What?s the best way to make mp3 CD?s for my car Alpine?

[FlashG]

I?m real new to the CD burning game so be gentle. Last night I grabbed 3 of my favorite CD?s and attempted to make a single mp3 CD and ?surprise, surprise? I found I couldn?t get there from here. My Plextor 48x24x48A Burner with ?Roxio? software needed to be upgraded to the ($90) platinum edition to do mp3?s.

So I decided to find something free that would do the job. Did a search and found this site. After reading the guide I decided to try the CDex ripping software, LAME encoder and all 3 Tagger utilities.

Then, CDex proceeded to deliver my first blue screen crash in XP-Pro. What happened?
Up until now XP has been rock stable. Should I remove the Plextor burner software and try again? Or should I dump CDex and try using EAC?

And finally, is it reasonable to expect my Alpine CDA-7894 to play 3 CD?s of audio on 1 mp3 CD?

 

[Aves]

Use Exact Audio Copy to rip the CDs and LAME to encode them.

You can have a lot more than 3 CD's worth of MP3s on one disc. I sometimes have as many as ten depending on how big the files are, etc.

 

[Beau]

You didn't need to do any upgrade. Rip the CD's to mp3's, then burn it as a data disc, not an audio cd. I have lots of cd's ripped with LAME's unreal setting. Usually can fit about 7 to 8 full albums on each MP3 cd.

 

[Thegonagle]

First off, get your money back for that Roxio crap ($90 to burn MP3s? That's freaking crazy!), then download the 30 day trial for Nero Burning ROM. It's only $49 after 30 days, and you'll be convinced by then.

I don't know what might be wrong with CDEX, I've never had a problem, but you might have better luck with EAC (though I haven't). EAC doesn't appear to include the LAME codec. Correct me if I'm wrong but you need to install that seperately if you want to use it with EAC, and that seems like a bother.

Once you get the data CD burned, your Alpine should have no problem.

 

[ElFenix]

yep, you need to get lame seperately from eac, but its not like you're doing anything complicated.

 

[thomsbrain]

i use eac as a front end for lame, it's as easy as pointing it to the right program in one of the options tables.

 

[Thegonagle]

OK, so EAC only makes waves from the audio CD?

So doesn't that mean you need to run a different front-end for LAME?

I know it's not complicated. That's what I used to do. It's just a step backwards for me. I mean, I thought those days were long gone.

I love that CDEX acts as the front-end for LAME, and that the LAME DLL is included, so it's a one step process both to install, and to go from CD to MP3.

EDIT: Doh! OK, someone tell me how to set up EAC as a front-end for LAME. I do want to see if EAC does any better on a few of my scratched CDs.

 

[FlashG]

Thanks everyone. As usual you guys are good and fast.

 

[FlashG]

I just wanted everyone to know that I finally got CDex to work (non beta). I had to do a reinstall of Roxio but after that everything went great.

I ripped 2 CD?s last night and loaded up the Alpine this morning expecting the worst. Well ?to make a long story short? I?m amazed. After reading all the noise and pop stories about mp3?s I expected crap. What I actually got was so good I actually pulled the CD out to verify if it was one of the originals. I?m sold.

BTW,
I couldn?t get EAC to work for me. Probably because I?m new at this and haven?t got it configured properly. The latest version has some nice features so I plan on messing with it some more to get it to work.

 

[Legendary]

On a sorta side note - Roxio is one of the worst burning programs I have ever personally used and I recommend you scrap it and head to Nero Burning ROM immediately.

 

[FlashG]

If I?m not mistaken my wife?s new burner has NeroBR already on it. I?ll take you up on your suggestion tonight when I get home.

She doesn?t even know she has a burner or what to do with it yet. To be honest I?m no wizard at it either.

 

[Stark]

Did you get one of the new Alpine decks that play MP3s? Pretty sweet.

I personally have started using WMP9 to rip, catalog, and burn disks. It's by far the easiest. EAC/Lame is good, but it can be a pain. I've deleted my MP3 collection and re-ripped them so many times that I don't mind using windows media for a change. Using the highest bitrate and VBR seems to work fine.

 

[SaltBoy]

Originally posted by: Stark
Did you get one of the new Alpine decks that play MP3s? Pretty sweet.

I personally have started using WMP9 to rip, catalog, and burn disks. It's by far the easiest. EAC/Lame is good, but it can be a pain. I've deleted my MP3 collection and re-ripped them so many times that I don't mind using windows media for a change. Using the highest bitrate and VBR seems to work fine.

Two questions, Stark, that I'm curious about:

1. Is the Windows Media format smaller in disk size compared to .MP3?
2. Does anything else besides WMP play Windows Media?

 

[FlashG]

Yes the Alpine is sweet to the n th power. A 2002 head deck in a 1992 Accord may be strange but it sounds great and the car is paid for.

Only problem with WMP is that I don't think most car decks can use it. The Alpine says mp3 only.

BTW,
The transition time between tracks is almost nonexistent.