so i just got limewire and i was wondering. are mp3 type songs the same as wma(i think thats what its called.. might be mwa) type songs? does it matter which ones i download? because i don't have an mp3 player, i just have a regular cd player. thanks

I'd be happy for somebody to correct me, but I'd say no. They are different. mwa files are intended for Windows Media Player to play. Sure, some other mp3/media players 'might' be able to play them but will most likely require special codecs to enable this. Sorry I'm not a pc person (I'm a mac user), but it's my understanding wmp does have the ability to burn cd's. If yours has this ability, then it should be safe to dwnld wma files to burn to a cd. Your burner software might/might not have the ability to convert wma files so they can be burnt to cd. For mp3's, there's various softwares incl. burner apps that can burn them as a cd. You could potentially mix them both onto one cd. But 1st you need to find out if your wmp can burn them 1st! Also keep in mind there's different types of mp3's & wmp may potentially require xtra codecs to play all types.

so whats the difference between wma and mp3? if i downloaded mp3 files and burned them onto a cd could i still listen to it with my regular cd player or would i have to get an mp3 player to listen to it?

mp3 has similar compression rates to wma but lacks any sort of annoying security. WMP is big on needing xtra codecs to play AV. See the following links for comparisons (too big to include here): http://www.insearchoftruth.org/audio...ke/encode.html
http://www.updated.com/browse/index....en+MP3+And+Wma

No, mp3's can be burnt as either an mp3 disk (basically a data disk) or burnt as a full audio cd. Generally the burner software will convert the mp3 to the full size of audio tunes (wav & aiff are direct formats that save in full audio quality.) Just choose audio cd in the burner app & drop your mp3's in there.

mp3's & wma are generally compressed in size using 'lossy' techniques (throws away info thru a no. of methods; eg: combining the 2 L&R channels at times when the difference is minimal.) Hope this answers your queries.

The difference is better seen in wmv (short for Windows Media Video): one can find he same clip on .avi format for 25000KB while in .wmv it takes around 7500KB. How is that? A lot (and I mean a lot) of quality is sacrificed for the sake of a smaller file. And that's probably Microsoft's motto on everything: Quantity over Quality. It's better to produce 100 programs with a million free incorporated bugs (no need to dld them but you can do so to keep software bugs up-to-date) than 10 programs that will work coherently. Bugs are goood for them. They love them. I wonder if B. Gates' fancy house has any bugs.
I have a question though:
wma=Windows Media Audio
mwa=Mindows Wedia Audio?

Who's Mindows? And what's a Wedia?

__________________
iMac G4 OSX 10.3.9
RAM 256MB
LW 4.10.5 Basic
ADSL anything from 3 to 8Mbps/around 1024kbps

"Raise your can of Beer on high
And seal your fate forever
Our best years have passed us by
The Golden Age Of Leather"
-Blue Öyster Cult-

So he types badly considering the citiation to -Blue Öyster Cult- why would sound quality even matter - cacophony doesn't require quality just volume

Maybe they're not everybody's cup of tea, but that's a tough description, very generalised & a personal view. Perhaps some people can't distinguish quality b/w tunes, but everybody has their own taste. I'm glad we're not all sheep following what the music industry says we should. And besides, such types of bands have been just as popular/successful as those that get sponsored by the music industry. They sometimes have cult status. Curious to hear murasame's opinion! lol

I don't get it. You think that BÖC is cacophony?

__________________
iMac G4 OSX 10.3.9
RAM 256MB
LW 4.10.5 Basic
ADSL anything from 3 to 8Mbps/around 1024kbps

"Raise your can of Beer on high
And seal your fate forever
Our best years have passed us by
The Golden Age Of Leather"
-Blue Öyster Cult-