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How to Burn a CD
from the 9.07.04 issue of WorshipIdeas.com
A few weeks ago I wrote a short tutorial
on MP3s. You can
read this article
in the free "how
to
basics" section
of
WorshipHomePage.com:
http://www.worshiphomepage.com/howtobasics.shtml
This week I'll show
you what to do with
those
MP3s with
several handy tips.
You've no doubt heard
all the fuss about
MP3s and how
they're bankrupting
the music industry
-
it's front page
news. Here's why,
in plain English:
Stick any audio CD
into your computer's
hard
drive and you
can suck any song
off the CD and put
it on
your computer (or
a portable device).
This is called "ripping"
the CD.
In the MP3 how-to
article I talked
about
WAV files - this
is
the file format the
song is in on your
audio
CD, but it's a
large file. When
you rip a CD, your
software
will usually
convert this big
WAV file into a smaller
MP3 or WMA (Windows
Media Audio).
This is why the music
industry is going
bankrupt
- people
are sending these
smaller audio files
to
each other for free
via the Internet.
The old Napster,
Kazaa
and other websites
are known as file-sharing
networks and have
thousands of
free MP3s available
for download.
You get what you
pay for - I've found
these
free file
sharing networks
to be more of a headache
than they're
worth. You have to
download software
to interface
with these
networks, and most
of the software contains
spyware (hidden
programs that track
your Internet habits).
Plus, the MP3s
are spotty - they're
often of low quality
and sometimes the
songs are cut off
at the end.
Then along came Apple
and their groundbreaking
online music
store iTunes which
proved people will
buy
online audio files
(unfortunately Apple's
song downloads are
NOT in the MP3
format and will only
work on their iPod
-
I'll never use
this website). However,
several other websites
now offer
song downloads in
the more versatile
WMA
format. Two of my
favs for Christian
music are at the
WorshipHomePage.com
link:
http://www.worshiphomepage.com/mp3s.shtml
I'm all for free
MP3s, but I'd just
as soon
spend .88 at
Walmart's online
music store for convenience
- I know I'll
get the full song
with good sound quality.
Of course you'll
need software to
do all
this audio magic.
Most new computers
with CD-ROM drives
come
with software to
burn CDs. Windows
Media Player will
rip and
burn CDs.
>How to rip a
CD with Windows XP:
First, make sure
you have the latest
version
of Windows
Media Player, version
10:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/
Put an audio CD in
your computer's CD-ROM
drive and Windows
Media Player will
open and play the
CD.
The Player has a
tool bar at the top
of the
window - simply
select "Rip"
to suck the songs
off the CD and put
them on
your computer. When
the Player is first
used,
it might ask
you to define settings.
You can choose to
rip the songs in
MP3 or WMA formats.
To manually change
settings, select
the "Rip"
tab, then
right click it. Select
"tools"
then "options"
then the "rip
music" tab.
I use the MP3 setting
at
192 Kbps - a good
compromise between
size and sound quality.
I like MP3s
better because it's
a more universal
format.
Under the same "rip
music" tab
I created my own
MP3 folder
called "Mp3s"
and specified that
I want to rip all
my audio
files to this folder
(otherwise the Player
will store the
sound files who-knows-where!)
Now I keep
all my MP3s in my
"Mp3" folder
so I can always find
them.
>How to burn a
CD with Windows XP:
Method 1:
When you want to
create your own CD
with
MP3s or WMA files,
open the Windows
Media Player and
select
the "Burn"
tab.
Choose the files
you want to burn
and insert
a blank CD into
your CD-ROM drive.
Click "Start
Burn."
Method 2: super easy!
Put a blank CD in
your CD-ROM drive.
Open
an explorer window
(right click your
start button, select
"Explore.")
Go to the
folder where you
keep your sound files.
Select
the files you
want to burn. Drag
these files to your
CD
drive. Windows
will lead you through
the process of burning
the CD.
This method wouldn't
work on my older
computer
with XP, but
worked fine on a
brand new computer
with
XP.
>Other software:
I don't like to install
more software than
I have to, and if
Windows Media Player
gets
the job done,
I'm happy. If you
want to try other
free
software, download
the Music Match Jukebox
to both rip and burn
CDs:
http://www.musicmatch.com/
>Audio vs. data:
If you have fancier
ripping
/ burning
software (that you've
either purchased
or
comes with your
computer) be aware
of the differences
between
audio and
data.
Burn the CD as audio
if you want to hear
the music on a CD
player. You'll only
want to burn audio
files
as audio.
If you want to store
your MP3s (or backup
other data) then
burn a CD in the
data format.
To further confuse
you, some new CD
players
(even some car
CD players) will
play DATA CDs with
MP3s!
When you burn an
audio CD with MP3s,
your software turns
the
MP3s into large
WAV files so your
normal, everyday
CD player
can play it.
You can only fit
about 70-80 minutes
of music
on an audio
CD.
On the other hand,
a data CD can hold
hundreds
of the
smaller MP3 or WMA
files. So a CD player
that can read MP3
files will play a
data CD for hours.
Check
your owner's
manual before you
insert a data CD
into your
CD player to
see if it will play
MP3 files.
>Saving an MP3
to your hard drive:
All
Internet browsers
are
different, but usually
when you click an
MP3 link (like the
ones at the PraiseSongStore.com)
your IE
browser will open
a
little blue panel
on the left and try
to
play the file.
To save the MP3 to
your hard drive,
RIGHT
click on the MP3
link. A little box
should pop up by
your
mouse cursor.
Select "save
target as" to
manually
save the MP3 to your
hard drive. As I
said above, I've
created
a special "Mp3"
folder where I keep
all my music files,
and
I always save my
MP3s to this folder
so I know where they
are.
>>>More on iTunes: WorshipIdeas reader Brian Victory had a
few comments about
my article on burning
CDs:
"The tunes work
best with their FREE
iTunes software,
available for Windows
and Mac users alike.
From within
iTunes, a user can
easily burn a CD
of a
custom mix of music
of their own choosing.
"Furthermore,
when the user drags
the
audio file from the
iTunes window onto
the desktop it is
automatically
converted
into an MP3 file.
This can be used
by Windows
Media (if
you'd want). Additionally,
iTunes will rip
one or all tracks
from an inserted
CD and then add title
and
artist info from
the CDDB database.
My experience of
using
both programs on
both Mac and PC platforms
is that iTunes
is less "buggy"
than the Windows
Media application." |
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