Anything better than WMP for burning audio CDs?

[doveman]

I was advised that Nero has become a bloated mess, so I avoided installing it on my brother's new PC and instead installed a number of alternatives that were recommended. However, all of these have problems that make them unfit for the task and my brother is asking me why I didn't just install Nero, which worked fine for him on his old PC! These are issues that have come up when trying to make an audio CD from mp3s.

BurnAware Free - Shows the time as 79:15 but then says it's too large to burn to a 80min CD. Adding some tracks, it says they're invalid and won't add them.

Ashampoo Burning Studio - Has no way to disable adding 2s gaps between each track. Also shows some added tracks as 1s or 0s long, when in fact they're 2 or 3 minutes long.

InfraRecorder - Rounds up the total time to the nearest minute, so it's impossible to see if there's enough room left for that 1m15s track. Has no way to toggle gaps between tracks on/off or to normalise track levels.

After trying all of those, it looks like Windows Media Player might be much better as it doesn't have any problem adding any of the tracks and has normalise and toggleable gaps features. Is this the best option or is there something else out there that is even better?

[jman98]

Nero is perfectly fine for:

1) Burning audio CDs. In fact, it has some nice features like CD Text that other programs may lack.
2) Burning from image files like ISO.
3) Burning data discs.

ImgBurn can make audio CDs from MP3 files but as I don't use it for that, you'll have to find a guide to using that. Be careful as ImgBurn can also make data discs, which is not what it seems you want to do here.

[hech54]

I use Prassi Ones for burning audio CDs.

[doveman]

Nero is perfectly fine for:

1) Burning audio CDs. In fact, it has some nice features like CD Text that other programs may lack.
2) Burning from image files like ISO.
3) Burning data discs.

ImgBurn can make audio CDs from MP3 files but as I don't use it for that, you'll have to find a guide to using that. Be careful as ImgBurn can also make data discs, which is not what it seems you want to do here.

Thanks.

I did look at ImgBurn but I found it quite confusing for making audio CDs (in fact I couldn't see how to and anything that needs a guide to explain it is too complicated for my brother) and even for data discs it's not really user-friendly, so I've only ever used it for burning images.

I've probably got an old version of micro/mini Nero that I can install on my brother's PC, so I guess I'll do that and he'll be happy again

[doveman]

I use Prassi Ones for burning audio CDs.

Seems that's no longer available though. Thanks anyway.

[Cornucopia]

My vote goes to ImgBurn. It can do audio (even multisession) and allows you to create a CUE file and even supports CDText (though I usually create the CUE & Text info in another app - CDRCue).

Scott

[aedipuss]

i only use cd architect for audio cds. used it back when it was a sonic foundry program and still as a sony one.

[Cornucopia]

I have it too (v5.2), but have found that I can do more with finished material in less setup time using CDRCue+ImgBurn. Unfinished material (needing program leveling, etc), I always finish it first (in a DAW) anyway, even for crossfades.

Scott

[doveman]

My vote goes to ImgBurn. It can do audio (even multisession) and allows you to create a CUE file and even supports CDText (though I usually create the CUE & Text info in another app - CDRCue).

Scott

I'm sure it can do it, it's just that it's too techy and not user-friendly enough compared to other apps for this task. My brother doesn't need to create a CUE file or use CDText, he just wants to add some mp3's and burn it, without it adding unwanted gaps or throwing up errors, which WMP or Nero seem to be the best for.

[fritzi93]

CDBurnerXP (free) is not complicated, you could try it. The program folder is only 18.8 MB on my computer. I only use it for the occasional audio CD but it can do data discs, burn images, etc. It'll do audio CDs with or without gaps.

[doveman]

CDBurnerXP (free) is not complicated, you could try it. The program folder is only 18.8 MB on my computer. I only use it for the occasional audio CD but it can do data discs, burn images, etc. It'll do audio CDs with or without gaps.

I did actually try that (and just took another look) but couldn't see any setting for enabling/disabling gaps. Even if it had that, it also doesn't seem to have a normalise feature, so wouldn't be as useful as WMP or Nero anyway unfortunately.

[Sartori]

Ive looked for years for a program that takes out gaps and normalises , I have Nero 7 Essentials and used a program called Nero Lite (as I recall) to install a Lite version of my original N7E cd and then use the authorisation number from my original disc to get it to work (nothing dodgy) . Even upgrading to Windows 7 and then 8 , I`ve had to install the same program as I couldn`t find another either , it just keeps the bloat out .

[tarzan54]

I'm not 100% sure but didn't nero express used to be free, I use nero full version 11 for all my audio cd's.

[Cornucopia]

My vote goes to ImgBurn. It can do audio (even multisession) and allows you to create a CUE file and even supports CDText (though I usually create the CUE & Text info in another app - CDRCue).

Scott

I'm sure it can do it, it's just that it's too techy and not user-friendly enough compared to other apps for this task. My brother doesn't need to create a CUE file or use CDText, he just wants to add some mp3's and burn it, without it adding unwanted gaps or throwing up errors, which WMP or Nero seem to be the best for.

Really?
For the simple jobs that you just described, ImgBurn is a breeze! Here are the steps:
1. Open ImgBurn
2. Use WRITE tool
3. Click on "Create CUE File" (little Icon of disc w/ music note)
4. Drag & drop your mp3 files to the open window
5. Highlight each of your files/tracks and make sure the pre-gap for each one is set for 2 seconds (CD standard default)
6. Click "OK" and save your CUE file
7. Click the BURN! icon
8. Done
How hard is that?

Scott

[doveman]

My vote goes to ImgBurn. It can do audio (even multisession) and allows you to create a CUE file and even supports CDText (though I usually create the CUE & Text info in another app - CDRCue).

Scott

I'm sure it can do it, it's just that it's too techy and not user-friendly enough compared to other apps for this task. My brother doesn't need to create a CUE file or use CDText, he just wants to add some mp3's and burn it, without it adding unwanted gaps or throwing up errors, which WMP or Nero seem to be the best for.

Really?
For the simple jobs that you just described, ImgBurn is a breeze! Here are the steps:
1. Open ImgBurn
2. Use WRITE tool
3. Click on "Create CUE File" (little Icon of disc w/ music note)
4. Drag & drop your mp3 files to the open window
5. Highlight each of your files/tracks and make sure the pre-gap for each one is set for 2 seconds (CD standard default)
6. Click "OK" and save your CUE file
7. Click the BURN! icon
8. Done
How hard is that?

Scott

OK, now you've explained how to do it I can see it's possible (although I don't see any WRITE tool but can go to Mode - Write and then Tools - Create CD Cue File, although I seem to be able to do the latter step regardless of which Mode it's in) but the fact you had to explain how just shows it's less intuitive than something like Nero that has a "Burn Audio CD" button, which then opens up a dual-pane browser/CD window to drag mp3's across in and then just click Burn (without having to save a CUE/Project file first).

So to answer your question "How hard is that?", I'd say "Harder than it should be".

Not to mention, IMGBurn doesn't appear to have a normalise function.

[doveman]

Ive looked for years for a program that takes out gaps and normalises , I have Nero 7 Essentials and used a program called Nero Lite (as I recall) to install a Lite version of my original N7E cd and then use the authorisation number from my original disc to get it to work (nothing dodgy) . Even upgrading to Windows 7 and then 8 , I`ve had to install the same program as I couldn`t find another either , it just keeps the bloat out .

Yeah, I think it was Nero Lite or Micro that I used to use. I haven't got a optical drive connected to my PC at the moment, so haven't done much burning in a while but I've probably got that Nero Lite backed up somewhere and my key, so I'll try and dig it out for my brother.

[mike20021969]

in fact I couldn't see how to and anything that needs a guide to explain it is too complicated for my brother

It really is very easy to do.

Have a read of this: http://forum.imgburn.com/index.php?showtopic=5555

[doveman]

in fact I couldn't see how to and anything that needs a guide to explain it is too complicated for my brother

It really is very easy to do.

Have a read of this: http://forum.imgburn.com/index.php?showtopic=5555

Thanks but Cornucopia already explained how to do it, it's just not as simple as Nero (or in fact a lot of the other programs I tried but as explained, they all seem to have their own issues which make them inferior to Nero).

[hech54]

Yea.....even Nero can't screw up burning an audio CD.

[doveman]

Yea.....even Nero can't screw up burning an audio CD.

Or more to the point, even my brother can't screw up burning an audio CD using Nero

[hech54]

Yea.....even Nero can't screw up burning an audio CD.

Or more to the point, even my brother can't screw up burning an audio CD using Nero

I'm almost positive my brother could.....

[wulf109]

Easy CD-DA Extractor

[doveman]

Easy CD-DA Extractor

Thanks, looks nice and clean and simple but no gap settings or normalise as far as I can see, so not really a candidate unfortunately.