio cd to be burned) When copying CD'z in Nero, Nero dumps the image into ur HD and then dumps them bak on ur blank CD. Eliminating the need for a CDROM. It even haz the ability to override most copy protectionz. This shuld make U look like a genius to ur daughter. By the way how old iz she? j/k

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For educational purposes only, I in NO way condone the stealing of music files or softwares. Keeping the Internet FREE.

"Long LIVE Napster!!!!!!!!"

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ogAkira

[sinsemillaftp]

I dont know if this was mentioned already, but make sure the burner is "burn-proof". If not it will probably mess up alot. Trust me, I went through two of them.

[Sam_D]

Burn-proof?

CD-R only?

EasyCDCreator/Anything else?

Geez Ray you must be confused!

I'll try to sort all this out.

- I'd recommend any drive from TDK or Plextor, specifically the

TDK veloCD (at http://www.tdk.com/velocd- new/16index.html) or the

Plextor PlexWriter 12/10/32s (at http://www.tdk.com/velocd-new/16index.html). These products should never burn coasters, that is, CDs that don't work (although mine only burns coasters 1/2 the time), and would be more than adquate for her use.

Gamecopyworld.com can help you out with, well, copying games, but since she isn't doing that...that might not be much of a help.

It's kinda late here, I'm thinking about going to bed. I'll finish this later.

Sam

Good Luck with Freshnex!

[Spider124]

Ray, I sympathize with your comment about the sound quality.

My friends at school keep giving me cd's full of mp3's and telling me how awesome they will sound on my Klipsches. 'Gee, thanks.'

Sam is right, burn-proof is an excellent idea. I think Plextor might make a 10/8/24 or something, that is slightly slower but still plenty fast for what she wants to do and should still have burn-proof.

Whatever burner you get, you might want to look into the burning software Nero, which is a little harder to use than some, maybe, but can do nifty things like burn directly from .mp3's to the CD-R without having to first convert to .wav files.

Charlie

[Windstorm]

Before you buy a burner, check how fast your CDROM drive can do digital audio extraction. Even a new (ex. 52X) cdrom can have a very low DAE speed. (I have a Pioneer 16X DVD which is a very fast CD reader, but the DAE speed is only 12X) A fast burner will be a waste of cash if your reader can't keep up - you will need to first copy the source CD to the hard drive, which will make it slow.

Also with Adaptec (roxio) EZcreator 4 you don't need to convert mp3's before burning them, it will automatically convert them into audio tracks if you make an audio cd.

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Caring is the first step toward disappointment.