response 24 of 85:

Oct 16 16:28 UTC 2003

  I considered a portable MP3/CD player but ultimately decided that
  they weren't portable enough for me -- they're too large to fit in
  most pockets and if I can't tuck it away in a pocket and take it 
  with me then chances are I won't get a lot of use out of a portable
  device.  In my opinion the iPod is about as large as I'd like to go
  (at least without a compelling reason for it to be larger, such as
  video capabilities requiring a bigger screen) and one of the chief
  attractions of the flash memory players is that they are smaller still -
  *much* smaller in some cases.  Smaller is better, at least until the
  small form factor starts interfering too much with other engineering
  goals, such as battery life and user interface.

response 26 of 85:

Oct 16 22:04 UTC 2003

  Yes, that's a huge win in my book.  It's got enough storage, in fact,
  that you can also carry around useful non-music stuff with you.
  I use mine to carry around a couple of useful applications (e.g. putty)
  and some other helpful stuff, plus of course the calendar and phone
  number/contact data for the built-in organizer programs.

response 28 of 85:

Oct 16 22:24 UTC 2003

The one thing about handling CDs that really makes me wince is when 
people pull them out of the jewel case by the edges only.  The CD bends 
terribly until the prong thingies in the middle let go.

No, no!  Here's how you take a CD out of the jewel case: Thumb and 
forefinger of one hand grab the edges of the CD at the top and bottom 
of the case.  Thumb of the other hand press down on the prongs.  
(Fingers of second hand can brace themselves against the edge of the 
case.)  Now LIFT - do not pull - the CD out of the prongs with the 
first hand, removing the second hand's thumb when the CD comes clear.

response 30 of 85:

Oct 17 00:24 UTC 2003

 re #27:
 > I've had trays half-close on CDs that I improperly inserted.  It didn't 
 > hurt the CD.

 Most of the time it doesn't, but at least once in my experience it left
 a surprisingly deep gouge in the disc.

response 32 of 85:

Oct 17 05:54 UTC 2003

I didn't think it was especially helpful, but there was an article in the NYT
this week that was basically a summary of MP3 players for those not very well
acquainted with them.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/16/technology/circuits/16basi.html?pagewante
d=1&8hpib

response 34 of 85:

Oct 17 13:30 UTC 2003

It's interesting to think back to when the first MP3 players came out,
and were immediately the subject of legal challenges.  At the time a lot
of people thought they'd be banned.  Now they're commonly available from
major companies, not just grey-market importers.

response 36 of 85:

Oct 18 23:28 UTC 2003

dropped a cd on the floor of my car and scuffed it with my foot while driving.
It is damaged.

response 38 of 85:

Oct 20 22:25 UTC 2003

So I have a CD burner on my computer now, and I've tried making 
straight disc-to-disc full copies of a few of my rarer CDs as backups.

Inevitably the copy has a patch (of varying length and intensity) of 
crackling noise, sounding something like a radio station you can't 
quite pick up, starting about 5 minutes in.

I haven't had any problem with copying CD-ROMs, though, as far as I've 
been able to tell.

Any thoughts?

response 40 of 85:

Oct 21 13:57 UTC 2003

4) If you continue to have problems, rip first, burn second.  When you
copy on-the-fly, especially at higher speeds, there is less the software
can do to compensate for errors.

5) Some drives simply do a poor job staying synchronized while ripping
audio.  It's a much more difficult task than reading a data CD.  Try
using a ripping app that's specifically designed to deal with difficult
situations.  I recommend Exact Audio Copy under Windows and cdparanoia
under Linux.  Both of these programs do an excellent job, even with
damaged CDs, and just as importantly they warn you if they think the
audio is degraded.

response 42 of 85:

Oct 24 07:07 UTC 2003

Thanks, Mike and David.  I haven't gotten to the point of figuring out 
how to rip CDs yet.  I'm sure it's pretty simple, but two things are 
stopping me: the desire not to load my hard disc up with files which I 
will then forget what they are, and a rapidly growing passion for not 
learning any more new procedures of any kind than I have to.  I'm old 
enough now that my brain is full.

I'd have to crawl under the desk to see what brand of burner I have, 
but the software is something called Easy CD Creator 5 Basic, which is 
what came with the burner.  I might be interested in the features of 
Exact Audio Copy; is this something that can be found in software 
stores?  And can it copy data CDs too?

response 44 of 85:

Oct 24 13:29 UTC 2003

Also, EAC has the option to query CDDB for the track names, then name
the files appropriately.  This helps combat the "lots of big files that
I've forgotten what they are" effect. :>

If all you're interested in is copying CDs, see if your CD copying
program has an option to do a "buffered" copy, instead of an
"on-the-fly" copy.  That will rip the CD to a file on your hard drive,
then burn a new CD from the file, instead of trying to do both at once.
 It has a much better chance of working well that way, but it's slower
so most programs default to on-the-fly copies.

response 46 of 85:

Oct 24 17:35 UTC 2003

  About 700Mbytes maximum for an 80 minute disc.

response 48 of 85:

Oct 29 17:10 UTC 2003

>I'm pretty sure that if you want eac you'll be better off downloading 
>it.

So how do I find it?  Google for it?  And then how do I know the sites 
I find are legitimate?  I'm not putting any executable program on my 
computer unless it comes from a reliable source, and web sites I know 
nothing about don't count as reliable sources.

>You would typically use it in conjunction with another program (such 
>as "lame")

Not ANOTHER program?!  I'm having enough trouble convincing myself I 
want the one.

>which would encode the audio data you extracted into a compressed 
>format like MP3.

No, no, I listen to classical music: I do NOT want a compressed format 
and the accompanying degradation of sound quality.

>Also, EAC has the option to query CDDB for the track names, then name
>the files appropriately.

A friend of mine with a Mac has ITunes, or whatever Steve Jobs's music-
for-sale biz is called, but instead of buying tunes he uses it to 
organize his music files on his computer.  What intrigues me about it 
is that if he puts a music CD in his computer, the program looks it up 
in some database somewhere and displays a track list.

What I would like to do is query that database.  I don't want to get 
music from it, but if it's as complete as it looks, I would like to be 
able to find out what things have been recorded and who's recorded them.