I want to join in, but I'm sort of technically retarded when it comes to computers and music and hardware in general (I'm a software man, I swear!).

Could anyone maybe write me up a guide to making one of these mix CD's?

Things I have no idea about include obtaining electronic intranet music, proper formats for it to be in to burn it to a CD, CD labels, printing liner notes, printing/making art for CD covers, etc.

On an unrelated note, the music I like includes Simon and Garfunkel, Nico, The Beatles, assorted opera, Cat Stevens, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Eminem, Johnny Cash, Kid Rock, Tenacious D, and Gentle Giant. So giving me information on making mix CD's for other people's consumption might be doing a disservice to the world.

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~But now you realize / He's not selling any alibis~

Obtaining music

Music is abundant on the net. Search-engine for stuff like .wav and .mp3 (the latter's the better choice), wade through the spam, and try to pick off the one or two real sites that offer music.

Another way is to use programs like WinMX, Kazaa, etc.. Search-engine for these and download the software. Basically, these programs allow you to tap into willing computers to download their music.

Proper formats

You MUST burn your CDs as an audio CD. Some burning programs, like Nero: Burning Rom 5.0, automatically convert your MP3s and sorts into CD audio files. I actually wouldn't know what to do otherwise, sorry. :-( Maybe your music player can re-save the files as CD audio, I'm not sure.

Other stuff

I think all that's up to you. If you want to print labels, programs like, what, Label Maker are the way to go? Or draw it by hand and make copies.

I liked Devin's format, so I stole it. : )

Music

KaZaa is still a very viable file sharing application and a great source for .mp3 music. It is being hounded into court - with little success, so far - by the RIAA, however, so the window is slowly closing.
A much better, stripped down version called KaZaa Lite is available. It removes the spyware and persistent cookie script that KaZaa uses for endless ad spamming. There are a variety of websites that offer .mp3's to share, but I have found that KaZaa Lite offers the best overall P2P file sharing options available -due to ease of use- and the large amount of files available.

Downloading Once you have the KaZaa P2P software installed and configured, it allows you to search for audio files by the name of the song or the artist. Once you start your search, the results will be tossed up in the SEARCH window of KaZaa, and can be filtered by QUALITY - BANDWIDTH - FILE SIZE, or other sorting properties.

Mp3 files use roughly 1.5 Meg of data per minute of 128 KHz playback. A 2-and-a-half minute song is stored in about 3.75 meg of data. By checking the file size, you can ascertain as to the whether the file is close to the size it should be - or if it might be mis-named or incomplete - before downloadng.

Another useful piece of information is quality. It is best to choose files that have been ripped to at least 128 K of bandwidth. This level offers the entire audible frequency range to be reproduced when played back at 16 bit stereo at 44.1K. Remember that the rip quality will affect the file size. The higher the bandwidth that the file was ripped to, the greater the amount of data it generates.

Finally, if you have high speed access, you can sort the songs returned that meet your criteria by bandwidth, allowing for the fastest download times. If you choose a high bandwidth user to obtain the file from, but the download is moving slowly, you can right click on the file in the TRAFFIC window of KaZaa Lite and choose FIND OTHER SOURCES FOR DOWNLOAD and click that a few times. I don't know the reason this works, but it tends to speed up the data transfer and free up bandwidth.

Song Quality

Mp3's can be created from a variety of sources and are ripped by people with different degrees of ability to use digital audio. In other words, some of these things will sound like ass.

The biggest problem is distortion. An analogue, (magnetic tape) signal can be created with VU levels between -3 and up to +7 dB - depending on the speed of the tape- with no noticeable distortion. Digital is very unforgiving as far as recording levels. 0dB = Brick Wall. Any information recorded over 0dB manifests itself in digital distortion. Stunningly unlistenable.

If you are using a DAW editing application, such as Cool Edit or Sound Forge, the file can be opened in the editor and the song will be graphically displayed as a waveform. You can then use the editor to: Gather clipping data, restore the clipped audio, equalise out excessive bass or shrill high frequencies, normalise the track so that all undesirable artifacts are smoothed over and the level is brought up to 0dB for better and more consistent overall playback.

If you are not using an editor, simply play the file back on your PC and listen for excessive and distorted bass, (very common), shrill highs, or a grainy, harsh and grinding sound overall which is indicative of digital distortion. Using headphones for this gives the best results if you normally use small, inaccurate PC speakers for playback. It may take a few tries to get a good quality .mp3 for your CD, but overall, I get about a 90% success rate with files from KaZaa Lite.

