I’m running Windows XP media edition. I want to be able to make a list of .mp3 files, and then burn them to a CD as playable mp3s (i.e. I don’t want to convert them to wavs or an audio format, which means I can only get 12-16 songs on a CD, I want to stay with mp3s and get about 70 or 80 songs on a CD).
I want to be able to randomly shuffle the tracks before I burn, and also manipulate the order by just clicking and dragging songs up or down the playlist. I don’t want to be constrained to the alphabetical sequence of either title or artist.
I want the software to ‘level’ the tracks before I burn, so that on playback I’m not constantly having to adjust the volume or tweak the bass/treble mix.
Free software would be good, moderate price is acceptable, high price is not acceptable.
I can’t find any software that’s good for doing this. Windows Media Player is supposed to be able to do all this, but for some reason just doesn’t burn successfully to my burn-able drive (it just doesn’t ‘see’ this drive or acknowledge that this drive is available). Other software I’ve downloaded (all legally) either wants to convert to wavs, or won’t let me manually adjust the list, or can’t shuffle, or can’t do volume levelling.
Basically, you’re creating a data CD of your mp3 files. XP Media Center should do this as well as WMP (I think). It should let you manipulate the tracks as you see fit. Shuffling is usually done on the player afterward.
Volume leveling is a slightly different animal. Some programs can apply filters when burning, but in any case, IRCC, the file has to be converted from mp3 to wav, then filtered, then converted back. This is considered bad because you are losing info and may end up with audible artifacts. If you have the original wav files for the songs (such as on a CD), then I’d recommend normalizing the volume with those source files.
I’m sure some dopers will chime in with some excellent program recommendations. There are some great free tools available.
Thanks for your reply. I need ‘shuffling’ to be done at source, because the player in my car (where I intend to use these discs) doesn’t have this function. WMP does shuffling, and it also seems to do some form of volume levelling that doesn’t involve conversion back and from WAV. I have WMP, but as I said, for some reason it just doesn’t recognise my CD burn drive. Other software that I’ve tried DOES recognise the CD burn drive, but none seems to have the functions I requested in my OP. I can’t try re-installing WMP because I don’t have the software (it was installed at the factory and not supplied).
IME, every CD-R/RW drive comes with burning software - Nero or somesuch. In any case, WMP will do everything you want except pre-shuffle the songs - but you can manually reorder them.
Mine came with the Roxio suite of applications. To be fair, some of the Roxio apps work quite well. However, none of their audio apps will allow me to do what I want to do as stated in the OP.