How to make an MP3 CD
The MP3 CD is the awkward love-child of audio CDs and MP3 players--a missing link from an era when the cheapest iPod still cost $300 and portable CD players were still the norm. Still, the format never went gangbusters, even in its heyday.
These days, even though MP3 CDs can be played on many recent models of DVD players, bookshelf audio systems, portable CD players, and aftermarket car stereos, most people are still pretty clueless about the format. It's really too bad, since the MP3/CD hybrid offers some practical advantages over standalone MP3 players like the iPod (no charging, easy to replace, no expensive cables to worry about).
Making an MP3 CD is easier than you think. All you need is a blank CD, a collection of MP3s, a computer with a writable CD drive, and five minutes. To see how it's done, check out my video tutorial and slideshow on burning your own MP3 CD.
Donald Bell is CNET Reviews' senior editor for MP3 players and portable audio, and one half of the MP3 Insider blog and weekly podcast. He also likes getting his hands dirty with digital audio tools for musicians and DJs.
Donald Bell is an electronic musician, a veteran record store employee, and a fearless hardware hacker. He's also CNET's Senior Editor for MP3 and digital audio.
Jasmine France is CNET's resident digital audio doyenne, writing and editing product reviews, crave blogs, and feature stories on all things MP3. And if you need advice on headphones, she's your girl.
Some MP3 CD players will choke on CD-Rs that don't meet the MP3 CD data standards or include extraneous files. Even CDs burned using the first method I outlined will choke on certain MP3 CD players if the file tree directories go too many layers deep.
Here's the stub on Wikipedia (wikipedia.org/wiki/MP3_CD)
2.Or burn the songs to a disc(CDA) and rip back to itunes.
3. Buy DRM free songs
I know of a fellow (me) that has an '06 Mazda 6 for a daily driver with the six-disc in-dash unit with the Bose upgrade; according to the owner's manual, the bloody unit is supposed to be able to read and play MP3 and mixed media data CDs with MP3 files. While the unit doesn't completely gag on any of the burned discs that I've tried, it also decides to read the data as one LONE track that doesn't play any sound at all through the speakers. Mazda themselves to date won't do anything about it, yet there it is in black & white print, a company promising performance that it fails to provide. And from what I've seen around the internet, this sounds like a common (though not complete) occurrence with '06 through '08 Mazda 6 cars saddled with this particular multi-disc configuration. (And btw, the discs DO work on other MP3 CD-compatible units that I've tried them on.)
Call it entirely selfish, but this seems more of a story than trying to teach people how to make a no-brainer MP3 disc.
Have a nice day.... :p
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by Paodi
August 3, 2009 1:34 PM PDT
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(14 Comments)1. Is there any EASY way to get AAC files to play on a mp3 CD's? I have loaded most/all of my CD's into iTunes as AAC files, but would like to create mp3 CD's to listen to in the car. I have not figured out a way to do this without making complete duplicates of my entire collection.
2. What benefit is there to the AAC file format versus mp3? Am I better off uploading all of my future CD's as mp3s?