MP3 Files Help

BigJamesGTI

BigJamesGTI

1,931
I have some music tracks saved to my PC which I have uploaded from a bought CD. I now would like to transfer them to my phone which only supports MP3 files and AAC files. The question is what is an MP3/AAC file and can I somehow convert a music file I have saved into an MP3 file ?? (probably a dumbass question but hey Im learning !! )

ps this is similair to my thread about new mobile phone advice but its a different topic altogether so I figured I'm OK to make a new thread - sorry if Im not.

 
What is an MP3, where you been :)

It stands for MPEG-1 Layer 3 audio compression. (Moving Picture Experts Group or something) It has become a standard in reducing the file size of .WAV etc.

You can use many programs such as wavelab to convert from one to the other. If you ripped it using Media player then they are probably in .WMA or similar. Heres a link to a trial program that works pretty well and allows batch conversion

Extractor
 
Yes, you can.

I suggest dBpowerAMP. It's free, easy, and it'll convert just about any audio file you have.

When you uploaded the files from your CD, what filetype were they saved as? .wav? Or, like skip said, did you just drag and drop the files that were on the CD? If the latter, you aren't going to be able to do anything with those files. You'll need to extract the files on the CD with CDex or Exact Audio Copy. I've used both, and they're both very free and very excellent. CDex is a little easier, but I like how Exact Audio Copy does things. Make sure that if you extract the files from your CD into MP3 format that you use the LAME encoder.

I hope that makes sense.
 
I figured that when I uploaded a CD onto the PC it took the data across as well ?? So I need the actual data which makes the file.
The programs look pretty useful but cost cash !!! oop North we dont like paying for things !!
 
BigJamesGTI
I figured that when I uploaded a CD onto the PC it took the data across as well ?? So I need the actual data which makes the file.
The programs look pretty useful but cost cash !!! oop North we dont like paying for things !!
Click to expand...

Klos's one is free and mine is free for 30days :)

Do you have windows media player? There is a tab "Copy from CD" that will take care of the "ripping" for you, then use one of the programs to convert the .wma into the format of your choice, usually mp3
 
Klos Ive d/l the cdex program and Im tearing my hair out trying to figure out how to use the damn thing.

Ive got the main page open but how do I get the data into cdex from the CD ? Ive done drag and drop - Ive clicked on the option over on the right hand side but theres nothing. The guide tells me I have to configure the program first and goes on about CD-R drive or option which I cant even find !!

HELP !!
 
CDs contain raw audio files called WAV files. Because these are raw, uncompressed files they can be in excess of 40mb. Along comes MP3. It takes the uncompressed WAV and throws away data you're less likely to hear, and thus reduces the filesize to a reasonable size (roughly 5mb - the filesize depends on the length of the song).

To make an MP3, you need a CD ripper. Basically, a CD ripper will extract the WAVs off the CD and then compress them using MP3 (or another format).

BigJamesGTI
Klos Ive d/l the cdex program and Im tearing my hair out trying to figure out how to use the damn thing.

Ive got the main page open but how do I get the data into cdex from the CD ? Ive done drag and drop - Ive clicked on the option over on the right hand side but theres nothing. The guide tells me I have to configure the program first and goes on about CD-R drive or option which I cant even find !!

HELP !!
Click to expand...
I think Audiograbber is more suited to your level of expertise. Install it, pop-in a CD, check the MP3 box at the top, select the songs you want to rip and hit OK. You're obviously not an audiophile who wants to configure their MP3 encoder to off the greatest quality, so I wouldn't worry too much with CDex and EAC.
 
Thanks for that Shannon - I like the comment about my level of expertise !!!

So Ive d/l the program click MP3 at the top and select a track that I want to convert and it gives me an error message saying that the file isnt 16 bit 44.1 hz or something like that ??

My expertise is somewhat lacking !!!
 
BigJamesGTI
Thanks for that Shannon - I like the comment about my level of expertise !!!

