MP3 Players....again!

[john]

Is it me or the software that comes with them and the instruction booklets useless?
I've had two players since Christmas Eve and in both cases both the software and booklets have been a complete waste of time. The same applies to said items that came with H's player.

There is a much easier way around all this:
1 Firstly turning normal cd files into mp3's, use www.dbpoweramp.com/dmc.htm , its a free download and completely simple and you can even change the size of the file.
2 When you're mp3 player is connected to your pc the pc thinks the player is another drive, just find it and drag and drop the files into it.....simple.

Cya

[Deleted]

I use something called audiograbber for changing my CDs into MP3's. Very useful little program.

[fullofbull]

when i'm more sober i'll tell you the best way to turn cd's into mp3's.
The programme is exact audio copy. The encoding method is lame.
The quality is superb.
They are free programmes.

[john]

Lame is what is used by dbpower

[harmerhillshrew]

Mrs HHS is hitting Meole Brace tomorrow looking for bargians.

Do you want me to drop Nick off at your place John for a few hours to sort your MP3s out

[fullofbull]

true......does it extract cd's as well as exact audio copy

[john]

harmerhillshrew said:

Mrs HHS is hitting Meole Brace tomorrow looking for bargians.

Do you want me to drop Nick off at your place John for a few hours to sort your MP3s out

Mine's sorted now thanks Andrew, he's ok with his isnt he?

Graham, I could answer you're question if I knew how well audio copy extracted

[fullofbull]

Allegedly the best you can get....i suppose like everything else, you have to believe what you read.
To get the best mp3 the vital 1st stage is the data extraction from the cd. Loads of programmes do it...music match, nero, soundforge,isobuster, dbpoweramp etc etc.
Members of the newsgroups use EAC and lame, and they are the experts....so if it's good enough for them then it must be good.

[john]

I shall give audio copy a whirl, the quicker and simpler the better I say

[The Shropshire Tenor]

I'm the sort of bloke who has to get his grandchildren to programme the video, so I should leave MP3 well alone (is it the same as iPod?), but...

I have a big collection of vinyl, audio cassettes and CD's and am running out of room to keep them, so I need some form of compact storage. Most of the audio cassettes are recordings of live concerts off the radio and cannot be replaced and I understand that tape has a shelf life of about 20 years, so they will be self destructing soon

Can tapes and vinyl be transferred to MP 3? Can you play MP3 through a hi fi?

Any advice would be appreciated.

I'll be spending the rest of the day trying to understand the instructions for my new digital camera

[fullofbull]

It can be done easily but it takes a lot of time and a lot of disc space....well initially anyway.

First of all you have to connect your Casette deck to your pc. Easiest way is to connect the playback or line out lead on your cassette deck to the line in lead on your pc...this will need a simple two pin phono to one pin stereo jack lead, available from any hi fi shop.
You then select line in on your sound card and when you press play on your cassette deck the sound will come out of your pc.
With vinyl, it is different because you cannot connect your turntable directly to your pc. You need a special adapter to connect your turntable lead to first, then the adapter is connected to the line in on your pc as above.Quite expensive i think but again a good hi fi shop should have them.
However, you can connect your hi fi directly to your pc to overcome this. What you do is buy a two pin phono/one pin stereo jack lead, as above, and connect that via the tape out socket on your amplifier to your pc
Then, when you play your vinyl, with your cassette deck set turned on as if you were going to record, the sound goes to your pc.

Now the recording bit.
There are lots of programmes that are designed to sort out scratches and tip hiss when you make your mp3.
Can usually be bought on the net/computer shops etc, or are available elsewhere for free if you know what i mean.
Whichever one you choose, first of all you have to make a file, and you do this by playing your cassette tape, choosing line in from your sound card as your recording source, press play on your cassette deck and start recording. If it's an hour long tape then obviously it'll take an hour to do, but when you press stop, you end up with a file that you then edit with whatever programe you choose to make it sound better.
When finished, and it comes to save, the programme will give you options as to the quality of mp3 you can save it as. And that's it.
The same applies to your vinyl. Just play your LP and record as above.

[fullofbull]

If you just want a basic copy without any changes, windows media player, winamp, musicmatch jukebox will allow you to record the file and let you save it how you want.

[ianwhit]

get an ipod.....

if not try itunes for windows, its the best mp3 software i've used though not tried it with a different player.

[harmerhillshrew]

davefromalty said:

Can tapes and vinyl be transferred to MP 3? Can you play MP3 through a hi fi?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Yes is the answer to both questions Dave.

Heres how to put Vinyl to CD/MP3.

First of all you need the following.

A pc with a sound card and a cd writer.

A turntable

A stereo amplifier (eg hifi amp) or preamp

A recording lead - 2 phone plugs to one stereo 3.5mm jack

Recording software. (Audacity - to record, amplify, fade, edit, copy, paste etc. Its not the easiest software to use, but its free so it'll certainly get you started.)

