[Ham-Computers] RE: While Nero Fiddle The CD Burned - Help Guys!

[Hsu, Aaron (NBC Universal)]

Duane,

.CDA files are short pointers to the actual .WAV files on the CD.  In
order to get the .WAV files, you need to use an an application to "RIP"
the raw audio from the CD (and ignore the .CDA files).  Each track is a
seperate .WAV file stored on the CD, so you can rip individual tracks
from the CD.  I believe the original intent of the .CDA files was so
that computer applications could find and access the actual .WAV file
for playback, but not allow a person to easily "drag-n-drop" or copy the
.WAV (which is a perfect digital copy) - a simple form of copy
protection.  Today, many free utilities are available to rip audio and
save the "perfect" .WAV file or convert it into smaller "compressed"
formats (such as MP3, AAC, WMA, etc).

Nero Express is able to rip audio and save it as one of several
supported formats (including .WAV).  Here are the step-by-step
instructions:

1. Start the Nero Express interface

2. In the main Nero Express window, click on the "More >>" button.  This
should open a bottom panel with several additional buttons.

3. Put an audio CD in the CD/DVD-ROM drive and click on the "Save
Tracks" button.

4. Nero will give you an option to retrieve track information via the
CDDB database.  If you have in internet connection, you can allow Nero
to retrieve the track info (name, artist, play time, etc) if there is an
I S R C (International Standard Recording Code) label on the CD
(basically a digital album label).

5. Nero then scans the CD and identifies all the tracks available on the
CD (there should be one track for every .CDA file that was visable in a
Windows explorer).  The "track list" shows these files and Nero
highlights them all by default.  You can leave them all highlighted or
select tracks one by one.

6. Set the "output way" to "Digital" (rather than "analogue").  This
ensures that you're digitally copying bit-for-bit and not using the
analogue out from the CD/DVD-ROM drive (which would then be subject to
DAC conversion loss (one generation)).

7. Change the "Output file format" to the file format you want.  PCM
will save the file as .WAV (which is what a .WAV file really is).

8. The "Settings" button next to the "Output file format" allows you to
tweak the settings for the output type you selected.  For .WAV, the
"standard" is 44KHz, 16-bit Stereo.

9. Set the "Path" to where you want to save the ripped audio.  Make sure
you have enough disk space to store the files!  The general rule of them
is 10MB per minute for "standard" .WAV audio.

10. Select the "File name creation method".  "Manual" uses a pre-defined
template of Artist, a dash, track title, a dot, and the extension
(.WAV).  "User Defined" allows you to define your own method.  The
artist and track title names are based on the CDDB retrieved
information, if you did a CDDB retrieve.  If not, I believe it just uses
"Track 01", "Track 02", "Track 03", etc.

11. The "Options" button will open a bottom panel with a few additional
options.  You may want to select "Jitter correction" to remove jitter
errors during the ripping process.  Also, the "Read speed" can be
reduced if the CD/DVD-ROM drive is experiencing problems reading the CD
- this might be caused by scratches or dirt on the CD or a poorly
recorded CD/CD-R.

12. Click "GO" to start the ripping process.  This might take some time
depending on what options were selected.  Ripping to .WAV is the fastest
as it's just copying exactly what's on the CD.  The other formats
require a conversion step which takes time.  Also, Jitter Correction may
also slow down the process if many errors need to be corrected.

13. When done, you should be back at the "Save Track" screen where you
can select another track to rip or "Close" the window.


That's about it.  The .WAV audio files are now available on the hard
drive for you to compile in any manner you wish.  If you want to create
a custom audio compilation CD, then you would start an "Audio CD"
project in Nero Express, then add the tracks you want to put on the CD,
then burn.

Oh, and you can't "Name" an audio CD in Nero as audio CD's were not
designed to have a volume label (except the ISRC).  Nero will allow you
to name Data CD's, but not audio CD's.  If you wish to use a unique name
for each data CD, then you'll need to create a compilation and burn via
the normal Nero Express route.  At the end of the burn, you're given the
option to "Burn the same project again", or, "Save the project".  "Burn
project again" takes you back to the "Burn" window where you can change
the disc name and burn another disc.  Saving the project allows you to
come back at a later time to burn the same compilation again (as long as
you haven't deleted the source files from your drive).

Also, you can't change the name of disc using "Copy disc".  The "Copy
disc" is a one-for-one copy that also copies the existing volume label
(if any).  To add or change the volume label on an existing disc, you'll
need to copy all the data off the disc to your hard disk, create a new
compilation, and burn with the new label.  There are some tools out
there that will allow you to change the label of an ISO file, but ISO
files are for data discs, not audio discs.  


73,

  - Aaron, NN6O



-----Original Message-----
Sent: Tuesday, February 07, 2006 1:48 PM
Subject: [Ham-Computers] While Nero Fiddle The CD Burned - Help Guys!

  *** snip ***

Do I have to convert the .cda to .wav first and then copy the .wav files
or?

I can copy them if I select "copy CD", but it does let me name the disc.

They are "audio CD" by default. Additionally, after making a copy it
asks me 
if I would like to burn anohter copy of the same disc? It is already in
the 
temp dir on the HD, of course. I say "yes", but it still asks for the 
original CD just the same!

How do I copy the CD, how do I name it and how do I change the disc name
for 
each copy without having to use the master every time?

  *** snip ***