Best Program/Method: Making Audio Data CDs?

[Xathagorra]

I'm trying to find the best program/method for making data audio cds so I can fit several albums on one cd but WITHOUT sound quality loss.

I managed to pull it off with WMP (which was a royal pain) to test it out, but there is a noticable quality difference, even though burned at 320k in mp3 form.

I use Winamp which, to me, has the best sound for burning/ripping music, but it can't make data cds.

I refuse to buy an mp3 player, but need a method of having a lot of music "in one place", so to speak, because it's my life and I listen to music 24/7.

Someone I know made me a cd-r using the data method which sounds great and has about 9 albums on it, but I've no idea what they used and no way of finding out at this point.

What can I do to create cd quality burns in data format?

It's just far more convienient to have many albums on one cd, so as to not have to be changing back-and-forth cds constantly, or having to have my PC on constantly in order to just use Winamp to have music playing constantly.

Even having a 3 or 5 disc CD changer shelf system just isn't enough for me, and 100+ disc changer isn't reasonable, as then I'd have to build a rack system, which is impossible to do these days (finding all the components I'd need like an eq etc.) and not something I'd prefer to do.

Running an mp3 player through my home system isn't a great idea either, as the sound quality definitely suffers there as well.

I need a way/program/method of getting music on a cd-r as data, w/o losing sound quality, and a lot of it on one cd.

Any suggestions on how to get a lot of music "in one place" via the data method etc. would be appreciated.

 

[DaCoOlNeSs]

you could try Nero.

 

[Xathagorra]

That's not telling me much.

Which version of Nero? Is there any sound loss making data cds with Nero?

I need in-depth information about what to use and the best process for getting the best sound.

I've used Nero in the past but no longer have it, but if that's a way to do it I need to know whether or not it's worth purchasing. I don't pirate, so doing these things costs me money, which means I need more information than a four word reply.

Thanks.

 

[Mister X]

I think you are a little misguided about the performance of portable MP3 players but I understand where that comes from.

My solution for your dilemma would be to rip the Cd's to a lossless format (like FLAC), store the files on your harddrive and use something like the squeezebox to playback the files on your home audio system.

http://www.slimdevices.com/

(if you ever have the need for a lossy copy of one of your rips it's much easier to transcode FLAC files then it is to RIP the CD again.... the catch is you need a fair amount of harddrive space to store lossless audio files)

As far your 9 CD's on one CD thing goes.....

The only way you can fit that much audio data on one CD is to throw part of the data away.
That is exactly what MP3 compressions does.
When you trade size for quality the files are no longer CD quality.
The question now becomes:
Can you tell the difference on your system?

It sounds like you can but you may want to try this tutorial for making better MP3s and see if you get better results----------->
http://www.chrismyden.com/bestmp3guide.php



Last but not least...
Yes, Nero 7 ultra edition is worth every cent of it's price but version 6 is less buggy at this time.

 

[Smitty2k1]

What Mister X said. If you want to make MP3 cd's, then rip and encode your files with Exact Audio Copy and Lame mp3 encoder. I have a few mp3 cd's in my cd changer and they sound pretty good.