Please Explain MP3s (1 Viewer)

[Dan Mertz]

I am just now getting into burning my own music CDs. I have no idea what an MP3 file is. If I download music with the intention of buring them onto CDs, do the files have to be .MP3 files or .wma files? I don't have an MP3 player...I just want to create CDs that will play on a regular CD player.

 

[ChrisWiggles]

mp3 files are lossy compressed files. You'd need a cd player with mp3 capability to play them.

You can use a utility like Nero to transfer mp3 files and other files into files that will burn onto an audio CD for listening on pretty much any newer CD player. You can fit many many more mp3 files in mp3 format on a CD, but you need mp3 capable player to read them.

 

[mackie]

If you download music from places like Music Match and itunes you can choose the option to burn them in regular CD format. These files are downloaded in a compressed format, so the CD you burn won't be a perfect copy. The downloads do sound very good though. I have a pretty decent system and I have a hard time telling compressed from non-compressed music.

 

[Dan Mertz]

What is "regular CD format"? Are those .wma files?

 

[Tony Kwong]

For regular audio CD's are formated as PCM 16bit 44khz.

 

[Dan Mertz]

Does that mean I will or will not be able to transfer .wma files to a CD?

 

[Nick Jablome]

On the burning program, look for where it says something about Making an Audio CD, then you should be able to select the songs you want, in your case, either mp3 or wma files, then able to burn them and play them on a regular cd player.

Btw, im assuming you have a burning program, but did you even bother to look at any kind of help file, tutorial, or use the built-in burning wizard found in most burning programs? Those should guide you through burning audio cd's easier and faster then getting help from here.

 

[mackie]

It's a new language. If you're ripping music to your hard drive in non compressed formatt it is saved as a .wav file. This is identical to the original recordnig with no data lost.

Mp3 and .wma files are different compression programs. There are others including apple's .acc but they more or less do the same thing. Lots or people say one is better than the other, but what I find to be the most determining factor in the sound quality is the bit rate in which it is compressed, usually the higher the better, and the quality of the original source.

MP3 files are compatable with the most players but wma and acc are very popular too.

Play around with the different formats and see what you like best.

 

[ChuckSolo]

When you download songs, as I do from the Wal-Mart music site, the files come over in .wma format. Using Windows Media Player 9, the files are converted to .cda which is the standard CD file format while being burned to the CD. BTW, Media Player 9 uses the Roxio burning program. I never really saw the need to download MP3 files for burning onto a disc. I can see them as a media for "electronic" listening like in dedicated mp3 players, but for burning CDs, .wma to .cda makes more sense since ALL CD and DVD players will play the .cda format.

 

[Angelo.M]

.mp3 files can just as easily be translated back to CD format. .wma files hold no advantage in this regard.

 

[JoshR]

Dan,

Neither .WMA nor .MP3 will play on a regular CD. Regular CDs will play .WAV files, but you'll almost never download those.

As mentioned above, the program you use to burn them should have an option to convert them to .WAV so they'll work in your regular CD player. It might not say that exactly, but that's what it does. You'll need to check the manual for the exact option.