Need some updated music education

chowhound

chowhound

New member
I haven't to listened to music much the past 8 years or so, but that's going to change. I think the last time I downloaded... errr, I mean recorded music, all you needed to worry about was fading the recording levels down before the 8-track changed tracks, then bring them back up again :lol: It gave your 8-track cartridge a real professional sound :unsure:

So how do I go about this?
I want to put MP3 music onto a CD.
Where do I go to get the music? Do I need to pay for it? Can I take music CDs that I have now and change the format to MP3? Do I download to my computer first, then burn the CD? Can I do this from different computers using different media hardware, or will the change in speeds, programs (whatever) haunt me down the road and cause minor glitches?

Edumicate me.

Thanks
:smile:

ETA: I'm not beyond getting one of those IPod thingies either, but I definitely want to do this to a CD or two.
 
joec

joec

New member
Gold Site Supporter
I often by music CD and rip (I use Nero 9 not free or Microsoft Media Player which is free) and save to my hard drive. Once I have enough for a CD I will then burn one and have about 10 I carry in my cars. This way if anyone steels them I'm out a few CD but still have the original Albums at home safely stored. I have also copied whole CD and used the copy in my car. As for buying downloaded music I've never done it so can't help with that. I always buy the albums I like, and about the only time I really listen to it is on the road other than a bit in the morning.
 
TexasGirl

TexasGirl

The Invisible
Super Site Supporter
CH, download limewire. You can search and get songs from anyone on there. Anything you get, automatically goes to your Window's Media Players. It's free. It's shareware.
If you don't want to do that. You can download iTunes from apple. You can buy things there too. It's okay, but, they don't have a lot of the odd music, one hit wonders, etc....
 
Love2"Q"

Love2"Q"

New member
limewire is cool .. but tons of virises floating around ...
its a p2p shareware type place ..

i buy mine .. ipod store 99 cents ...
and once you get an ipod .. you will wonder how you lived without it ...
 
PanchoHambre

PanchoHambre

New member
CH I am a bit out of the loop on this myself I am sure... I used to be really big on this stuff too.

Here is what I have found.

If you want to DL pirate like Limewire works... supposedly this bit torrent stuff is better but I cannot get it to work.

You can also buy music through Itunes or other competing music programs.

I found the I-pod I-Tunes thing to be very user friendly... alas I have windows 2000 and my new ipod is not compatible so I had to use win amp with it which sucks because after resisting for so long I found it to be really nice to use.

if you want to get your cds into mp3 format you need to rip them. Itunes works great but is proprietary so you need to rip and burn with I tunes only and it is a PITA to transfer your library. BUT I tunes will manage MP3s ripped elsewhere. It will allow you to burn to CD as well (as will other competing programs)

for just ripping and burining the Nero programs work well (as do thier competitors) but they dont manage your music

I generally use winamp to download rip and nero to burn but I am probably not at the cutting edge here.
 
BamsBBQ

BamsBBQ

Ni pedo
Site Supporter
TexasGirl said:
CH, download limewire. You can search and get songs from anyone on there. Anything you get, automatically goes to your Window's Media Players. It's free. It's shareware.
If you don't want to do that. You can download iTunes from apple. You can buy things there too. It's okay, but, they don't have a lot of the odd music, one hit wonders, etc....
Click to expand...

if you like spyware you can use the free limewire download... you need to buy limewire pro which doesnt have the ads or hidden crap on it or find it somewhere or you can pm me when you want it..lol
 
TexasGirl

TexasGirl

The Invisible
Super Site Supporter
BamsBBQ said:
if you like spyware you can use the free limewire download... you need to buy limewire pro which doesnt have the ads or hidden crap on it or find it somewhere or you can pm me when you want it..lol
Click to expand...


hmmmmmm:whistling::brows:
 
chowhound

chowhound

New member
Thanks for all the info. I'll have to read through this again after a few more coffees.... It looks like I am reading that I would be better off downloading a separate program, whether it's limewire, ITunes or something else, to turn music into mp3 format. And I'll ASSume that if I bought an IPod, ITunes would probably come with it? And what is "manage" my music? If I have music saved to my HD, how would it need managed?
 
chowhound

chowhound

New member
Got another question; is "iPod" used generically? If I bought a Sony Walkman, could I download iTunes? My new motorcycle has a radio that says I can hook up an iPod to it, can I hook up a different MP3 player like the Walkman?
And whichever program I decide on, am I given the choice of what size I want the music? I'll assume it's like pics, the smaller the size the poorer the quality, but I'm hoping like pics, you find a size that works well for your purposes.

I'm kinda getting ahead of myself with looking at MP3 players..... really all I wanted to do was download music in MP3 format to a CD so I could fit a lot of songs on it.
God, I hate learning new stuff from scratch (lol).
 
