Don't Cheat Yourself with ITunes: Wrong Choice Limits Number of Songs on CDs

I don't own an IPod because I think they cost a lot of money for a 58-year-old man who doesn't need to carry thousands of tunes on his person. But, I do like music and have an extensive collection (primarily country (grin)) on my hard drives. My failing is that I never really got them into anything resembling organization.

My 17-year-old son is always singing the praises of the PC version of Apple's ITunes software. He said it was "so easy to manage my library of music. I just pick what I want and then burn my CDs." (He has blown through three IPods and for some reason they don't seem to last.)

He said I should listen to him "just this once and try it."

So ... I thought to myself that if he felt that strongly I would give it a shot. What I found made great column fodder. It seems that convenience can end up costing you in the long run if you don't watch what you are doing. ITunes job is to place music on an IPod; its' timing algorithm fits that task and is not designed to efficiently burn MP3 CDs.

It will do it ... sort of, but it can be a hassle... Unless you know the secret.

My former way of burning music was to use a dedicated program such as Nero and setting it up to burn a DATA CD, not a MUSIC CD, because MP3 files are nothing but data in the first place. Why pay more for so-called "music CDs" that we see in stores? The extra money just goes to the hated RIAA.

Depending on what quality you ripped the music from the original CD to MP3 (I normally use at least 192 kilobits per second), it is possible to put anywhere from 60, to as many as 100 MP3 files on a single standard 700 megabyte CD.

I normally just drag and drop the individual song or album directories into the Nero software because it keeps up with the number of megabytes so you do not go beyond the limit of the CD.

When I tried initially ITunes what I found was that I was only able to create MP3 CDs of 15 songs or less, depending on the length of the music. It was treating the files as if they are "WAV" format, which creates exponentially larger files than MP3, thus fewer songs on a standard CD.

What I found was that I had not explored the ITunes configuration far enough. Users need to go to the "edit" tab and then drill down through "advanced" to the "burning" section. You will be asked to choose between the .WAV, Data and .MP3 file formats. The default is WAV, but that would be a waste if you have MP3 files.

Do you use the "data" or "MP3" settings? Both will allow you to put a large number of files on a CD, however, "data" will sometimes not import the tags and you end up with track numbers instead of song names and artists-sp choose MP3.

How do to know how many files you can burn to your CD? It all begins when you set up the playlist. As you add files if you look at the bottom of the display it will keep track of the total file size. Unlike programs such as Nero, it won't show you graphically when you go over the disk size limit.

(Hint-If you use the standard 700 Megabyte disk leave a little room on the disk for overhead to avoid burning a "coaster."

Why burn CDs with hundreds of songs? It is perfect for long road trips, especially if you do not have the luxury of a multi-CD player in your vehicle. In addition, if you are cheap like me, it only takes one CD instead of 9 or 10 for the same number of songs.

If your cell phone has the option of inserting a memory card, you can also use ITunes to copy files to the card.

Finally, I subscribe to a LOT of Podcasts, or as my hero, Leo Laporte would say-"netcasts", and ITunes is a superb interface with that world. The program not only downloads the material, but also allows me to burn archive copies of instructional videos, but also audio files.

I travel extensively and utilize that time to catch up with my favorite netcasts in my car. It sure makes the miles go by faster.

Whether you use ITunes, other programs such as Microsoft's newest iteration of Media Player or Nero, make sure you get value from your CDs by picking the best burn scenario for your needs.