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more than you want to know. . . . Posted by Greg Abbott [Email]  (#2746) [Profile/Gallery]
(more from Greg Abbott) on Mon, 30 Jan 2006 17:52:35
In Reply to: CDs vs CD-Rs vs MP3s....., Mike Lynch  [Profile/Gallery]
, Mon, 30 Jan 2006 17:22:22
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Yes, MP3's are different. CD-R simply refers to the type of media, a "recordable" CD. A CD-R can contain data files, MP3 files, or be an ordinary music CD
CD-R is different from CD-RW. CD-R's can only record once -- once the data is written, it is set and cannot be changed. CD-RW stands for "CD-Read Write" and they can be erased and then re-written with new data.
CD-RW's are trickier to read than CD-R's -- virtually all recent CD players should read CD-R, but reading CD-RW's is techically different than reading regular CD's or CD-R's, and as a consequence most CD players do not include this ability (largely to keep costs down)
If you have a bunch of music "ripped" into a computer, in Apple's iTunes program for example, it exists on the computer in a compressed format. You can choose to create a CD with your own selection of this music on it. You also get to choose what format to create the CD in. Most people choose to create a regular audio CD, with 74 minutes of capacity or so. When it creates that CD, iTunes actually expands the music files to the full size which the CD player expects to play (although it cannot add back musical details which were lost in the initial compression).
But you can also create a data CD, not a regular audio CD, containing hundreds of compressed MP3 files. And some CD players have the ability to read MP3 files on data CDs.
Compressed MP3 files might take up 3-4 megabytes, and a CD-R can hold 640 MB of data, you're talking about 200 songs or so. (This will vary a lot, depending on the length of the songs and how much compression is used. The rule of thumb is that the less compression used, the better the sound quality).
My wife's 2005 E320 wagon will allegedly play MP3 files off a CD-R data disc, but I've never tried it -- the in-dash 6 CD changer gives us plenty of capacity for a healthy variety of music.
Since CD-R's are very cheap these days, and since reading MP3 off a data disk can be pretty complicated (you have to navigate the folder structure containing the music data using the tiny buttons and display of the CD player, which can be frustrating), I would say most people just burn CD-R's in the regular audio format, and switch them in and out. If the CD-R gets scratched, who cares? It costs 10 cents, and you can always create another identical copy for 10 cents when you get back to your main computer.
, Mon, 30 Jan 2006 17:22:22, Mon, 30 Jan 2006 18:19:59, Mon, 30 Jan 2006 18:41:16, Mon, 30 Jan 2006 18:36:07, Mon, 30 Jan 2006 17:52:35 <-- Viewing This Message, Mon, 30 Jan 2006 17:43:40
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