Refusal to burn........

[wyattnorm]

Having loads of vinyl and cassette tapes which I want to copy to CD for my own personal use in the car.

I saw a 'Music Grabber' device offered for sale in The Daily Express and upon arrival I find that it use's Audacity to perform the recording.

Very impressed with Audacity and how it performs....I know you are waiting for the 'but'! So here it is.............

I record the track....
Export to the 'WAV' file
Attempt to Burn in Windows Media Player...
In the burn window I can see the track with a red circle, with a white cross alongside.
Click the burn button and I am told of errors in the files.
Click on the red button and I am told that if I PLAY the track, Windows might be able to determine the length of time of the track and then be able to burn.

Play the track...then attempt to burn and hey presto...it works and the CD will work in the home CD player.

So far I have spent 6 hours over two days trying different sources and disks......I have had enough......I can see a 'Returns Slip' being filled out.

Any help will be appreciated.

Kind regards.

Norman

[steve]

Use the returns slip and send Windows Media Player back

You're probably using a really old version of Audacity, so if we update that first it will make life much easier.
Download and install Audacity 1.3.11 from here: http://audacityteam.org/download/
(no need to uninstall the previous version)

With Audacity 1.3.11 installed, go into "Edit menu > Preferences > Quality" and check that the default sample rate is set to 44100 (this is what Audio CDs use).
Make your recording and Export as "16 bit WAV" (it should be the default format).


Now for making an audio CD.
Throw away WMP and use a proper CD burning program. If you don't have one, grab a (free) copy of CDBurnerXP from here: http://cdburnerxp.se/

Make sure that you select "audio CD" as the CD type.
Use CD-R media. Don't try CD-RW (they probably won't work in your CD player).

There's a couple of tutorials that you may find useful - see the "Tutorials" links at top of page.

[wyattnorm]

Steve...many thanks for your swift reply.

Downloaded as you suggested.........?

What I get now is a high pitched whistle, which starts low down and rapidly rises in volume until it appears to fill all available space. This happens with Audacity screen just open and not being asked to perform. If I hover the cursor over the red recording volume bar at the top of the page and click in the empty box, in come the red bars and also the noise, which again builds and builds until it is constant. If I hit the record button, the visible sound scale fills the entire log.

You should know that where computers are concerned, I have more than my share of grief. I don't know why, downloads just never seem to go the easy way. I am beginning to feel sorry for myself.

I am using a Dell Inspiron Laptop, on Vista....less than a year old.

Kind regards.

Norman

[steve]

Sounds like you're getting feedback.

What are you trying to record from? If the microphone is selected and you have sound coming out through the speakers, the sound can go round and round, getting amplified each time 'till it screams. Check out the "Tutorials" links at the top of this page - there are tutorials that cover most recording set-ups, so just look for the one that applies to what you are trying to do.

[wyattnorm]

Many thanks again.

I do not even need to try and record....the feedback just happens. I will have a look at the tutorials.

Kind regards.

Norman.

[wyattnorm]

Steve......Done it!

Finding the original Audacity icon on my desktop, I suddenly had the thought of comparing the Edit/preferences......found the 'PnP' not checked.

Just recorded a tester and lo and behold it is playing perfectly.

Without your help advising the downloads, I would still be pulling my hair out, can't afford that!

The cd burner is brilliant.

Once again many thanks.

Norman.

[wyattnorm]

Steve

I feel a bit foolish now, dishing out such fulsome praise.

It still does not work.

The successful recording that led me to thinking I had cracked it....that replayed successfully....when now inserted in cd player only lets out a loud feedback type noise. I am not even going to try and work out how a good recording can change into a bad one. It did work, now it doesn't.

Having wasted two days and ten cd disks, enough is enough.

As I mentioned in previous post I am a jinx where downloads are concerned. Not yet had one go as intended. Tomtom sat nav, took an expert, sitting on my settee, two hours to correctly install. Spokenword .com refunded download when Windows would not relax some type of inner security and accept a perfectly legal download. Whinge over.

Lurking in the back of my mind is the thought that Vista may not be that good?

The return slip will be filled in this morning and gadget sent back. Audacity will be removed as well, which is a shame as it looks the business, but something is just not working. My son is coming over next weekend and hopefully being young and more clued up, he may be able to offer a solution.

I really do appreciate the time you have taken to offer advice and help.

Many thanks.

Kind regards.

Norman

[waxcylinder]

Norman you would almost certainly be much better off using one of the external USB soundcards which we know works well with Audacity - see this thread: http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=9477

I assume that you already have an existing turntable and cassette deck that you are tring to connect through the MusicGrabber device (which looks like a cheapo external USB soundcard to me from a browse on t'interweb). If you don't have a preamp or hi-fi amp then you will also need a phono pre-amp (I use an ARTcessories DJPre-II). Or you could bet a combined pre-am and USB soundcard - ART also make one of those, looks a good bit of kit.

If you do buy a soundcard or combined unit just maje suer that it fas a gain control so that you can manage thge signal level that is presented to your PC/Audacity from the device.

Post back if you need more advice.

WC

[wyattnorm]

WC...Many thanks for your reply.

It is getting stranger by the minute.

Good news.....Audacity looks to be in the clear. Just taken the burnt cd's to my friends house and tried them on his cd player...they work, then to my car and they work. Put them back into my cd player and the player ejects them instantly. We have used this cd player for years and it still plays any and every cd that is offered to it. I can't imagine what is different about these newly recorded disks.

The audio device that I bought is on sale through all the popular daily papers in their readers offers page, which led me to thinking that it was probably a reasonable buy, but I am willing to be corrected on this point. It was not as expensive as the usb turntables that my wife wanted to buy. It is featured on the Daily Express Readers Offers site and is called....AudCap USB Audio Capture Adaptor at £29....... Have I been suckered into buying a pup? Opinions will be welcomed.

I am now considering how to overcome the non-playing of these cd's.

Kind regards.

Norman

[waxcylinder]

Have I been suckered into buying a pup? Opinions will be welcomed.

Not necessarily - but it is a case a Caveat Emptor (as the lawyers say) - however if it is not "fit for purpose" i.e.doesn't work properly then in the the UK you are entitled to your monety back. I wouldn't personally buy a device as cheap as this - unless I had very good personal recommendations.

I also wouldn't bother with the USB turntables - especially if you already have a TT and a tape deck - 6the forum is littered with folk who have problems especially with the cheaper versions of these devices.

You may not even need any other external device at all. If your PC has a Line in normally coloured blue (NOT a MIC in - and note that most laptops only have a mic in) and if the onboard soundcard in your PC is anything like reasonable (and it's likely to be at least as good and possibly better than the AudCap USB Audio Capture Adaptor device) - then all you need is a cable to go from the outputs of your pre-amp/amp to the line in on your PC - normally this will be a pair of RCA plugs to a 3.5mm stereo jack.

Have a look at this page in the manual: http://manual.audacityteam.org/index.ph ... iscs_to_CD

and this page from the Wiki: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Trans ... uter_or_CD

WC