PDA

View Full Version : Advice on Audio CD image files?


briandunning
31st January 2008, 11:17 AM
I am attempting to fulfill the numerous requests for versions of my Skeptoid podcast in a more universal format, namely Audio CDs.

Listeners ask for "something my grandma can listen to" -- so I'm looking for the easiest way to get free CD's to the general population. A lot of people want to listen to it in their car, and don't have iPod adapters. Or, they want to give it to their grandma, who doesn't have either an iPod or a computer.

I'm trying to cater to the lowest common denominator: People who are generally clueless on their computer. They don't understand the difference between MP3's on a CD-ROM and an Audio CD. Few CD players will play MP3 CD's, so I don't want to go there.

I have found that there is no such thing as an image file format to create an audio CD. I have all the commercial software for handling images, but my users do not; and none of my commercial software offers any imaging options for Audio CDs. I need something that a clueless Windows or Mac user can click on, and their OS will be smart enough to ask them to insert a blank CD, and create the Audio CD.

Burning an .iso to a CD creates a CD-ROM, not an Audio CD, so it is incompatible with many CD players.

I can create the .bin/.cue files, but I tried downloading them onto a fresh XP machine to test a clueless user's experience, and the OS had no idea what to do with them.

Kinda running out of ideas... :-(

EHLO
31st January 2008, 03:52 PM
I wouldn't get too complicated as I think you'll find that creating an audio CD is the default behavior on most users computers.

If I stick a blank CD in my Windows XP (home edition) box I get this;

http://casesensitive.com.au/temp/newcd.gif

If I select "Burn a CD using Windows Media Player" then Media Player pops up and I can drag in any audio files (mp3,wma etc).

I then click "burn" and a standard Audio CD is created that plays in any CD player. This seems about as low a common denominator as you can get (assuming they use a CD and not a DVD)

I haven't tried this on my Mac but assume iTunes would behave in a similar way.