HELP ME! Does anyone know about the difference in media types like concerning ripping and burning cds & dvds??

Question

WMP asks in the tools>options>ripping menu what format I want...4 choices WMA, WMA (variable bit rate), WMA Lossless, and MP3. It also has a slider at the bottom adjusting size vs. quality. I haven't the slightest clue what the diff. is. Will what I choose here affect me later when I try to burn a CD? Does audio size option mean I'm essentially stretching fewer songs over the disc to maintain quality when I could adjust it to fit more music on the cd? And does WMP have the option of labeling the music files so the names or a disc title shows up on my car player?I've only recently discovered mp3 cds & that my car deck has been compatible all along. I am confused here. Oh and 1 more question. When I buy blank dvds to record on, there are DVD+R, DVD-R, also choices on length of burn time available, I think I get mode types, but what's the difference between those two? DVD-RW is like a cd-rw besides the obvious basically tho rite? CDs don't have + s and - s I thought I left that in HS math

Answer 1

First of all, MP3 CD's are more compatible in CD players made in the last 2-3 years than WMA, though with WMA you can typically fit more on one CD at the same quality.

Just realize that both formats use compression so that the file takes up less space than it would at lossless quality. The WAV format is one example of lossless CD quality that you can select. If you're just making a regular audio CD that can play in ANY player, then there's no advantage in ripping songs to MP3 or WMA first before making the CD, since both formats lose quality. However, if you are ripping songs to your hard drive for long-term storage, then it makes more sense to choose one of those two to save hard disk space on your PC.

You just have to weigh the trade-off of benefits. For me, personally, I only use MP3 at bitrates above 192 KB/s for better quality, and I don't make CD's from them unless I'm trying to make an MP3 CD (which like I mentioned is less compatible in CD players). If I'm making an audio CD for my car, I will rip the tracks to WAV format then immediately throw them on CD so I can delete them from my hard drive to get space back (a 4-minute song, for example, can take up 40-45MB of space).


As for DVDs....

This link should help you understand the basics:
http://www.videohelp.com/dvd

Answer 2

Set it as MP3 and quality all the way up. All the size means is that you're either going to make the files really big but good quality or make the files really small so you can fit more on the disc but they'll sound like crap. If it gives you a KBPS amount, set it at 128 for MP3 songs. You can still label MP3s so that the info shows up.

Answer 3

because of the fact the guy above me reported, I even have eclectic style in music. I music down what i like, then burn cds packed with countless genres. So greater selfmade cds for me. approximately 50/50 on dvds, i think.