[JCtx]

Hi gang. Need to make a copy of a CD that a non-MP3 CD player recognizes, just like if it was the original CD. It's a regular music CD bought at a store.

Have 2 issues. First is I already have this CD burned in my library in MP3. Even when I change the format to 'Windows Media Audio xxx', the burn key remains disabled.

Second issue is what format and bit rate better matches whatever regular music CDs are recorded with.
The 4 options are: 'Windows Media Audio', 'Windows Media Audio Pro', 'Windows Media Audio (variable bit rate)', and 'Windows Media Audio Lossless'. Posted by mistake on the wrong forum and somebody said Windows Media Pro, but didn't say what bit rate. Windows media player puts '64K kbps', which is the default, and goes as high as 192, which is the highest quality. Which one better matches store music CD quality?

And what do I have to do to make a copy CD? Erase the MP3 I have, then burn it again in the new format, then erase it again and put it again in MP3? Thanks gang.

[bmwmthree]

Originally Posted by elp_jc

Posted by mistake on the wrong forum and somebody said Windows Media Pro, but didn't say what bit rate. Windows media player puts '64K kbps', which is the default, and goes as high as 192, which is the highest quality. Which one better matches store music CD quality?

Check the songs from the CD and right click one of them and view info, then scroll to bitrate.

[yakev724]

A bit confusing but this is how I'd go about doing what you want (assuming you're using WMP).

I'd first rip the CD to a lossless WMA format. Make sure the 'copy protect music' box is left unchecked. You can do this by going to windows media player -> tools -> options -> rip music

Once ripped this way, you should be able to burn them using the standard burn tab of the playlist after a blank CD is inserted.

If you have trouble, make sure your WMP is updated. You can also try ripping in 320kbps MP3 format, quality will be slightly less in the final result, but you shouldn't be able to notice a difference. Music recorded for standard audio players (as you're aiming for) is limited by play time (80 mins) so quality does not have an effect on the amount of music you can burn in nearly all cases.

[Want]

Use iTunes, problem solved!

Also, what's a cd?

But srsly, if you want to preserve the original cd quality, you need to rip the songs using. Lossless format. I have no idea what WMP calls this but im sure the word lossless is in there. Sry I can't helpnyou with anything else, I've never used WMP.

[bluespeed117]

rip in itunes with a lossless format. Do NOT use an MP3 format as it loses quality each time you share the file.

[talisman311]

For CD burning:
I like using a freeware app called imgburn. I've used it plenty and haven't been disappointed. Read it into an .iso format and then burn the .iso to a new cd.

For CD ripping:
My preference is using iTunes. It downloads the cd/song info and tags the respective tracks for you. The only thing I would change is to encode in mp3 instead of acc format. Yes, mp3 does take some quality out when it encodes, but unless you have a stellar multi-thousand dollar system, you probably won't be able to tell. If you set it to 256kbps encoding with at least 44.1kHz sampling rate, I doubt you'd be able to discern the difference between it vs listening to it right off the original CD.

Also, I would stick with mp3 format since its adoption is for the most part universal. There are other lossless formats like ogg, but it's difficult finding appliances/players that understand the format.