Hey guys, I'm new here and this is a great site for finding stuff out. I know that it is possible to compress Wav files so to fit more on audio CDs, but I'm unsure how to do it. I've searched for software, and have found a few programs, but the reviews aren't great, saying that the compression is not even 20% and that most CD players don't support compressed Wav files, although that sounds pretty silly to me. Does anyone know if there is some kind of software I can download that will greatly reduce the size of the file without losing much of the quality, and that will be recognised by most CD players? I'm lead to believe that file sizes can be reduced up to 75%. Thanks guys, any advice will be appreciated. The reason I want to compress Wav is because my friends want the whole Dire Straits discography copying, and it would be great to fit at least 2 albums on one CD.
You can use APE to losslessly compress 2:1, but no standalone CD player I'm aware of will play it back. As far as I know, no compression scheme will allow playback on a regular player. For a disc to play back as a CD it must conform to "Redbook" standards, which specifies all the playback criteria. An disc that doesn't conform to that spec is not, by definition, a CD. I'm sure you're aware that you could use MP3 at the highest bitrates using VBR and get a pretty decent sounding disc. If you go that route you may get all the Dire Straits CDs onto one disc. Or if you want to use DVD, you can transcode the 44.1 khz WAV. files to 48 khz and burn them to DVD with virtually *no* loss of S/Q. Really I can't see what the big deal would be with using more discs, though. Even if you use the best & most expensive discs (ie Mitsui) you're still only talking $.50 per CD, maybe $1 if you go for printable CD-Rs. Assuming you're copying your friends *own personal* CDs for them merely as a favor, they can buy their own damn discs!
Yeah I've already made an MP3 CD with all the albums on for my car. The problem is that most stereos don't have MP3 CD or DVD players on them, and I just wondered to save hassle if I could compress the WAV files in order to fit more onto ordinary music CDs. I read that it was possible somewhere, but it seems I may just have to stick to ordinary methods. BTW - If I was to burn music in MP3 format onto a DVD, would a normal DVD player play the files? I'm guessing yes, but I haven't really got into the DVD world yet. Thanks buddy!
