# Music Downloading question from a newbie **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 4, 2002, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-downloading-question-from-a-newbie/135174 "2002-11-04T03:50:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bottle\_of\_Smoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Bottle\_of\_Smoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bottle_of_Smoke)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2002, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-downloading-question-from-a-newbie/135174/1 "2002-11-04T03:50:29Z")
OK – so this is probably a stupid question, and likely something that every high-tech 8 year old knows, but I am new to the whole music-downloading thing, so here goes: If I download an mp3 from a web site and burn it onto a CD, can I play it in any old CD player? My guess is that I can’t, because I see newer CD players that proclaim “MP3 Compatible” (which leads me to be believe that if all CD players could do this, it wouldn’t be somthing worth proclaiming). So I’m guessing I need to convert mp3s into something else before I burn them onto a CR-R (wav files? I have no idea). And if I need to convert 'em , how do I do it? I have already done some CD copying (just burning a copy of friends CDs or CDs from the library), but until today I had never downloaded songs from the web. So I am utterly clueless in how to go about this. Any help you can give would be most welcome. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2002, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-downloading-question-from-a-newbie/135174/2 "2002-11-04T06:08:06Z")
First question - most CD burning programs accept wav files as input to make audio CDs. Second question - you’ll have to ask elsewhere. Mods hate discussion of file sharing programs here. ---
**Author:** ![gex\_gex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@gex\_gex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gex_gex)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2002, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-downloading-question-from-a-newbie/135174/3 "2002-11-04T13:56:01Z")
**Smeghead** : Downloading doesn’t equal file sharing. Nor does it mean illegal. In fact, filesharing wasn’t mentioned until you brought it up. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2002, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-downloading-question-from-a-newbie/135174/4 "2002-11-04T14:05:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gex gex \* > **Smeghead** : Downloading doesn’t equal file sharing. Nor does it mean illegal. In fact, filesharing wasn’t mentioned until you brought it up. Yes, but due to the _Chicago Reader_’s legal concerns, you’ll find that most discussions about downloading music end up being closed anyway - even if the “but nothing illegal was discussed” caveat is brought up. ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2002, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-downloading-question-from-a-newbie/135174/5 "2002-11-04T14:13:59Z")
All cd burning utillities will ask you if you want to make a data file copy(mp3) or an audio copy. If you select a bunch of mp3`s to be burned as an audio copy, the utillity will change them to audio files automatically. So select your mp3`s, then select audio as a burn option, and whallahh you have music compatible with most newer cd players. You are correct, many older ones will not play burned cd`s. You will just have to try and see. Tip - burn at slow speed and use gold backed cdr`s not cdrw`s. ---
**Author:** ![Bottle\_of\_Smoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Bottle\_of\_Smoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bottle_of_Smoke)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2002, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-downloading-question-from-a-newbie/135174/6 "2002-11-04T14:58:57Z")
Thanks for the tip, whuckfistle. I’ll check it out. As for this: > [@](#): > > you’ll have to ask elsewhere. Mods hate discussion of file sharing programs here. All I can say is: Whoops. I forgot about that whole issue. I certainly didn’t mean to open a can of worms. Especially not the whole file-sharing can of worms. For what its worth I wasn’t talking about pirating copyrighted material ala Napster or similar sites. I downloaded a bunch of childrens music from [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com)’s free download area and I wanted to make some CDs for my kids to listen to in the car. I just wanted to make sure that a CD I create will be usable. But if this crosses the line into dangerous waters I’ll drop the subject. No problemo.