convert talks CDs to audio downloads

Special Interest Groups Audiobook Production
1

Hi :slight_smile:

New here, but not so new to Audacity (thank you). Several years ago I created a series of talks CDs using Audacity and have been (sporadically) selling these online. But paying for hard copies and then trotting along to the post office with a parcel (to pay huge postage costs) has become tedious. :bulb:

The question is therefore whether I need special/separate software (besides Audacity) to produce a downloadable file (or folder with a series of files), or can I simply convert the .wav files to mp3, complete metadata, attach an image, and stick it all in a folder?..

Is it really that easy, or does it need to be specially formatted (like converting a Word doc to epub or mobi)? :question:

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

Rick

:slight_smile:

2

You can do most of this with Audacity (but not the artwork image) but there are probably easier tools you could use.

Personally I would use iTunes, set it to rip to MP3 at the required rate,. Rip the CD, adjust metadata, add artwork. This should create a set of MP3 files in a folder defined by artist>album wherever your iTunes library is stored.

You could also try using CDex of EAC (Exact Audio Copy) from memory I think both of those can be set to rip to MP3 - but I never find them as easy to use as iTunes.

All three are available as free downloads.

WC

3

wow, that was quick - thank you WC :smiley:

Being a total numpty (have not used itunes as yet :blush: ), once converted via itunes will the resulting product be of such a type as to be able to be made available via another outlet (ie. my own website rather than itunes), and will the format be such that it will be usable to other non-itunes users? :confused:

It could be that I need to move with the times (only this week we converted our book to epub, and also created an Amazon account and converted it to .mobi/kindle, so the concept is not totally alien). I imagined simply having a link on our website to download an electronic copy of each CD. Would we need an itunes version and a non-itunes version, or will itunes simply act as the standalone one-size-fits-all software? How does it work? (Sorry if these are stupid questions.)

Thanks again

Rick :slight_smile:

4

Hi

I may have answered my own question with a useful (but admittedly old) Youtube video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fq_6k-34fz0

It looks like itunes can do everything; pretty much.

thank you again.

Rick

:ugeek:

5

.mp3s are pretty universal you won’t need a separate iTunes version.

I would also recommend using iTunes as the easiest way to convert either CDs or .wav files, but if you’ve never used it before, there is one “gotcha” in that the settings as to whether or not to create an .mp3 or other format file must be setup first. Edit->Preferences-> General Preferences – click “import settings”. On that screen you can select “Import Using” to “MP3 Encoder”, and then under “setting” you can either choose one of their presets, or select “custom” to get access to the mp3 parameters. If the recordings are primarily just speech you will probably be happy with the “Good quality” setting.

Once you’ve converted the tracks to mp3 you can then right-click on the tracks in iTunes, select “Get Info” and from there edit all of the tags in the .mp3 file including inserting artwork if you desire. The “Get Info” will also work if you select a whole set of tracks which makes setting information that is common to them much easier.

Once you’ve created the files you will find them in the iTunes library folder on your computer as iTune\Music\artist\album\ where artist and album are as you specified when labeling the mp3s.

6

Fantastic (and coincides with the YouTube video too).

Thank you

:smiley:

7

Are your MP3’s going to be downloads on your web site or e-mail attachments per the YouTube video? There is no guarantee your or the recipients’ e-mail service will allow attachments larger than a few MB.

If you are going to allow streaming of the talks on your site you may want to use a fairly low MP3 bit rate.


Gale

8

The technical part of that is just finding the right instructions. The payment part can be a little more challenging.
Koz

9

Thanks

I hope to have a link on the website, possibly taking payment through paypal. Whether I will be able to make it all automated (depends on the website template’s ‘shop’ facility), or whether I will have to take payment and try to send the person a link within a day or so, time will tell.
:confused: