You've got the HP CD-writer, so I'll assume it comes with some sort of software for making CD's. Usually this is Adaptec EZCD Creator. If you don't have some sort of software for the burner, you'll need it. What you need is a program that can copy a bunch of .wav files and burn them into an AUDIO format CD. You do NOT want to burn them as .wav DATA files.

You'll also need some sort of program for recording the sound coming from your records and tapes (CD's can be "ripped" with a different type of software). There are several programs that can do this -- the one I've used is CoolEdit.

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The Unofficial Photographer of The Wilkinsons

I have a Dual turntable fed into the phono input of a Technics Amp. The line level tape output (TAPE PLAY OUT, 2 RCA phono jacks) is wired to a homebrew box that simply combines the 2 phono line level jacks from the Technics amp into an 1/8" stereo phone plug that is plugged into the sound card. Both input commons are tied together and form the common 1/8" plug input while the two "tip" connectors from the phono plugs feed to the middle and tip connectors on the 1/8" plug.

My sound card has three jacks: a mic input that can be configured as stereo or mono, a line output for feeding the PC speakers and a line level auxiliary input which is what I use as an input to record with. My card is a Soundblaster compatible so I think it's fairly typical of what's available. The electronics on this card are I'm sure, run of the mill, but the resulting sound is great from the tight bass sounds to the screeching high steel parts.

I use the Adaptec Easy CD creator ($80 package a year ago) and record the LP to hard drive using the "Audio CD" option. I don't use any filters because I have found that they do eliminate pops somewhat at the expense of frequency response and dynamics. Once I have compiled about 70 minutes of music (around 700 MB) I burn a CD using the "Create CD" option at 4x speed and "disk at once". I turn off all other programs but I still get about one CD in 10 that ends in buffer underruns (a fatal error) but at $.40 a CD who cares? Wallmart has CD/r's, a 50 pack, Memorex, for only $18.99. I only use so called "data" CD/r's. They play everywhere except in my RCA DVD player. I have bought some MEMEX brand and a lot more of those seemed to fail. Unfortunately I haven;t had a lot of luck getting the Adaptek program to split tracks correctly so I record the songs one at a time. I did record a few sides in one lump but found I always wanted to skips certain songs on playback, depending on my mood, so it's much more usable to have one CD track per song. If I wasn't just slecting an LP track here or there, I would certainly get a program that would let me record a whole LP side and then use my own judgement to split the tracks. Well worth your time if you intend to record whole LP's.

Sam's has a label kit that includes labeling software, 150!!! CD labels, 10 jewel case inserts, a CD label applicator and a few other labels for $19.99 right now. I have also used the Avery labels and software which are more expensive , with good results. Sometimes if in a hurry, I'll put a generic looking label together or if it's important I'll scan the album in or get pic's off the net to make a nice label. I started using all jewel cases but quickly caved in an am now storing the CD's in Cd containers of 22 each.

You can email me if you want more details. I have a lot of the Bear CD sets. Their's do sound a little cleaner as far as not having an occasional click or pop but they don't always have the original mix that I am recording from LP's. Overall I would prefer to own my CD's except for the nice booklets that come with their set.

It's a lot of work but I guess I'm in too deep to stop now. This is the first time I have been able to play all this great music anywhere I'm at.

Greg

[This message was edited by Greg Cutshaw on 20 March 2001 at 12:43 PM.]

The Adaptec software seems to be the most user friendly and popular of the CD software suites.

See http://www.hdcd.com/ for more info on HDCD.

See here: http://www.hdcd.com/recordings/recordingsi.htm

for a list of many current HDCD releases including Eddy Arnold, Asleep at the Wheel, and over 9 pages of country related stuff! Got to have HDCD!

Greg

[This message was edited by Greg Cutshaw on 21 March 2001 at 07:20 AM.]

A comment about those stereo-system-based CD-R-writers you mentioned. (And please correct me if I'm off-base on this -- I don't own one, but have read about them).