So Ive d/l the program click MP3 at the top and select a track that I want to convert and it gives me an error message saying that the file isnt 16 bit 44.1 hz or something like that ??

My expertise is somewhat lacking !!!
Click to expand...

The question is...how did you get the files on your computer from the CD? If you just dragged the filenames from the CD into a folder, they are not in a suitable format. They are not wav files, they are "red book" compatible audio files. With a file extension of .cda What is the file extension of your tracks? Tools | Folder Options | View | Untick the box "Hide extensions for known files types" to see them.

You need to rip the files properly to make them into a file that the converter will recognise. Or rip them using a program thhat allows you to specify the output format. (Klos..I've got one of them too :) , I thought he had already ripped them into wma, thats why I mentioned the 2 step technique)
 
Shannon
CDs contain raw audio files called WAV files.
Click to expand...

Incorrect, WAV files is just the standard microsoft format that was used before .wma or .mp3 was introduced, and has no compression. The format they are stored on the CD are CDDA, I think.

I tend to use EAC, coupled with LAME.
 
Don't CD's come as .cda files? Depending on how you rip them they can be ripped to AAC, MP3, WAV, you name it.

As for the thread creaters problem use dBpowerAMP with the AAC/M4A Converter, that means you can convert AAC/M4A files to MP3/WAVE/, that's what I use. 👍
 
Race Idiot
Incorrect, WAV files is just the standard microsoft format that was used before .wma or .mp3 was introduced, and has no compression. The format they are stored on the CD are CDDA, I think.

I tend to use EAC, coupled with LAME.
Click to expand...
Incorrect, the .cda file is just a link to an actual WAV file hidden on the CD. If you copy the .cda file straight from the CD to your desktop, you'll see it's only a kew kB in size, and if you go to play it it'll ask you for the CD because it's trying to launch a specific WAV. Think of them as desktop shortcuts to your applications.

I remember seeing this shell extension/replacement thingo for Win9x that actually displayed the WAVs when you inserted an audio CD, instead of CDAs, so you could just copy them straight across to your PC and convert them without the need for a CD ripper. Needless to say, I'm yet to find one for Win2K/XP. :ouch:
 
Shannon
Incorrect, the .cda file is just a link to an actual WAV file hidden on the CD. If you copy the .cda file straight from the CD to your desktop, you'll see it's only a kew kB in size, and if you go to play it it'll ask you for the CD because it's trying to launch a specific WAV. Think of them as desktop shortcuts to your applications.

I remember seeing this shell extension/replacement thingo for Win9x that actually displayed the WAVs when you inserted an audio CD, instead of CDAs, so you could just copy them straight across to your PC and convert them without the need for a CD ripper. Needless to say, I'm yet to find one for Win2K/XP. :ouch:
Click to expand...

Yes, that's the extention.

But CD's are not stored as wav format, it's just what MS uses as a default uncompressed format. Your normal cd player wouldn't recognise them if they were .wav files as it can only read CDDA. See here regarding the Red book CDDA format. If you used a mac to rip cd's uncompressed it probably wouldn't use .wav as a standard, it would more than likely use the .raw format.
 
Race Idiot
Yes, that's the extention.

But CD's are not stored as wav format, it's just what MS uses as a default uncompressed format. Your normal cd player wouldn't recognise them if they were .wav files as it can only read CDDA. See here regarding the Red book CDDA format. If you used a mac to rip cd's uncompressed it probably wouldn't use .wav as a standard, it would more than likely use the .raw format.
Click to expand...

Well done Race Idiot...at least I was right about the Red Book format, I do alot of CD burning, but I couldn't remember which colour of the "Rainbow Book" it was for standard CD audio. Shannon is right however about the shortcut thing, I didn't know that, but have checked and the .cda files are teeny (44kb). You learn something new every day :) I agree a CD player would not recognise .wav

So how is it going BigJames...did you drag the shortcuts onto your PC, or have you managed to rip them properly?
 
