David Ayers Posted April 12, 2006 Report Share Posted April 12, 2006 I'm more of a technoduffer than I thought. I have a cheap mp3 player. I know how to copy a CD to my hard drive. And I know how to copy the resulting tracks across to the mp3 player. But what I don't know how to do is get the tracks to go across in the right order. Am I alone in having this problem? Any help? I use the Windows Media Player to do things. Is there another preferably free one what would do things better? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Wheel Posted April 12, 2006 Report Share Posted April 12, 2006 (edited) I'm more of a technoduffer than I thought. I have a cheap mp3 player. I know how to copy a CD to my hard drive. And I know how to copy the resulting tracks across to the mp3 player. But what I don't know how to do is get the tracks to go across in the right order. Am I alone in having this problem? Any help? I use the Windows Media Player to do things. Is there another preferably free one what would do things better? The consensus around here is to use Exact Audio Copy ( http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/ )in tandem with the LAME encoder (often comes already installed on EAC, I think) to copy CDs to your hard drive (aka "ripping" them). EAC has a built-in feature that should get track information from the internet. This information (including track order) is automatically entered into the new mp3 files. It can be a hassle to do this manually, which you sometimes have to do, especially when you are dealing with mp3s of live shows that have no wide-circulation CD out there. P.S.: Most people here hate Windows Media Player for ripping. Edited April 12, 2006 by Big Wheel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rostasi Posted April 12, 2006 Report Share Posted April 12, 2006 Is this true that WMP won't let you access an online database like CDDB? If so, that really sucks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDK Posted April 13, 2006 Report Share Posted April 13, 2006 Is this true that WMP won't let you access an online database like CDDB? If so, that really sucks. Don't think that's true. WMP always tries to get the info, though a lot of the things i play it can't find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Alfredson Posted April 13, 2006 Report Share Posted April 13, 2006 I just use the "save track" function in Nero and it automatically looks for the CD information (title, artist, track names) and encodes them into the resulting mp3s. Pretty simple. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Ayers Posted April 13, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2006 Thanks guys. I'll try some of this other software. My problem is not that WMP cannot always find the track data, it is that when I transfer the tracks to the player they show up on the player in alphabetical order, rather than track order, even though the track number is there... I don't know if that is down to something about the player - I can't figure it out... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claude Posted April 13, 2006 Report Share Posted April 13, 2006 Most MP3 players play the tracks in alphabetic/numerical order. If you name them 01 Track title.mp3 02 Track title.mp3 ... or Miles Davis - Kind of blue 01 So what.mp3 Miles Davis - Kind of blue 02 Freddie Freeloader.mp3 ... it should work. The CD ripping software usually allows you to define the output format of the file names. If you have a larger capacity player holding many CDs and which supports folders, it's advisable to organise each CD in a seperate folder. It will make it easier to navigate from album to album. Folder: Miles Davis - Kind of blue Files: 01 So what.mp3 02 Freddie Freeloader.mp3 ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Ayers Posted April 13, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2006 Thanks Claude. I'll look into that too. I'm not cut out for all this new-fangled tomfoolery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rostasi Posted April 13, 2006 Report Share Posted April 13, 2006 Does WMP have options on how your tracks are displayed? I ask, because in iTunes if you have (accidentally) clicked on the top bar that reads "Name", then all of your titles will show up in alpha-order (a-z or z-a). Ray: Do you know where WMP goes to get it's info? iTunes uses CDDB and it's been able to find the most unlikely stuff... for example: CDs included inside art/music books have shown up as well as very small limited edition stuff. Rod Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Bresnahan Posted April 13, 2006 Report Share Posted April 13, 2006 Windows and Windows-based file management systems (like most mp3 players), use an alphanumeric sort algorithm. They start with numbers 1-9 and then go to letters a-z. In order to use this to your advantage to get the CD played back in "LP order", you have to name the files as Claude mentioned i.e. 01 Track Name, 02 Track Name, etc. Be sure to use 01 and not 1. If you use 1 and there are more than 9 tracks, the order would be 1, 10, 11, 12, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and not what you want. BTW, to make it even easier on yourself, create folders for each artist and in each artist's folder, create a subfolder for album name. Then put your tracks into this subfolder. I've never found an mp3 plyaer that couldn't handle these nested folders so don't worry about that. However, when you use this filing convention, it makes it very easy to drag and drop whole albums without having to find the tracks. Just drag and drop the whole folder over to the mp3 player and they should be there. FWIW, once they're in the player, the track tag info takes over, it's not filename related at all. Kevin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rostasi Posted April 13, 2006 Report Share Posted April 13, 2006 Wow! Complication supreme! Windows...sheesh... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Ayers Posted April 13, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2006 Thanks Kevin. I have tried this method and discovered the following. I can use wmp to copy from the CD, but then I just use normal drag and drop to shift whole albums from the hard drive to the player. This way, as you say, the albums stay together and, even more to the point, the tracks have their correct track number as the first item before the title. If I transfer from the hard drive to the player using wmp this number is missing - it only shows up in the normal, windows explorer view. So the workaround is relatively straighforward - it just took some figuring out. In fact, now life is easy.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Bresnahan Posted April 13, 2006 Report Share Posted April 13, 2006 Wow! Complication supreme! Windows...sheesh... Apple computers sort alphanumerically by default as well. I said "Windows" because the original poster mentioned WMP. The last I knew, WMP does not work on a Mac. I know this may give some readers a headache, but it's relatively simple to set up MusicMatch to create mp3s with tracks named "01 - Track One", "02 - Track Two" in a folder named "Album" nested in a higher up folder called "Artist Name". Cick on Options=>Settings Go to the tab labeled "Recorder" Click the button labelled Tracks Directory... Check the boxes Artist and Album under "Make Sub Path using:" Leave the Separator box as - Check the box next to Track Number and Track Name The only "trick" you may need to know is that you want the track number box at the top. To get it there, check it and then hit that little up arrow next to it. It will move it to the top. When you're done, the window should look like this: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rostasi Posted April 13, 2006 Report Share Posted April 13, 2006 (edited) Apple computers sort alphanumerically by default as well. I said "Windows" because the original poster mentioned WMP. The last I knew, WMP does not work on a Mac. By the sound of it - Thank goodness! Actually, on a Mac with iTunes, your CDs automatically come up in play order after you drag them over. Also, if you're concerned about the order in your folder (not sure why one would be), you can chose alphanumeric or not (see attachment) right in your preferences. Rod Edited April 13, 2006 by rostasi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted April 13, 2006 Report Share Posted April 13, 2006 What's an m3p player? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted April 13, 2006 Report Share Posted April 13, 2006 I know that much, but what the hell is technoduffery? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rostasi Posted April 13, 2006 Report Share Posted April 13, 2006 I know that much, but what the hell is technoduffery? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Ayers Posted April 14, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2006 Not so much of a technoduffer that I can't change my avatar... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rostasi Posted April 14, 2006 Report Share Posted April 14, 2006 Does this mean that we're gonna have a Slayed topic started now that will grow to over 6000 postings? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Ayers Posted April 14, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2006 Does this mean that we're gonna have a Slayed topic started now that will grow to over 6000 postings? Come on feel the noise! Or should that be, Cum on Feel the Noise? Or Noize? Maybe this belongs in Funny Rat? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_forumlogo.png.a607ef20a6e0c299ab2aa6443aa1f32e.png)
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.