I thought that these units require you to use so-called Music Audio CD-R's (not sure of the exact terminology), which are more expensive than plain ol' data CD-R's that you can use to make audio CD's on a computer-based system.

Normal CD-R's are down to around 50 cents apiece -- and I thought the Audio CD-R's are more like a couple of dollars. I believe the only real difference between them is that they have a royalty built-in to the price, to compensate artists, etc. for the copying. And, obviously, they have some sort of data on them that tells the stand-alone home-stereo burners that they are the proper type of disk.

The convenience of copying directly from a home stereo system to these systems might very well make it worth the extra cost to a lot of people. But it is a point worth mentioning, IMO.

Again, please correct me if I'm wrong on this.

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The Unofficial Photographer of The Wilkinsons

Another option, possibly, would be to keep the Philips 775 because it will do digital disk to disk HDCD copies, then buy an HDCD compatible receiver such as the new Kenwood VR series and pipe the fiber from the 775 into the Kenwood and you can at least PLAY back in HDCD. You still would not be able to create HDCD disks from LP's, however.

quote:

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I'm certainly willing to pay a dollar for media if it saves me the hassle of recording all of those songs one-by-one to the hard disk in my computer.

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Yeah, if they've gotten that cheap, I agree. Amazing how prices fall.

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The Unofficial Photographer of The Wilkinsons

The HDCD format has nothing to do with the 5 channel (actually 5.1 = 6 channel Dolby Digital) format. It is being used even on re-releases of older artists like Eddy Arnold and newer ones like Asleep at the Wheel (see the list at the link above, there are a huge number of country Cd's available in this format). The chips are now readily available and soon will be in all Cd players/recorders. We are just at a time when the manufacturers are changing over. HDCD merely involves recording and playing back the music with a higher bit resolution, 20 versus 16 to give a more faithful representation of the original. This will work with your existing amp and speakers (2 of them) and is not some exotic format enhancement but actually a straight forward upgrade to the quality if the sound.

**** quotes from HDCD.com: *********

Over 2,000 HDCD recordings have been made by leading mastering studios around the world. More than 150 HDCD recordings have appeared on the Billboard Top 200 chart, and over 80 HDCD recordings have been nominated for Grammy® Awards.(View a list of the HDCD Grammy nominees in 1998, 1999, and 2000).

"Everything everybody was complaining about digital, HDCD cures." -- The New York Times

HDCD encoded CDs sound better because they are encoded with 20-bits of real musical information, as compared to 16-bitsfor all other CDs. HDCD overcomes the limitation of the 16-bit CD format by using a sophisticated system to encode the additional four bits onto the CD while remaining completely compatible with the existing CD format. HDCD provides more dynamic range, a more focused 3-D soundstage, and extremely natural vocal and musical timbre. With HDCD, you get the body, depth and emotion of the original performance -- not a flat, digital imitation.

"With HDCD, digital officially races ahead of analog in a way anyone can hear, not just golden-eared audiophiles." -- Rolling Stone Magazine

HDCD recordings will always sound better than conventional CDs when played on any CD player. You will hear fuller, richer sound on all types of players, from portables to high-end systems. This is why so many top artists and engineers use HDCD. To bring out the full bandwidth and superb fidelity of HDCD recordings, a player with HDCD decoding should be used. You will be amazed by the dynamic range and resolution produced by decoded HDCD recordings.

"...HDCD is a significant advancement in digital audio sound quality." -- Fi Magazine

Pacific Microsonics' PMD-100 audio chip, which includes HDCD decoding and HDCD filtering, is a world wide standard in high fidelity audio systems with over 100 models of HDCD equipped players now available from leading consumer electronics companies like Denon, Harman Kardon, Rotel, and Toshiba. Recently, leading audio chip manufacturers, including Analog Devices, Burr Brown, Motorola, Sanyo, and Zoran licensed the same HDCD technology used in the PMD-100 todevelop HDCD chips for the general audio market. These new chips will be used in a wide range of playback products such as DVD players, A/V receivers, Mini-Component systems, MiniDisc players, and CD players, changers and portables.

