Burning Audio CDs

[neillsmob]

i am trying to burn audio cds with WMP9, but when i play them in my CD player the songs start to jump and i have to stop the player, the files start off as .wma files i now that WMP9 converts them to a format for cd players to play them, but can i get software to convert the audio files first and then burn them to an audio cd or can someone recommend a good program that will do that all for you

[excuzzzeme]

Try NERO, IMO about the best for burning MP3, WMA, and CDA files. Does well at converting most file types including ISO files. Haven't tried on DVD yet. DB PowerAmp good for converting files (including lame) before burning with your favorite buring s/w

[JohnE.]

As excuzzzeme said, Nero should be able to handle the WMA files just fine. However, just to clarify: CDA files aren't audio files (they're small data files that tell the CD player/CD-ROM drive about the length, bit rate and sample rate of the (non-visible) raw audio data on the audio CD) and so cannot themselves be converted, ISO files don't need to be converted (they can be if desired, but this is not a requirement to produce a working CD) and LAME ain't a file type (it's an MP3 encoder) so LAME encoded MP3's can be converted to WAV with any software that can convert MP3's.

I've never used WMP9 for burning audio CD's but if you're ending up with CD's that skip and stutter upon playback I would suspect that perhaps you're burning at too high a speed. Audio discs should be burned at no higher than 12x (depending on the CD-R media quality, sometimes even 12x is too fast). What speed are you burning these discs at?

[neillsmob]

@ JohnE how do you find out the speed that ur burning audio cds, if its in WMP9 properties then the speed is fastest what speed do u recommend to burn audio cds, and if and when i change the settings in WMP9 will i need to change the speed in other burning software or does the speed apply to all programs

[Bill in SD, CA]

Originally posted by neillsmob
can someone recommend a good program that will do that all for you

MusicMatch

Bill

[neillsmob]

@ anybody, can u please tell me what the best speed to burn audio cds
, as off original post =)

[Martoch]

There really is no "magic speed" to burn your audio cd's at...to be honest I burn plenty at 40X with no problems at all. The "common" speed I hear people burning audio is around 20-24x...

[neillsmob]

thx martoch, i was burning the audio cds at the fastest setting and started to get this problem so will put the speed down, plus when i put the speed down in WMP9 properties will that apply to the drive even though i access with another program will the speed be the same as WMP9, thx for your response =)

[JohnE.]

As Martoch said, there isn't a "magic speed" for burning audio CD's; it all depends on the media being used. I've had some generic CD-R media that consistently produced audible errors at 12x but was fine at 24X and some that resulted in coasters at anything higher than 12x. Try 24x at first, test with Nero's CDSpeed or some other CD-R testing utility, and if you get errors, try a lower speed. If lower speeds produce errors, try a higher speed, etc., until you find a good speed for the media you are using.

Generally, higher burn speeds will produce more jitter and BLER (BLock Error Rate) errors but this is not always the case. You should be able to burn cheaper, generic CD-R's at faster speeds if the material isn't critical; you may or may not get errors. It's also possible to burn at "too slow" a speed with some drive/media combinations. Modern CD-RW drives are designed for higher speeds and may actually produce more jitter errors at slower speeds, due to being optimized for high speeds. I use HHB Professional CD-R's for all my critical audio CD's and their 24 Karat Gold CD-R's are only available at 1x-8x, while the Silver only come in 1x-24x. Many, if not most, standalone burners for Professional audio only support up to 24x max.

Also, there isn't a "global" burn speed setting in Windows. If you set the burn speed for WMP9, you'll have to set it individually for your other burning applications as well.

[Dj-Icer]

i also had that kind of problem. i just use nero 5.5, drag and drop down your chosen mp3, and burn. your mp3 will turn to audio cda format.