MP3 Beginner--HELP!!!

[Guest]

Hi,
I apologize profusely for having to ask about this--I'm sure I'm just
missing some really simple concept that is preventing me from successfully
loading my new MP3 Player. Here's the problem I'm having: I got a little
Memorex cheapie model because my only purpose is to listen to audiobooks so
quality isn't a big issue. It's a 256 MB and is supposed to hold about 12
hours of play. I have MediaPlayer 9 on my computer (I run XP) because I hate
MediaPlayer 10. I used Roxio to convert the cds I want to record into MP3
format (it has that option). However, when I load the tracks onto the
player, I fill it up with what is about the equivalent of 3 hours of play.
I'm definitely missing something here and I await your generous help.

Thanks,
shirley

 

[Guest]

I should probably have mentioned that I have followed the (pathetic)
instructions that came with the player. However, I have concerns that since
I use MediaPlayer 9, I don't have an encoder--but wouldn't actually saving
the files as mp3 serve that purpose? This is where my confusion stems from.

 

[Mike Williams]

Hi,
I apologize profusely for having to ask about this--I'm sure I'm just
missing some really simple concept that is preventing me from successfully
loading my new MP3 Player. Here's the problem I'm having: I got a little
Memorex cheapie model because my only purpose is to listen to audiobooks
so
quality isn't a big issue. It's a 256 MB and is supposed to hold about 12
hours of play. I have MediaPlayer 9 on my computer (I run XP) because I
hate
MediaPlayer 10. I used Roxio to convert the cds I want to record into MP3
format (it has that option). However, when I load the tracks onto the
player, I fill it up with what is about the equivalent of 3 hours of play.
I'm definitely missing something here and I await your generous help.

You can create MP3/WMA files at different "bit-rates", which is essentially
a file-quality vs compression measure. For audiobooks, much less information
is needed than (say) music files. So what appears to be going on is that you
are ripping your CDs to MP3 files that are of too-high quality, and this
means the files are bigger. It's possible to convert the files down to a
lower bit-rate, but this requires additional software, and you willprobably
find it faster to simply re-rip your CDs.

To change the bit-rate quality look at the slider on the Rip/Copy Music tab
of the Tools > Options dialog. (I don't remember the exact name of that tab
in v9).

 

[Guest]

Hi,
Thanks for responding--I'll give that a try and see how it goes.
shirley

 

[theplectrum]

I should probably have mentioned that I have followed the (pathetic)
instructions that came with the player. However, I have concerns that
since
I use MediaPlayer 9, I don't have an encoder--but wouldn't actually saving
the files as mp3 serve that purpose? This is where my confusion stems
from.

You might want to check out the following :

Some converters have an annoying tendancey to add "silence" at the end of a
conversion/rip. To find out if you've got this problem you need a wave
editor (Audacity or Goldwave will do the trick, Google for them. You can
trim the silence off the end of the tracks using either of these
programmes - the former is free, the latter is paying but has more options.
I have, for example this problem with Samplitude and its very, to say the
least, annoying.

Cheers,
Jerry