Those shortcuts are the way windows was programmed to interpret an audio cd. I don't think the actual cd structure has those 44kb shortcuts on it, but I could be wrong.
 
Race Idiot
Those shortcuts are the way windows was programmed to interpret an audio cd. I don't think the actual cd structure has those 44kb shortcuts on it, but I could be wrong.
Click to expand...

The shorcuts are definitely on the CD, as you can do a file properties on them directly. But like you say that might be a Windows OS interpretation as 44kb seems very large for a Table of Contents(TOC) index file. Let me check...

no...its 44bytes!! yep that is just an index file on the CD that contains the start address of the tune. So you can skip from one track to the next :)

btw the .cda files contain null (code=0) characters...odd
 
Race Idiot
Ahh well I didn't know that, so i've learnt something new now. It contains no characters at all?
Click to expand...

No its odd...open it with a text editor, it has characters that are not ASCII, I would cut and paste them here, but when you copy them you get an error (code=0)

It let me copy these ones...
ÞV3

but after pasting...the first two have changed...they were more like om, anyway I've never seen that error before

"Cannot cut, copy, or drag and drop text containing null(code=0) characters"

The file starts with RIFF$ CDDAfmt, then a disc address. CDDAfmt obviously means CDDA format, not sure about RIFF
 
Non ASCII? the ones you pasted are ascii. Lemme try this

Code: 
RIFF$   CDDAfmt      †(    ™O     4

Oh yeah! it changes those null ones into err random ascii characters.
 
Yeah the ones I posted, aren't the ones I was looking at, plus I couldn't even copy some of them, it came up with that error...but I think now that you can see what I mean :)

Anyway, I feel we are going into WAY to much tech detail here for poor BigJames
 
Tacet_Blue
Well done Race Idiot...at least I was right about the Red Book format, I do alot of CD burning, but I couldn't remember which colour of the "Rainbow Book" it was for standard CD audio. Shannon is right however about the shortcut thing, I didn't know that, but have checked and the .cda files are teeny (44kb). You learn something new every day :) I agree a CD player would not recognise .wav

So how is it going BigJames...did you drag the shortcuts onto your PC, or have you managed to rip them properly?
Click to expand...

AArggh - Its all getting a bit too complicated for me !!!
I used iTunes originally to put the CD's on to the PC. I put the CD in and checked the import button and they are there when I open iTunes. There is an option on iTunes to convert to AAC (which should work for me like MP3 should) but I click the option and I cant seem to use the particular track in AAC format ???
Still struggling !!!
 
I see...iTunes ehh? Are you a Mac user?

I don't have iTunes, so I might not be the best to help you here...I think Sven might be your man.

My guess is that the files you have ripped are in .m4a format. If you could find the file extension for me using file|properties that would help. You can convert these into MP3 using one of the convertors mentioned above. I don't understand why, if your phone supports AAC, that they didn't work. Again I'm guessing, but maybe you have ripped them at too high a quality. The standard for most devices is 44.1KHz, but some newer devices will rip at 48KHz. If the AAC files are at 48KHz they might not be recognised by an older device.
 
Im not a Mac user Tacet - Would it look like I am as Im using iTunes ??

A mate came to help me out and he said to me they were all m4a files so you are correct. The dbpoweramp link above doesnt seem to allow me to download anything ???

And for my next task I want to just use say the middle 30 secs of each song as when I save the whole song to the phone it takes up too much memory !!!!!!
 
Only because I thought iTunes for iPod was Mac only...oh well

Well it sounds like you are nearly there, am I right in thinking you have the song in the form of MP3 and now just want to cut the middle bit out?

What you'll need is a Wave editor. I use Steinberg WaveLab 4, but at around £400 you probably don't want to buy it :) It is "The Daddy" though.

You might want to try out some of these downloads, they are Free and should be able to do what you want (its called cropping :) )

Free Wave Editors

Edit:Actually this one may be best for you
 

Latest Posts

Back