Converting an MP3 file to "normal" CD audio.




 This is one method of many (depending on what you already have in the way of audio and CD software) and uses Goldwave's shareware digital editor (available at http://www.goldwave.com).

What needs to be done: the existing MP3 files are mono, 11khz or 16khz sample rate and compressed. An audio CD needs to be a stereo, 44khz WAV file. Make sure you have plenty of room on your hard drive as the file will grow about 100 times larger (!) after the conversion process and Goldwave makes use of temporary files that will also be large because of the size of the WAV files. The conversion time involved depends on: how fast your computer is,  how much memory it has, the hard drive's speed, and the size of the file you're converting. It takes a while in any case. Feedback to improve these instructions or detail other methods of conversion is invited.

1) Using the editor OPEN the MP3 file.

2) Make sure the entire file is "selected" then COPY.

3) OPEN a new file: stereo, 44.1khz

4) PASTE the selection into the new file
    at this point the file is in the required format to burn to CD

5) SAVE the file as WAV

OR you may wish to save the file as multiple tracks so that you can begin listening to the recording at places other than the beginning. e.g.: you might want to break a 60 minute talk into approximate 10 minute tracks. In that case select each track then use "save selection as"  to save it to disk. Use a naming system so that you will know what order to put the tracks  in when you burn the CD. Also note that some talks will be larger than a single CD and must be split.
6) use your favorite "burning" software to burn the WAV file(s) to a CD.

7) That's it! ... enjoy listening to these files on your stereo or car CD player.

note:  not all CD players [especially older units] can "read" recordable or re-writeable CDs

FOR MP3 PLAYERS: In a similar manner you can convert these files to 44khz stereo  MP3 files which should be playable on portable MP3 players. Again, the files grow substantially ... in this case about 8x larger.

26oct03