Audacity Forum

I have a number of audacity native files and want to burn these. Should I convert them to MP3 for general use or a more common format for playing anywhere?

<<<Should I convert them to MP3 >>>

MP3 not only compresses the file size and makes the music generally available, it also adds damage. Sometimes significant damage

http://www.kozco.com/tech/WAV-MP3.wav

<<<I have a number of audacity native files>>>

Probably not. You probably have a number of Audacity Projects which are file managers and not sound files. Export to get a WAV file of each show and then drop it into Windows Media or the Music CD authoring program of your choice. Windows Media (or Nero, Easy CD Creator, Veritas) will happily burn a Music CD for you -- assuming you have a physical CD burner in your machine and at least one CD-R blank. You must use a CD authoring program. If you don't, you'll most likely end up with a DATA CD which won't play music everywhere.

Koz

Ah!, I thought it needed to be MP3 to play on any CD HiFi kit. Basically I want to fill up a 670Mbyte CD with a load of old tapes.

So I must export to WAV to play on non PC players (home hi-fi, etc.)?

They're just different. Music CDs are limited by time. 78-1/2 minutes on each Music CD. It doesn't matter how large the original files were, your authoring program will convert them to 44100, 16-bit, Stereo and then burn them onto a blank in a special format for space saving. It could be said that if you convert or capture all your original work to 44100, 16-bit, Stereo in Audacity, then there is no format adaptation or damage when you make the Music CD.

These, in general, will play anywhere in the world.

Data CDs are round, shiny hard drives. You can put anything on there you please: Photoshop pictures, Excel Spreadsheets, or MP3s. Some players know how to play MP3s from a Data CD. A lot don't. My sister's new car will play them just fine, but my older truck and portable CD player will not.

Those can contain billions of hours of music if you can put up with the compression damage and find the right player.

Koz

Thanks, this is helping me learn. I have two tapes bought into Audacity. I have exported these (I think it said 128KB/s!) as MP3 and then added them to the WMP burn list. Trouble is it only burnt one of them to the CD and it will not allow me to add the other one (it is a R/W CD). It sais I should insert a blank CD. Also the tape I imported now appears as one track for the whole Tape (album).

How do I add another exported tape file to this CD and then another one?

CD-R. Accept no substitutes. Buy a short stack of Sonys at any Office Store until you get the process down. That will eliminate the ratty blank problem. You can experiment with cheap blanks later.

http://wiki.audacityteam.org/index.php? ... ate_tracks

Koz

Excelent, thanks.