mp3 help

[bobbait]

my wife wants to put some cd's on her mp3 player. anyway convert them? a free program (sorry, I'm cheap) any help would umm? help.

thanks

[ctc]

Hmmmm....

itunes works pretty good for that. It wants to update all the time, and asks to be your main player; but you can ignore that. The current version records music as mp4's, but I haven't had a problem on any players that play mp3's.

Don C.

[Cosmicman]

my wife wants to put some cd's on her mp3 player. anyway convert them? a free program (sorry, I'm cheap) any help would umm? help.

thanks

Windows Media is free. It comes with your computer and it has a RIP tab. You put your CD in and click RIP CD. Pretty simple.

Make sure you go into your options and change the RIP options from WMA to Mp3. Otherwise it will automatically rip them into WMA (Windows Media Audio)

Pretty easy.

[Riffster]

^ that's what i use

[Cosmicman]

^ that's what i use

Right! We all do.
(Well if you own a crappy MAC, your S.O.L)

...and if for some reason your computer don't have it (Got deleted) or if it isn't working right. You can just re-download it or upgrade it right here.

Windows Media Player 11

If you have shiity Vista, then go here to install Windows Media 11

Download details: Update for Windows Media Player 11 for Windows Vista (KB931621)

[SeattleEd]

It depends on what platform you are using.
If you are MAC intel person then I would recommend MPEG Streamclip or Mac The Ripper 2.6.6 version They are free and are very stable. Also does your DVD's as well. FFMPEGX is really good and utilizes their own codec. QuickTime is good and has a stable codec. This is what's found on iTunes.
MAC power-PC users can utilize these apps as well but might have to get earlier versions.

If your a Windows intel person I would recommend Quicktime or iTunes but not stable of course.
dbPowerAmp is highly recommended and has several components that you can DL and register.
WINamp is another good one as well.
Windows Media Player has a built in encoder and you might have to DL the plugin for certain mp3 codec even at times purchase. They don't utilize the LAME or Fraunhofer codec but rather their own codec even though the LAME is free.
I can tell that working in the industry for over 10 years with digital media, mostly audio, I would not recommend Window Media or Real Media. WMA files do not sound great unless you utilize their surround sound losses which great if you are into that. A poor man's Dolby but free. You will need to get Windows Media Encoder. Real Media is too cumbersome and a huge file. Quick DL and playback but the buffering is a hinderance if you have a narrow pipeline.
Right I'm working on music videos for the Microsoft LIPS game and of course we have to utilize their WMV codec. Does not look good.
Seem people forget that when you compress something you are squeezing and losing other parts.
Also having a low bitrate and upsampling via transcoding doesn't magically make the audio or video sound or look better. It will remain the same.
Bottom line is one platform is not better than the other, you will need to mix and match. That's what I do at home. Capture to a MAC and mixdown and edit on a PC. At work it's all MAC with some PC encoding.
I want to work with LINUX since it's more stable.
I digress but check out those apps I mentioned. Some are straight forward while require digging to make it work.

I'm certain other forumites will have other opinions about other apps. This is what I can tell you based on working with digital multimedia for so long.

[WannabeMego]

If all you want to do is rip CD/Music to an IPOD and/or MP3 Player, then I'd recommend:

Free CD Ripper

Very Simple, Straightforward, and Free.

Also, if that is all you want to do, you can rip the CD/Music at a 128 Bitrate...this is the lowest I would go. It will allow you to fit more music on your portable player without too much of a noticeable loss to the music.

If you're looking for something more complex and robust, there are plenty of free apps (some already mentioned) such as Audacity that will help you edit, mix, and manipulate to you hearts content.

Hope this Helps

[ctc]

Hmmmm....

Audacity is pretty good, but you'll need the LAME add-on for working with mp3s.

Don C.

[SeattleEd]

Also, if that is all you want to do, you can rip the CD/Music at a 128 Bitrate...this is the lowest I would go. It will allow you to fit more music on your portable player without too much of a noticeable loss to the music.

I kindly disagree on the 128. There is noticeable loss to audio. You can do a A/B test and you will certainly notice the difference. I never go below 192 and in regards to space, storage is not an issue any longer with newer players. Older players you will be S.O.L.
I usually rip to Lossless since I prefer quality over quantity. Not to mention being an audiophile I tend to veer toward higher fidelity.
I hope I'm not coming off as snob or jerk. Just trying to inform people about audio and that there is a difference in quality. It's sad to see people conditioning their hearing to ignoring certain frequencies that are omitted in lower quality digital audio.
I can't wait when higher bitmapping and sampling frequencies become the norm. HD is here and the audio quality certainly is an important factor to consumers now.
Microsoft is the worse. They are picky about the smallest pixel blemish on a video.

[Cosmicman]

Dude. Just use what comes with your computer.

No need to put more unnecessary **** on there, that is probably loaded with spyware. No such thing as "freeware" without your computer paying the price somewhere.

[SeattleEd]

Dude. Just use what comes with your computer.

No need to put more unnecessary **** on there, that is probably loaded with spyware. No such thing as "freeware" without your computer paying the price somewhere.

Interesting. One thing I learned is never use what comes pre-loaded since a lot of loads cookies and some spyware, the kind you agree to when you purchase the computer and turning it on.
I always wipe my computer and install from scratch. My XPS DELL laptop came fully loaded with a lot of DELL software and hogged up a lot of the resources.
I wiped it completed and just installed drivers from the manufacturer and then installed the appropriate software I will use, mostly audio and video.
It makes sense to know a lot of about the tools you are using, including your computer. Hence, build it from the ground up, so to speak.