I'm a real newbie.... I have Nero 6 installed in XP SP-2. Can cda audio files be converted into another format? How? What are the advantages and/or disadvantages of doing so? Thank you.
If you're looking to convert your CD's to wav or mp3, take a look at CDex. (Freeware) http://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=CDex
Jerome, The cda files are not the actual audio data -- they represent the actual data on the disk. So you need to rip the files. A normal audio CD has the audio in WAV format but converters (like mentioned in the previous post) can rip the files and optionally convert them to another format. WAV is an uncompressed exact representation of the original audio. Many other formats, including mp3, are compressed and lossy. That is, data is lost in the conversion but the loss can be pretty much inaudible. So, if you start with a WAV, convert it to mp3 and then back to WAV you will not have exactly the file you started with. MP3 files can take a lot less space than WAV files though. --Larry
Thank you both very much for taking the time to help. For a newbie this is extremely useful info. Is CDex the best or preferred tool? List of others, preferably freeware? Thanks again.
Windows Media Player will rip to several formats including mp3 and wav. And it's free and you already have it! It's more limited in the kinds of conversions it can do but wav and mp3 cover many of the bases. --Larry
