Hi all, apologies if this has been covered or is posted in the wrong place, I am n00b beyond n00b and very out of my depth... would be grateful for some help though. I am creating a compilation CD from CD's in my collection. It needs to play in a standard stereo (not clever MP3-reading tehcnology or anything like that). I am happy with the process of burning "closed" audio CDs, but my issue is one of sound quality - I want the compilation CD to be indistinguishable (or as close as possible) in quality from the source CDs. I have copied the tracks I want onto my hard-drive, using Windows Media Player, in WMA format, as both VBR (Highest Quality) and Lossless. My question is, which ones should I use to burn the compilation CD? I know that Lossless is the 'best' quality format, but don't know if there are any known issues when it comes to burning CDs from Lossless files - either in terms of quality degredation, or simply that the filesize is too large to get anything more than n tracks on one CD. Equally, I don't know if VBR is more than sufficient for most purposes. Also (I don't know if this is an issue, but I'm covering all my bases) I intend to use SoundForge to manipulate some of the tracks (fadeout, equalising track volumes, etc) before burning. Again, I want to make sure there are no issues with loss of quality or difficulty in CD-writing with Sonar-manipulated files. Finally, I intend to use Nero or Media Player to burn the tracks - again, if anyone is recoiling in horror at the very thought of either of these ideas, I'd be very grateful for a heads-up (and alternative recommendation). Any tips / advice would be gratefully received - again, apologies if I'm in the wrong area or going over old territory... I searched the forums for VBR and Lossless and couldn't find anything that answered my specific query. 7ape
Hi, if ur planning to just copy the CD's straight, then i suggest just use Nero and do a CD to CD copy, easiest way of not loosin sound quality. If u want to tweak the audio with Sonic then i doubt it would dramatically alter the sound quality. As for which sound quality its a case of playing around with it really, the quality can be determined by more than the file, can be speakers, soundcard etc. Just play around with it see which sounds better for the size of the file. I really doubt u'll have any problems with it, trial and error really. Its not like blank CD's cost much anyway if u do mess up. If u have any severe problems gimmie a shout, good luck with it
This is a bit of an understatement Allow me to elaborate so it is very clear. If you wish to burn a music CD, you want to copy the individual tracks in their native format. This is the redbook CD digital audio standard of pulsecode modulation using 16bit samples @ 44.1kHz. This is not WMA or MP3 format. Simply copy the tracks to your hard disk in their native format. I use CDex v1.51 http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/ One second of stereophonic sound uses 176,400 bytes of disk space, so 1 minute of CD audio takes about 10 MB of disk space. You can then mix, manipulate and burn the tracks however you wish! Good for you, you are aware that MP3s are 'lossy' which already makes you more knowledgeable than many... Regards
Thanks guys! Will check out CDex for ripping the CDs, then SoundForge to get the fade-outs right (plus equalising the volume), then Nero to burn them. Thanks again, 7ape
