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 200+ songs
on a single CD?!
 More
is better and luckily we're here to pump [clap!] you up. MP3 CDs
hold more songs and sound just as good as regular CDs. Combine this with
today's sophisticated CD players at home or in the car, and you're well
on your way to seemingly endless hours of music. But how does it all work?
MP3, ID3, tagging, and to top it off a label that needs to fit 200+ songs?
It all seems confusing...
("If you don't think this matters then maybe we should take a
belt to your buttocks muscle until its all black and blue.")
What's an ID3 tag?
An ID3 tag is a small chunk of data that comes at the beginning or end
of a MPEG layer 1, 2 or 3 encoded song (MP3 file). Chances are you might
have never known it was there. Although this piece of data is small, it
is very valuable, especially when it comes time to create an MP3 disc
and CD-Text is no longer an option. See, this "tag" stores information
such as song title, artist, album, year, comment, and genre information.
That way as long as your song(s) contain this information, it will always
be available.
Advantages
Much like CD-Text, an ID3 tag can work in conjunction with many of the
players out there. This information can be read off the song in such a
way that your car stereo, for example, would show everything from the
artist and song title to the date the song was recorded. Imagine having
all your music cataloged and categorized on only a few CDs.
However, you might have noticed that a normal CD player won't read, let
alone play an MP3 CD — you'll need a special CD player that can decode
the MP3 files. Most, if not all, electronic stores carry MP3-compatible
CD players (a good source is Crutchfield.com).
If you own a computer with a CD-R or CD-RW drive, you already have the
technology to fit 200 or more of your downloaded MP3 files (almost ten
hours of music) onto one disc.
Players and ID3 Editors
Winamp, Windows Media Player and most players today take advantage of
this technology — even home stereos and car receivers. MP3
File Editor (www.mp3fe.com) is good MP3 organizer and ID3 utility.
Their DataMPX program is simple, quick, and an altogether good experience.
Step-by-step Guide for SureThing Users
For those of you out there that are looking for a solution to labeling
a 200+ CD, the latest release
of SureThing CD Labeler Deluxe (version 3.1) has templates and SmartDesigns
included that can handle the load. But if you haven't yet updated to v3.1,
then check out this
step-by-step guide.
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