Love2"Q"

Love2"Q"

New member
chow .. a walkman is not an mp3 player ...
if you download i tunes you can down load what you want and then
burn that music to a disc. all using the i tunes program ..
there are other programs out there .. but i like i tunes ..
there is also a lot of talk radio you can down load for free if you
like that kind of thing ..
if your motorbike has a i pod dock see if it works with other mp3s some do not ..
zune is a nice mp3 and is a bit cheaper ..
 
PanchoHambre

PanchoHambre

New member
chowhound said:
Got another question; is "iPod" used generically? If I bought a Sony Walkman, could I download iTunes? My new motorcycle has a radio that says I can hook up an iPod to it, can I hook up a different MP3 player like the Walkman?
Click to expand...

depends on the radio hook up... if it is an headphone jack yes.. if it is an ipod dock that your ipod would go on directly no

I tunes only works with ipod... some music management programs like win-amp will manage a variety of players... I think Sony has/had a proprietary itunes like program.. I had a walkwan brand one.. the program sucked though.

chowhound said:
I'm kinda getting ahead of myself with looking at MP3 players..... really all I wanted to do was download music in MP3 format to a CD so I could fit a lot of songs on it.
God, I hate learning new stuff from scratch (lol).
Click to expand...

in the end you will be happier with a player than burning mp3's to CDs.
I resisted an ipod for a long time... when i finally got one I could not believe what I had been missing. ... I am super anti conspicuous and unnessary consumption but this is one of those really worth it purchaes.

If you just want to rip and burn you can use the nero programs or probably find a freeware one
 
joec

joec

New member
Gold Site Supporter
PanchoHambre said:
CH I am a bit out of the loop on this myself I am sure... I used to be really big on this stuff too.

Here is what I have found.

If you want to DL pirate like Limewire works... supposedly this bit torrent stuff is better but I cannot get it to work.

You can also buy music through Itunes or other competing music programs.

I found the I-pod I-Tunes thing to be very user friendly... alas I have windows 2000 and my new ipod is not compatible so I had to use win amp with it which sucks because after resisting for so long I found it to be really nice to use.

if you want to get your cds into mp3 format you need to rip them. Itunes works great but is proprietary so you need to rip and burn with I tunes only and it is a PITA to transfer your library. BUT I tunes will manage MP3s ripped elsewhere. It will allow you to burn to CD as well (as will other competing programs)

for just ripping and burining the Nero programs work well (as do thier competitors) but they dont manage your music

I generally use winamp to download rip and nero to burn but I am probably not at the cutting edge here.
Click to expand...

Actually Nero 9 will manage both music and video files for you as will Windows Media Play but with much less power. Nero 9 also has MP4 available as well as BlueRay recording for DVD. Both Nero 8 and 9 are pretty decent programs.
 
chowhound

chowhound

New member
Great info!

My radio has a jack outlet, so I'll assume anything will work that I can plug into it. Thanks.

The reason I was leaning more towards just loading a CD up with music, is because then I know my handlebar mounted controls will work with it and I won't have to find something to mount the player to, or monkey with wires.

I did Google this before I started asking my questions and was under the impression that MP3s included iPods. That MP3 is a format. I could be wrong.
 
chowhound

chowhound

New member
OK. I got my MP3 player yesterday. Now what? lol

Seriously, do I just cruise the music sites and download songs to my computer's hard drive? Then when I compile a bunch of music, transfer them to my Walkman? I'll assume, since they are in presumable MP3 format, that they won't take up much space? Not like a regular CD anyway?
And is it also safe to assume, that I could take those same songs and burn them to a CD?
 
Lefty

Lefty

Yank
I would suggest to come up with a plan first.

1. What kind of music do you like? My fav is classic rock.
2. How ecletic are you? I have every kind of music in my collection including Disco.
3. If you think of it as if I owned a jukebox, what would I fill it up with, then you will have a good start.
4. Many times I like songs more than whole albums so I get the ones I like and not the whole albums.
5. Check out sites with lists of music and select song that you like from there. I use this one for my library. http://digitaldreamdoor.nutsie.com/index.html
 
suziquzie

suziquzie

New member
I've had trouble playing music thru media player that I've I've purchased thru itunes..... a few years ago now.....of course this is after a few computer changes, etc, and I cant even think of what my password may be for itunes to get at them..... so here I've got about $20 worth of songs I cant even listen to on the computer, much less get into my mp3 player.

I've come to the conclusion that I'd rather buy a whole cd and have a hard copy of my music, but you dont always WANT a whole cd of someone so downloading here and there is a neccesary evil I need to learn to deal with.
 
chowhound

chowhound

New member
I did check out that limewire. It said I needed to download something. Are all music sites like that? Why can't I download music using the software that came with my player, which I imagine is intertwined with Media Player, since I also had to download the lates version of that? Or is one program needed to get the music from the site to my computer, and another from my computer to the player?

And I wish I had a plan, Lefty. I figured the best thing is just to dive right in and become familiar with the songs I used to listen to, which are quite varied. Everything from Adam and the Ants to ZZ Top..... with the Phantom of the Opera thrown in. Not that I want to be cruising on my bike with Music of the Night blasting away (lol).
 
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