Burning CD Training Audio Files for Your Car: Easy Tips and Tricks

[Melissa78]

For anyone with experience burning cd's - this one is for you:

I recently ripped a whole bunch of training audio cds onto my laptop using Windows Media Player 11. I burned them by creating Playlists for each CD so that I knew which cd was which. Now I wish to burn them to a CD however, when I do, they don't play when its done creating. I see that it burns in WPL format (windows playlist), anyone know how I can covert these files and burn onto a CD-R so that I can play them in my car cd player? I don't have the original cd's now as I gave them back to my director. I commute 45min each way to work daily and would like to be able to listen to them in the car rather than being attached to my laptop. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. Note: The copyright police should just ignore this posting - yes it's illegal, yes it's wrong, but seriously, who doesn't burn cds these days?

 

[ChefBeckyD]

Hmmm, I've burned them all to CD. But I have a MAC, so can't help you on what you are doing wrong... Sorry!Oh, wait - you're trying to burn from CD to CD...sorry - I was talking about the downloadable ones on the Training Center....

 

[pckellyd]

I'm not 100% sure what to do to fix it, but you need to locate the actual audio files (probably under your my music directory and those are what you need to burn to cd. If for some reason you don't have the audio files... you're going to need to reborrow the cd's and just make copies of them.

 

[NooraK]

You will either have to get a program that will convert the files from the format they're in to audio files such as MP3s (if your CD player is MP3 compatible), or get the CDs back from your director and rip them again, changing the settings of Windows Media Player before you do so. You can set WMP so that it automatically saves the files as MP3 when you rip them, but I don't think it's the default.

 

[Melissa78]

*wishing I would have thought about this sooner* as I burned 26 cds....UGH! Thanks for your words of wisdom. I was able to resave a playlist as a M3U file? and it did work in the car however, its very staticky which drives me nuts. I may try burning it again and research the different speeds as I think some burn higher quality than others. I always make everything difficult on myself. Lesson learned...

 

[beepampered]

Perhaps you could burn the recorded teleclasses. They are great. I don't like listening them in the car because I DON"T have a commute and always end up starting and stopping. Then, I want to relisten to something but it doesn't have tracks. Unless someone can tell me how? I've only done it once.

 

[Melissa78]

I haven't done any of the teleclasses yet. I don't think I found them yet. I finished all of the regular online trainings, all product trainings and most of the cd's I referred to above however, I learn by repeating so I'd like to keep listening in the car - and I'm fortunate (or not fortunate on the gas tank) that I pretty much get thru a whole cd on one way to work and then another on the way home.

 

[esavvymom]

The Teleclasses can be found on CC- go to the same drop-down as you do for the Online Training Center- but select the one JUST below the Online Training Center. You'll be able to either register for a LIVE Teleconference class, or you can listen to a recorded one.

 

[ChefJoyJ]

How do I download them to my iPod? Wow...I must be more tired than I realized. :blushing: :indif:

 

[esavvymom]

For me (on a Mac), when I click on a recorded Teleclass, it asks if I want to save it or open in my default application (I-tunes).But I always saved them to my computer (try right-click and see what Save option you have)...then open them in your i-tunes so you can convert/copy it to your IPod. That's what I do. I have all my downloaded courses on my i-Tunes (about 1.5 days worth!)

 

[cmdtrgd]

Did you realize you can purchase these CD's for just $2?

 

[NooraK]

Yes, but with 26 CDs that equates to $52. Not to mention, there are probably CDs there that are no longer available on supply order.

 

[cmdtrgd]

Yes, but look at the time and effort that went into ripping and burning the CD's as well as the cost of the disks themselves and it probably equates...as for the ones that are no longer available, that is different.

 

[AlowayFamily]

I have all the CDs that are available on the supply order, so it is nice to have fresh material from CC. I downloaded the Leadership and National Conference sessions.

I was able to burn about 5 - 6 of them, but the others are too big for the CDs I have. I need to find a CD that will hold over 100 minutes, if they make that.

 

[NooraK]

Yes, but look at the time and effort that went into ripping and burning the CD's as well as the cost of the disks themselves and it probably equates...as for the ones that are no longer available, that is different.

Yes, there is a cost to the CDs, and the time of ripping and burning. The upside is that with MP3s the file format is compressed and you can fit much more onto a CD than you could with standard CD audio files. When I went to Conference 2007 there was a vendor who was selling MP3 CDs. This was before the MP3s were availble on CC, and each CD had 10 full length workshops on them, and I was also able to get a CD with all of that year's workshops on it. This replaces 10 individual CDs and reduces the need to switch them out in the car. The time for ripping/burning: once you start ripping or burning, you can walk away from the computer and let it do its think while you do something else.

I have all the CDs that are available on the supply order, so it is nice to have fresh material from CC. I downloaded the Leadership and National Conference sessions.

I was able to burn about 5 - 6 of them, but the others are too big for the CDs I have. I need to find a CD that will hold over 100 minutes, if they make that.

You may want to check what format your program is using to burn the CDs. Before I upgraded the software I used, I didn't realize what I was using was burning the files in the same format that they had originally been in. Once I got a better program, I was able to ensure they were saved in MP3 format, and I could fit a lot more on one CD. The quality does diminish a bit, depending on how compressed the file is, but since it's not music, it shouldn't be a big deal.

And of course, you'll have to make sure the CD player you're using is MP3 compatible.

 

[AlowayFamily]

You may want to check what format your program is using to burn the CDs. Before I upgraded the software I used, I didn't realize what I was using was burning the files in the same format that they had originally been in. Once I got a better program, I was able to ensure they were saved in MP3 format, and I could fit a lot more on one CD. The quality does diminish a bit, depending on how compressed the file is, but since it's not music, it shouldn't be a big deal.

And of course, you'll have to make sure the CD player you're using is MP3 compatible.

Thanks for the info - I'll see if I can figure that out! This MP3 stuff is kinda greek to me... :blushing:

 

[Melissa78]

One of the cds I burned was NC 2007 with all of the workshops on it. I thought that was great!

As for burning the cd's - the post above is correct, I was given CD's back to 2004. Sure things have changed a bit however, the overall gist is still the same. I thank everyone for their help. I still haven't mastered what I'm trying to accomplish but "I think I can. I think I can..." I have a strong will to get 'er done so I'll find a way!

 

[toenail1103]

I use this website to convert my files from docx to doc but it also has a music conversion section. i hope it helps Zamzar - Free online file conversion Good luck!!

 

[Melissa78]

Thanks. For converting .docx to .doc, Word 2003 will open them but there is a patch you can download to update your version. My student 2003 edition worked fine but at work they wouldn't open but it prompted me to MS's website for the patch and VOILA - it now works. May save you steps of having to convert and then once it opens, you just go to "save as" (not save) and use the drop down box to change the file to "Word 97-2003" .doc verison.

Just a tidbit.