Mp3

[Onlyforfun]

Got my Mum an MP3 player (not an I-pod) for her birthday. What is the best free software for "ripping" (if thats the correct word) CD's?

[mathare]

It is the correct word :)

Pretty much any of the free software will do it. I assume you don't need to do anything more than digitise the CD tracks to MP3. You don't need to edit tracks, cut bits out etc do you?

[Onlyforfun]

Nope, just get them on the player as they are. What about downloading stuff?

[mathare]

Nope, just get them on the player as they are. What about downloading stuff?What about downloading stuff? Paying for tracks from music download sites or are we talking podcasts or what?

What's your mum like with PCs? You could just go to somewhere like download.com and look for free CD ripping software and pick one that sounds easy to use. It's normally just a case of starting the software, inserting the CD and waiting for the software to detect it. It should then query it's web database looking for a match and when it finds one get you to check the track list and other details against the database entry (there may be several matches from the database as some CDs differ over here and in the States) and when confirmed press a button and it'll read the CD and write out an MP3 for each track. Easy. Most allow you to change the track details before writing the files out and allow you to specify a file structure and naming convention. If your mum's not too good with the PC it may be best for you (or anyone computer literate) to set it up once for her and then it's ready for any CD she throws at it.

[Onlyforfun]

If your mum's not too good with the PC it may be best for you (or anyone computer literate) to set it up once for her and then it's ready for any CD she throws at it.

Nail on head!

Where can one download music from apart from I-Tunes?

[mathare]

Nail on head!

Where can one download music from apart from I-Tunes?Napster, Tesco, HMV - pretty much anywhere these days!

Depends on what you (or your mum) want and what you're willing to pay for it really.

[John]

Obviously you can download music illegally, I imagine most of us here have done it, but I won't say too much about how to do that here.

You can use Windows Media Player to rip the disc to your hard drive, just make sure in Preferences that the format is set to MP3, otherwise it'll rip as WMA, and, although this will probably burn, MP3 is better.

[John]

I'm thinking of getting my mum an MP3 player for her birthday/Christmas, as it's the one thing at the moment she talks about a lot. MP3 players... iPods... podcasts... she knows nothing but wants to get up to date on the technology. I questioned her yesterday about buying a new PC, as this one is knackered (uses Windows 98 and is around 10 years old) and she said she'd probably be getting one before Christmas.

Now, OFF, what made you choose the MP3 player you chose for your mum? I mean there are so many out there, ideally I'd like to get my mum an iPod but they're quite expensive. An iPod shuffle for £50 would be good, and would be the maximum I'd be looking to spend, but they don't have a screen on them. If anyone knows of a decent, reliable MP3 player (doesn't have to have much storage) then I'd like to know about it. :)

[John]

OFF... have you seen this? :)

[John]

OFFiously you haven't.

[Onlyforfun]

Sorry John, I hadn't!

I actually got it as a back up present for teh wife but got her an i-pod instead so it went straight to my Mum. Cost and capacity were the criteria, it was 1Gb for about £45 from Dixons. Its probably a load of crap though.

[John]

He's alive!! :omg: :yikes: :omg: :yikes: :omg:

Cheers for that OFF, looks like cheap and cheerful may be the way to go... I'd like to get her an iPod, maybe as a joint present from my sister and I or something...

[mathare]

I read this morning that one of the record labels or someone like that is releasing a load of songs for free but that they won't play on iPods and can't be burned to CDs. I'll see if I can dig out the details