MP3 smaller size?

[hmmm]

I have allot of mp3 files, avarage 3.5-4 mb. Taking up quite a bit of space. How would you advice me to make them smaller? Is there any free software? Does the quality suffer drasticaly?
Thank you.

[General Winters]

There are bitrate converters out there , however , mp3 is a lossy format, in other words to compress the file , information is thrown away .

Converting from a lossy format to a smaller (bitrate) lossy format can lead to serious sound degradation.

It might be better to start with the original cds and make a single rip to the smaller bitrate required, you only lose information once in this case.

If these are mp3s with the original cd not available to rerip then you either have to live with the loss of quality or consider a cheap secondary hard drive to store your mps on , or even burn the mp3s to a cd or better a dvd.

A cd alone will hold maybe 10+ albums depending on bitrate.

[hmmm]

General Winters,
Thank you for your very usefull information.

[Nix]

A cd alone will hold maybe 10+ albums depending on bitrate.

Make sure you burn it as a data CD though so the mp3 files get burnt as files and not converted to audio CD tracks.

Otherwise you'll only get 15-20 tracks depending on length etc.

[Train]

Make sure you burn it as a data CD though so the mp3 files get burnt as files and not converted to audio CD tracks.

Otherwise you'll only get 15-20 tracks depending on length etc.

Or upgrade your Burning program to one that can handle mp3's as mp3s istead of converting them.

[NoBoB]

What burning program doesn't handle .mp3's as .mp3's?

[Train]

When you make a audio cd, does your program offer too let you make them a mp3 audio. Most programs require you to make a data cd to get the mp3s on the cd/dvd unbutchered.

[NoBoB]

When I make an audio CD, I want an audio CD. It shouldn't need to ask whether I really want a data CD.

Nero doesn't ask, at least it's never asked me. And it better not start. Software that assumes that I'm a moron that doesn't know what I'm doing quickly gets uninstalled.

[Train]

Nero isOK as it does lots that I want to do, but NTI does a lot that Nero does not do too. And that is why I use both. Just have to know the limitations and how to work around them.

[prouton]

What burning program doesn't handle .mp3's as .mp3's?

I've found that some of the versions of Nero or Roxio that come free with a CD-RW drive can burn CD-audio disks, but not MP3 audio disks (one album versus 20 albums). The full version of the program has the option to burn MP3 audio disks (and the manufacturer obviously believes this will cause the user to pay for the upgrade).

[Ridgerunr]

My way is to build a data cd(closed)with Nero. 200+ tunes to a disk. Bought my 14 year old Grandaughter a Philips portable player that will recognize it all. No problem to solve.

As far as bitrate is concerned,the standard has been 96Kbps on audio cd's for many years. I have all of mine set to 128Kbps. I may not be an audiophile,but it sounds very good to me. And the 10,194 tunes on my storage drive only use 31.78GB of space which is fine by me...

[104456]

I've found that some of the versions of Nero or Roxio that come free with a CD-RW drive can burn CD-audio disks, but not MP3 audio disks (one album versus 20 albums). The full version of the program has the option to burn MP3 audio disks (and the manufacturer obviously believes this will cause the user to pay for the upgrade).

There are several pay for plugins for the basic Nero Burning software like MP3,DVD etc but I believe some are included on the latest version as part of Nero 6 Reloaded.So have you tried updating the software to see if you version is freely upgradeable?

[prouton]

My copy of Nero (that came with a CD-RW drive) doesn't include a serial number (required to buy the "reloaded" upgrade). It was designed to be easily installable, but to only work with the model of drive it shipped with. I've seen this with Roxio (or Adaptec ezCD Creator) versions that came similarly bundled.

[104456]

Yes we have had threads related to this before the outcome mainly is that you can usually upgrade to the latest edition of the same version number i.e. 5 to 5.5 without problem even on locked programs such as yours i.e. Nero Burning to Nero Burning not Nero Burning to Nero Reloaded which is a different edition.

[hmmm]

WOW! I am glad that I have asked a simple question....so many answers....so many things to learn. Cheers!!!!