cassettes to digital audio cd's

[trish95]

I take my cassettes and record them in the mp3 format so I can listen to them in my car. I have burned many cd's with the mp3 format using Nero, and Easy CD Creator with no problem and no conversion. The cd's play in my car and they are in the mp3 format. Nor do I use a converter.
However, I have a friend who is a great dj, and swears that you have to use the .wav format and you can't listen to mp3's in a car.
Do you agree with my friend? If so, why do you think my computer burns in mp3 format and the disks play in my car, as they do in everyone else's car I put them in?

Thank you for your help.. I really want to know the answer.

Also, is there a way to take an 8 hour course and put it on 1-2 cd's that will play in your car? What about compression ratio?

Thanks again...
Trish

[BrunoRepublic]

Originally Posted by trish95

I take my cassettes and record them in the mp3 format so I can listen to them in my car. I have burned many cd's with the mp3 format using Nero, and Easy CD Creator with no problem and no conversion. The cd's play in my car and they are in the mp3 format. Nor do I use a converter.
However, I have a friend who is a great dj, and swears that you have to use the .wav format and you can't listen to mp3's in a car.
Do you agree with my friend? If so, why do you think my computer burns in mp3 format and the disks play in my car, as they do in everyone else's car I put them in?

Thank you for your help.. I really want to know the answer.

Both Nero and EZ-CD Creator convert the MP3s to WAV (actually, 16-bit 44.1kHz stereo PCM) when you burn the disc as an audio CD. All audio CDs are recorded to this spec, period. Nothing else will play in a standard audio CD player, as they were not designed to handle any form of data compression or any different type of file structure (which, for reasons too long to go into here, is needed for any sort of data storage). Audio CDs, after all, were designed in the early 1980s, long before MP3 compression was created. While audio discs made with Nero or EZCD from MP3s will work in any CD player that can handle CD-Rs (and most can), it defeats the whole purpose of MP3 -- to be able to fit much, much more music on a single disc. For this, you would need to burn a data disc. These will not play in a regular CD player, although some of the newer ones can read data discs with MP3s.

Also, is there a way to take an 8 hour course and put it on 1-2 cd's that will play in your car? What about compression ratio?

If it is a standard, regular CD player, the answer is no. You are limited to 80 minutes per disc. Regular CD players can only read standard stereo audio discs.

If you have one of the new-fangled players that can read MP3 and CD-RW discs, then yes -- but some of these are limited in what they can accept in terms of CBR/VBR, bit rate, etc.; others are quite picky about how the file structure of the disc is laid out.

[trish95]

I do not use data cdr's. I only use digital audio cd's, and after burning the cd's.. I take them out of the cd burner, put them back in, right click on my cd drive, and explore.. the files are all in mp3.. for example..
If Ever I Forget.mp3

I used a data cdr to record a music cd but it would not work in my cd player.. so I use digital audio cd's.. I was told to do that by tech support from a burner company a few years ago.. so that is what I always use, even to back up my data on my computer.

Also, I really do want to understand bitrate or whatever it is I need to in order to compress my tapes in order to fit as much as I can on 1 audio cd. Is there a website to help me?

[BrunoRepublic]

Originally Posted by trish95

I do not use data cdr's.

It's not the kind of disc you use that determines whether it's audio or data, it's how you format it. I make audio CDs all the time with data CDRs.

I used a data cdr to record a music cd but it would not work in my cd player.. so I use digital audio cd's.. I was told to do that by tech support from a burner company a few years ago.. so that is what I always use, even to back up my data on my computer.

You were misinformed. The only difference between the "audio" blanks and the data blanks is that the "audio" ones have a levy on them to pay for lost royalties from piracy, and they also have a header in them that allows them to work in certain consumer CD recorders which have been deliberately crippled to prevent people from using cheaper data blanks.

Also, I really do want to understand bitrate or whatever it is I need to in order to compress my tapes in order to fit as much as I can on 1 audio cd. Is there a website to help me?

As I said before, if it's an audio CD, the max is 80 minutes per disc. Period.

[QUINNY]

[quote="Graham_Start
As I said before, if it's an audio CD, the max is 80 minutes per disc. Period.[/quote]

Or whatever the capacity of the disc is. 90 minute and even 99 minute are now available, but I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole.

Trish: Using audio CD-Rs for burning data at high speed is not necessarily the best option. All CD-Rs are optimised for burning at a specific speed or range of speeds. So although a disc may say 1X-48X, it will have a speed at which the burning process is better than any other speed.
Audio discs should, in theory at least, be optimised at 1X-4X, although in practice I have my doubts if they are any different to the aforementioned 1X-48X discs. Now, if you're burning at 16X, 20X, 24X or faster, in theory an audio only disc will not form the lands and pits with such sharp, well defined edges as a disc that's optimised for burning at higher speeds. Net result; the disc won't sound as good as it should, there will be more errors and therefore the disc shouldn't be as compatible. Your experience tells you different, I know, so something else must be afoot. Possibly a compatibility issue with your car player.
Also, the laser in your burner may have trouble calibrating for an audio disc, 'cos it would have been set up for burning to discs at higher speeds and this will lead to premature failure of the writer, because it's having to use higher laser power settings.

It could be that the data discs you bought were either cheapo (don't go there, really) discs or 80 minute as opposed to 74 minute. A good quality 74 minute disc will always have less compatibility problems than an 80, 90 or 99. It could also be that your car player is an older model and therefore more prone to incompatibility problems than newer ones.

One thing is certain with CD-Rs. Always buy a good brand and you won't have so many problems.

[BrunoRepublic]

Originally Posted by QUINNY

Or whatever the capacity of the disc is. 90 minute and even 99 minute are now available, but I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole.

Indeed. These are so way out of the red book spec that they simply won't work on most regular players. Even 80 minutes is a stretch; there are still a lot of old and/or cheap CD players that can't play these reliably.

A good quality 74 minute disc will always have less compatibility problems than an 80, 90 or 99.

Very true. Unfortunately, it seems that 74 minute blanks are an endangered species. :(

[Forrrce]

I make 90+ min. compilations all the time - even managed a 100:34: burn once. A little quality is sacrificed when you go over 80 mins, sure, but I make these comps. to take to work or whatever - they're not 'masters'.

To date, they won't play correctly on my Pioneer DVD rom drives - but they will and do on absolutely everything else - and I have some old equipment.

[paul]

I plead guilt as well as ignorance to buying cheapie (GQ brand) CDRs. :oops: Can those of you in the know fill me in on the benefits of buying a name brand CDR? I guess by name brand, you guys mean TDK, Maxell, etc.

[paul]

OK, seeing the overwhelming response to my question :lol: I guess the answer is there is no difference. I'll save my money then and keep buying generic CDRs.