Crackle removing software, if you like

CD Burning Software

How to do it.

1. Connect the turntable to the amplifier

2. Connect the amplifier TAPE OUT sockets to the sound card LINE-IN. You'll need a custom phono to 3.5mm jack cable for this. Note that you need hifi separates, all-in-one units rarely have line out sockets of any sort, so they aren't suitable for the job. You can't use the headphone socket, because its fully amplified and your sound card can easily be blown.

3. Make sure your pc sound software (loudspeaker icon in the tray, bottom right of screen) has the RECORDING controls set with Line In checked, and the slider up to the top.

4. Start up some suitable sound recording software, such as Audacity.

5. Put the lp on, hit the record button on your recording software. When the record's over, hit stop on the software, delete and silence from the beginning and the end, hit file-export (audacity) or file-save and save it as a .wav or .mp3 file.

6. Use crackle removing software if you like.

7. If its an LP, you may want to save as seperate tracks - you can do this with your sound recording software, or use RIP VINYL.

8. If you have a cd burner, it will have come with software such as Adaptec or Nero. Now you can use this to select which tracks you want to burn to audio CD. Both of these are equipped to make audio cds from mp3 files or wav files.

NOTE - you CAN NOT record straight from vinyl to CD, you must save your music tracks as files first, then copy to CD.

Good Luck Dave, its a bit time consuming but its a great excuse to get the owd LPs out.

If you get stuck ask the Grandkids

[fullofbull]

mp3's can now be played on a cd via your hi fi provided your cd player supports it. Modern ones do.
You do not need to make an audio cd, you make a data cd with whatever mp3's you wish. That way, you can get 100's of songs on one cd.
Very easy to do with a cd burner and programme. I use nero.

[The Shropshire Tenor]

Very grateful for the advice, thanks for taking the trouble to reply.

[john]

Now onto my third mp3 player in 3 days

though this time its a 1gb effort

[ianwhit]

JP said:

Now onto my third mp3 player in 3 days

though this time its a 1gb effort

jesus, where di you get it from, out of a cracker

sorry to sound like a stuck record but i've had my ipod for 3ish years and not had a problem with it...

[john]

Brought the first one from TJ Hughes...wrong place oh yes!
Second from Curry's yesterday, a 512 effort,which had a superb sound, but it has twice died on me

So I went into Dixons today as they had new ones in and told them my fault and ended up paying an extra few quid for a 1gb effort, which im filling up now or trying to.

[ianwhit]

have you downloaded itunes and tried that?

[john]

Yes had itunes for ages, have to have that to pay for the odd track.
What I mean by trying to is I dunno what I want to listen to

[fullofbull]

well apple ipod is nowhere near as good as the

IRiver IH140 for functionality, sound qualiity, according to all the reviews.

"With superlative sound and a multitude of special features, the 40GB iRiver H140 is the new digital audio player to beat. It goes far beyond the typical player, offering voice and audio recording as well as FM radio.


Recording can be analog or optical/digital, in either MP3 or WAV. Even better, to load the H140, you don't need special drivers: You can drag folders of ripped songs to it via Windows Explorer. The centrally located joystick selector controls the usual navigation functions and volume, while dedicated buttons control play/pause, record mode, and bring up the main menu. And finally, Linux users and open-source fans will be pleased to note the presence of an Ogg Vorbis decoder.

Embedded lights tell you when there is USB and hard drive activity. The screen is chockablock with information: It shows left/right volume, the codec in use, bit rate, and EQ setting, as well as the usual album, artist, and title listings. Preference controls modify just about every aspect of the H140, including the contrast of both the main LCD and the one on the wired remote. You can also change the way the joystick operates, select vertical or horizontal scrolling, and tailor other user interface features to your liking. The remote's rocker/push wheels make volume control easier than using the joystick on main unit, and you can cycle through EQ settings with just a push button, as well as via menu diving.

The H140 has a very articulate sound, with strong bass, good highs, and more EQ options than we've seen on any other player. It is possible to drive the sound into some harmonic distortion at maximum volume, but you won't hear it; you can only see it on a spectrum analyzer. The supplied ear buds are unremarkable. They're slightly larger in diameter than most and may not fit smaller ears. But the leather holster/belt clip is very well made, and holds the 6.5-ounce unit (4.1 by 2.4 by 1 inches, HWD) securely.

Recording quality is superb. The built-in mic is the best we've heard in a portable unit, although it picks up the hard drive's whine when it spins up. The included lapel mic eliminates the whine and preserves quality. FM reception of both local and distant stations is excellent, as was its 10 hours of battery life.

You can drag any file you want to it and thus can use it as a secondary hard drive. So it can be used on any XP computer. And 40 gigs is a lot of storage space.


Suppose the only advantage of the IPod is you get I Tunes....if you can call that an advantage.

[harmerhillshrew]

Standby to shocked

FOB talks sense

iPod vastly over-rated and overpriced.

A battery life that will not get you to lunch time

Fashion item, that is now outdated.