And, best of all, the HDCD decoder chip used in consumer products also contains the HDCD high precision digital filter which improves the sound quality of all types of digital audio recordings. This means that any A/V receiver, CD player, DVD player and Mini Discplayer equipped with HDCD will produce significantly better sound from your entire collection of CDs, DVDs and MDs.

**************** END OF QUOTES **************

Country Artists??? The following have HDCD releases now (partial list):

Trace Adkins, Alabama,John anderson, Eddy Arnold,Asleep at the Wheel, Chet Atkins, Suzy Bogguss, BR-549, Brooks and Dunn, Sawyer Brown, Jethro Burns, Deanna Carter, Johnny Cash, Kenny Chesney, Mark Chestnut, terri Clark, David Alan Coe, The Derailers, Joe Diffe, Dixie Chicks, Ty England, Janie Fricke, Vince Gill, Joe Goldmark, Merle Haggard etc etc etc. I am tired of typing the names but HDCD is not exotic, it is here now. Non- HDHD players are being dumped on the market at lower prices to make way for the HDCD ones.

Update: until 3/31, vanns.com has the H/K CDR 30 for $479.99 and the Philips CDR775 for $359.99.

Greg

[This message was edited by Greg Cutshaw on 22 March 2001 at 06:55 AM.]

20 bits may sound cleaner than 16, I dunno. What I do know is that MP3 files, which are compressed with a lossy algorithm (which sacrafices sound quality for smaller file size) can be significantly worse sounding than pure uncompressed 16-bit tracks from CDs, and I seldom hear anybody make note of that. So going to 20 bits (16 times the resolution, as b0b stated) may not be all that noticable or of real consequence to many consumers. Just a thought.....

The HDCD equipped players do have much sharper digital filters that would improve playback of ALL material. The HDCD format is supposed to recreate the harmonic content of the original signal more closely. Certainly 20 bits can achieve a closer approximation of an analog signal than 16 can, assuming that the extra bits are used to achieve finer resolution. Along this line, I think that since the 16 and 20 bit systems are compatible, that Bob's explanation of 16 additional low order bit levels being available is the most correct versus the view that higher and lower levels of sounds (more dynamic range) is being provided. This supports the view that finer graduations of levels are being recorded. I certainly think that most CD's lack the warmth of the LP's and most people that have listened to HDCD think this problem is now solved.

Anyway this is a new technology for CD's and you guys didn't seem to be aware of it although it is growing fast and I just wanted to share the above information with you in case you wanted to investigate it further as it may affect what type of system you would buy.

quote:

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Certainly 20 bits can achieve a closer approximation of an analog signal than 16 can, assuming that the extra bits are used to achieve finer resolution.

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I would think that using a higher FREQUENCY during recording (like 88.2 khz instead of 44.1) would make a lot more difference than going from 16 to 20 bits.

As an example, imagine recording a 22.05 kHz sine wave (which some people can probably hear -- it's right on the threshhold). If you sample at 44.1 kHz, the resulting digital file is highly dependent on exactly when you're doing the sampling (the phase of recording vs. the phase of the sine wave, if you will).

You could end up recording anything between just the absolute maximum and minumums of the wave, or just values of 0.

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The Unofficial Photographer of The Wilkinsons

Bear in mind here tho, that the higher sampling rate WILL make for a considerable larger sound file. I may get flamed here by others but, I have found the 44 K rate is good enought for general usage.

As for the "Audio" CD disk vs the "data" CD disk... It's really the same disk. All your paying for is the Music Industries demand for royaltys because they want to keep on getting the mega-bucks they are STEALING from us. Due to (in general)the fact that we,the consumer, not understanding how Cdr's are handled by the computer, the myth that "Audio CD's" are different, is another POS pushed upon the un-suspecting public by them. If a song hits my radio, tape player,computer, etc,etc and I want it, IT'S MINE, I will get it.

[This message was edited by Bill Crook on 31 March 2001 at 07:39 PM.]