Way behind the times, need help with portable music players!

[Warthog]

O.K. I am way behind the times. I know nothing about portable music. I need basic help. I know of the term MP3 player, other than that, it's about as far as I go. Where do you get the music from? Can I get music off of one of my muic CDs onto one of these players, if so how? When I put a CD in my computer, it see no files on the drive. I searched these formums for MP3 players and think I want to by one of the IRiver models. That's as far as I can get without more help.

Thanks, Lowell.

 

[andyfasthands]

IPOD --it just works!!

 

[SickBeast]

first, you need to "rip" your cd music collection onto your computer with a program like musicmatch, or windows media player. then you can copy the mp3 files onto your player. if you opt for a minidisc player, they include software to copy cds straight onto the player.

i would suggest either getting an apple ipod or a sony minidisc player, as the flash memory based players rely heavily on connecting them to your computer on a daily basis. the new 30 gig ipod could easily hold your entire music collection. minidiscs can hold 2 full albums (160 minutes) on a single disc, and the discs are only $2-3 each. they also boast a massive 56 hour battery life on a single "aa" battery.

 

[zha4fh]

i love the frontier labs unit.
it shows up as a drive in file explorer. You dont need crap software to transfer files. supports wma also. firmware upgradeable.
i have compact flash cards (from digicamera), so this was perfect for me.



frontierlabs

if you want mass storage, then get the ipod.

 

[Warthog]

"first, you need to "rip" your cd music collection onto your computer with a program like musicmatch, or windows media player. then you can copy the mp3 files onto your player. if you opt for a minidisc player, they include software to copy cds straight onto the player."

Thanks for the replies so far. O.K. Still a little stupid here. So the music on my CDs is already MP3 format, or does this Music Maker software do that for me?

I have also considered the IPod, but my wife will mainly use the MP3 player at the gym. It's a little pricey for that much use.

Thanks Lowell

 

[Warthog]

I have got it. I just went out to Altavista and grabbed a CD to MP3 Ripper progam to evaluate. I don't want to do anything fancy. Are there some cheap/free converters out there? Thanks

 

[ALstonLoong]

Get a MD player !!!! Get a better MD .. is worth it.

 

[Actaeon]

Go for a good MP3 CD Player or an iPod. I would personally get an iPod if i had the money, but they are super expensive.

But if you're on a budget, an mp3-cd is always nice. You can typically hold between 100-300 songs on a CD, you can carry as many cds as you want, able to burn an mp3-cd on any computer with a burner, and play regular cds as well. No weirdo special attachments. No skipping or anything.

I know my friend had an MP3CD player that had rechargeable battery kit that came with it, that plugs into the cd player, and it starts recharging. Each set of batteries are supposed to last about 24 hours. They save batteries by just spinning the CD enough to read the MP3, and nothing more. Doesn't have to spin the cd anymore, saves on batteries. Not all CD players might do this, so look around. I'm just telling you what I've seen.

I currently own an MP3 CD player for my car, and I love it. I encode all my songs on 320kbps quality format, and I can hold a bit over 100 songs per 700mb cd.

 

[50]

Get a first edition ipod 5 gig really cheap, don't get a MD player, they're barely holding on in the market (pretty much sony has the only decent ones)

 

[screw3d]

Originally posted by: Warthog
I have got it. I just went out to Altavista and grabbed a CD to MP3 Ripper progam to evaluate. I don't want to do anything fancy. Are there some cheap/free converters out there? Thanks

It's your lucky day. The best ripper/encoder is free after all..

Either go CDex or EAC/LAME.

LAME is the mp3 encoder...

Google for more info on the presets and how to use it!

 

[billandopus]

Originally posted by: Warthog
"first, you need to "rip" your cd music collection onto your computer with a program like musicmatch, or windows media player. then you can copy the mp3 files onto your player. if you opt for a minidisc player, they include software to copy cds straight onto the player."

Thanks for the replies so far. O.K. Still a little stupid here. So the music on my CDs is already MP3 format, or does this Music Maker software do that for me?

I have also considered the IPod, but my wife will mainly use the MP3 player at the gym. It's a little pricey for that much use.

Thanks Lowell

Music that's already on a commercial cd that you get from a store is in an "uncompressed" format usually with the extension of .cda - an mp3 is an algorithm (mathematical formula) that was invented to reduce file size significantly at the expense of some quality. This is done - in layperson terms - by removing data from a data file (.cda from a music cd) that a human being cannot really hear and leaving the stuff in that you can. This will make a huge difference to file sizes.

For example, a 3.5 minute .cda track on a cd will be around 45-60 megabytes large, ballpark. Converting them to .mp3 format will reduce the file size to around 3.5 - 5 megabytes. Mp3's were probably created in response to inefficent transfers over the internet back when dialup was still dominant. There may be other reasons but this is probably the biggie. It would take forever to download 50 megs but 4 megs is much better.

In order to convert your cd tracks (.cda) to .mp3 you need to use a program (there are bazillions available, many for free on the 'net) like EAC that will convert your .cda to .mp3. These programs use "codecs" - of which there are many - that actually convert/compress the .cda to the smaller .mp3 format.

Some programs like MusicMatch have these codecs built in for convenience. Since not all codecs are built the same (some are arguably better at doing their job than others resulting in better sounding .mp3 files) some programs like the popular EAC allow you to piggyback the codec of your choice to the "front end" program which is EAC to suit your preferences. Keep in mind that programs like EAC will allow you to control the level of quality converted which will impact file size. This makes a difference to how many songs you will fit in your player since we all have finite amounts of space. Flash-based players have more space limitations so the codec and level of compression you select will affect how many songs you will have on tap to listen to. Hard Drive based players like the IPOD and others have huge amounts of space relatively so high compression/compromise is less necessary since the difference of 2000 versus 2250 songs is negligible.

So, this is what you do in a nutshell:

- slap cd into computer
- open up your program of choice and select the cd tracks you want to convert to .mp3 (EAC will see .cda's as WAV format - "wave" files)
- once converted you select the tracks to transfer to your player

If you are using a cd-based .mp3 player then you will have to convert, select .mp3 tracks and then burn onto media.

Any other questions i'd be happy to help you out. Beware that EAC - while very popular - has a relatively steep(er) learning curve than other programs. But the potentially top quality .mp3 files you can create lead many to give it a shot.
I have an .mp3 cd-based player for the car and it's awesome. 140-170 songs on a single cdr/w makes a long trip much more palatable.