Is an mp3 disk the same size in diameter as a normal CD disk or is it smaller in physical size ? Sorry for sounding so dumb about this, but this old guy is having a hard time grasping all this new technology. If mp3 disks are the same physical size as a normal CD disk, can I purchase this type of disc, and burn it using the same pc burner I'm using for normal CD's ? This is a very helpful forum, and I appreciate all of you who have posted and have answered my question(s) Thanks LOTR.

Well I did a little more research and found out some pretty good news. I went to a music retailer and explained my problem, and they were very helpful. They told me I probably had the wrong burner software. They very generously "gave" me a burnt copy of a software called Nero LG solution. I went home with it, installed it and wow, this thing works great. It'll burn mp3's or wave's and even DVD's if you have a DVD burner. I was eager to see if I could burn more mp3's onto a virgin CD than I usually do (approx 20). I ended up burning 65 mp3's onto a 700 mb CD and there was enough room left on the CD to burn another 65 if not 100 mp3's. The store did advise me however that when burning an mp3, it can only be played back on an mp3 player. Anyway, I just thought some of you would like to know this info. Thanks all for your help, and hopefully now I can help somebody else. :)

It was a good thread I learnt heaps as well...;)

If I burn as "data" will it still play back on a mp3 player or home cd player ?

you cant play mp3 cds on a normal cd player. if you could audio cd's would be useless! you need an mp3 compatable cd player. (most dvd players are) i bought one for my car... cost about £400 but i think you can get them a lot cheaper.

and yeah i use nero 6... definatly worth the £40 from pc world.
allows you to rip audio cds to mp3 and edit dvds with your own startup screen etc.

Yes, but if I burn them as data using Nero, will they play back on a mp3 compatibile player ? What's the difference between burning them as an mp3 and data ? In other words, what's the advantage ? When using the Nero Start Smart software, it gives me several options to burn. Three of those options are "Make Data CD" - "Make Audio & Data CD" - or " Make mp3 CD" Which option should I use to burn CD's so that they can be played back on a mp3 compatible player ? As well, which option in Nero Start Smart should I use to burn CD's that will be played back on a wave CD compatible system ? I know none of the above options apply for wave burning. (not sure is "wave" is the correct term) Sorry for all the questions, but I just want to understand this once and for all. What's the difference between "ripping" and "burning" ? Man, what ever happened to the old 78's where you just put a record on the turn table ? lol Thanks for your help.

I'll answer some of your questions in part. I'll leave the extra explanations & questions to others.
Ripping is the process of extracting from the CD to your computer HDD. Burning is the process of creating a CD/DVD-R/RW. Since cd burners use a laser which etches (burns) into the surface of the CD (little bumps/holes which signify zeros & ones - digital data) .... thus it's refered to as burning.

I think you mean WAV right? 44.1 KHz, 16 bit, stereo; Waveform audio http://mp3.about.com/od/glossary/g/wav.htm & - http://filext.com/detaillist.php?ext...&Search=Search
It's safest to 1st rip to wav or aiff 1st before converting to mp3 or other.

As mentioned earlier, data format will maintain the mp3's id3 tags. However, perhaps some mp3 players might not recognise disks not burnt specifically in mp3 format. I don't know.

Are you saying that I can "rip" a particular song from a CD and transfer that song (whether it be mp3 or wav.) to my HD then "burn" it with others to a virgin cd ?
Thanks for your patience and well explained answer LOTR.

Yes you can, for personal use only of course! Nero can rip & can rip into wav. You wouldn't want to convert a wav to mp3 unless you wanted to share it. Converting to mp3 means some loss of quality. How much depends upon the quality you set the mp3 for. Be that anywhere up to 320 kbps & stereo & no filters & maintaining the 44.1 KHz sample rate. But of course, Nero will convert mp3's to wav or audio CD. If you want to grab a choice of songs from different CD's & perhaps mix them with mp3's you've got a hold of, then keep the ripped songs from CD's in wav format. In that way they won't lose any sound quality whatsoever. After all, wav is a lossless format meaning it doesn't lose any quality.

Whereas mp3 is a lossy format (it throws away information to help it reduce in size. This generally starts with the higher frequency ranges ... some which adult ears arguably can't hear anyway - above 15 KHz I think. But the lower you set the mp3 bitrate for (0-320 kbps), the more the info that's thrown away! And that includes (loss of playback info) across the board frequency ranges! There's different techniques of mp3 compression that the converters use in their process.)

Wow, where in the world did you learn this stuff lol. I'm making notes pappy, and what scares me is, I think I actually understood what you said lol. Thanks a million, I truly appreciate the help.