Burning Your CD

Nero Burning ROM is a very good CD burning app and I have it on my computer. I prefer, however, to use Roxio EZ CD Creator 5.0 Platinum. It allows, as does Nero, for several CD types to be created, but EZ CD has a very friendly interface, and offers the ability to create a music CD specifically as a finalised, playable-in-any-CD-player disc, or an .mp3 disc for PC's or DVD players. It also includes a dandy label creation editor that can be configured to use any brand of label stock. I use Memorex label sheets because they are inexpensive and consistent. Simply install the application, follow the prompts that allow it to ascertain the CD/R drive properties on your PC, (brand, burn speed, etc...) and then inset a blank CD/R and follow the menu prompts to create your music disc.

I have found that placing all of your .mp3's into a folder on your desktop, in the order of playback that you would like to create, is very useful.

I hope this helps.

bunner

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I wanted my half in the middle and I wound up on the edge.

I also recommend Soulseek if it's just music you're after, and don't care about downloading movies etc. It has a wider range of more ecletic stuff than Kazaa. It's also easier to thief whole albums at once, although make sure if you do then you buy the album eventually, otherwise that's naughty.

For ripping music off of cds, I recommend Easy CD-DA Extractor from these guys. It's freeware, and does everything you'd really need. It also looks like they now do a Winamp ripping plugin, but I've not used that so don't know if it's any good.

Regarding Kazaa Lite, I got the "K++ version" from a friend (no idea where he got it, try Kazaa!) and it is apparently better. Also, get yourself a copy of AutoSearchMore and SpeedUp. Both are VERY handy for finding files, and more places to grab them from. The first makes Kazaa keep on searching and searching indefinitely for a while when it would normally stop, and the second, bizarrely, speeds up your downloads.

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This signature has performed an illegal operation and has been shut down.

Got app.
Installed app.
App installed.
App crashed my rig immediately upon opening.
App did not respond to Ctrl+Alt+Del CLOSE dialogue.
Cold booted rig.
Waited for scandisk dialogue.
Reopened app.
Entered name and pass again.
Opened search.
Searched for Beatles.
App said I had entered an invalid password. Into the serach text area.
App returned no results on any search keywords.
Chose disconnect.
Nothing happened.
Chose Reconnect.
Nothing happened. Again.
Closed app.
Uninstalled app.
Opened IE 6.0.
IE refused to connect to homepage.
Checked connection.
Connection was ok.
Opened NETSTAT in DOS.
NETSTAT crashed.
Deleted all registry keys for said app.
Computer works again.
Swore mightily.
Thought about a cup of tea.

Thank you.

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I wanted my half in the middle and I wound up on the edge.

Not actually working on this yet, but here's my old pal LongDongSilver's theoretical, upbeat-yet-not-too-upbeat "LONGDONGSEXERMIX:"

1. Turandot's "Tu che di get sei cinta" - Opening with opera is just classy.
2. Hedwig and the Angry Inch's "Sugar Daddy" - To throw you off the trail of LongDongSilver's heterosexuality, I guess.
3. Rent's "Take Me or Leave Me" - LongDongSilver loves the lesbians. What's more, he is a very attractive man (he says). I think he just liked Rent because of the drag queen. Will someone please take him off my hands? Really. He won't even pay his share of the fucking gas bill.
4. The Monkees' "Goin' Down" - LongDongSilver says this song is about how much he likes to go down on the ladies and how sensitive he is to the women's lib movement. He's really starting to piss me off.
5. Kid Rock's "Wasting Time" - LDS says this song is tinged with sadness. Whatever, shithead.
6. Oklahoma's "I Cain't Say No" - I can't quite understand the segue between Kid Rock and Celeste Holm. I don't think LongDongSilver does, either.
7. Meat Loaf's "Bat Out of Hell" - Cause, hey, it's not like anyone has heard it before, right...?

Whatever, LongDongSilver. I'm not making your fucking CD, alright? Jesus. Just go fuck yoursp9;toww; fwlai;whf wa;l hello forumasturbators and greetings this is longdongsilver here to say gooday to you and also to inquire as to why you all continue to participate and accessorize in the slanderization of myself despite my continued efforts to improve on the stripcreator economy ???? i would like to give a hearty fuck you to akirajim for being a dick and trying to stop me from getting my message out - from now on i am a new man now that i have joined the black muslims and become longdongsilver x !!!!!! shitheads

gooday to you

yours
longdong

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~But now you realize / He's not selling any alibis~