I would like to transfer songs from my CD’s to Sansa player. Please advise how can I do it? What software should I use and in what format should I transfer songs. How long does it take to transfer 1 CD?
You need a software ripper, to rip the music on your CD to computer files, and then to transfer those files to your Clip. Try a search on rippers using the search box at top, or do a basic Internet search–there are many posts on it, and it’s a big and important topic, especially what rip rate to use (balancing file size and music quality).
Personally, I use CDex (freeeware) (Audiograbber also is a popular choice), and rip into the MP3 format, as it is the most universal compressed music format. I also rip using VBR (variable bit rate) to try to get a high quality sound, using 220 kbps as a bottom and unlimited as a top.
Good luck–it takes a bit of time to get up to speed on this (learn how your ripper works, to set it up well for you–that affects your files and the sound), but then it’s easy.
Some general info.: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CD_ripper.
Here’s a handy threadthat shows the ripping process. Windows Media Player is handy, and will do the job well. There are many applications out there, like Media Monkey and Winamp, that also offer ripping engines.
Please note that “ripping directly to the player” by specifying the device as the isn’t necessary, since having the backup file in your PCs library is the best way to go.
The key issue here is to rip your CDs while you have a live internet connection, to allow the ripping program to fill in the necessary ID3 tag fields, allowing your Clip to see the music file, and navigate via the tags.
Bob :smileyvery-happy:
headshot: I didn’t know anyone still used EAC. :smileyvery-happy:
Yes, seconded that one of the easiest ways to rip the music is to use CDex and have the files put on your hard drive, which you can drag over to the player. Correction to one thing stated previously: You only really need the Internet connection for a few seconds to gather data from the online databases if you choose to do so (CDex accesses FreeDB), otherwise you can just enter the titles and other data manually pretty easily.
Unfortunately, EAC has a greater learning curve, IMHO.
@jason08 wrote:
I would like to transfer songs from my CD’s to Sansa player. Please advise how can I do it? What software should I use and in what format should I transfer songs. How long does it take to transfer 1 CD?
Ripping time depends on what format you rip to (getting it onto your computer)
Transfer (copying from your computer to the player) time depends on what bit rate you choose, which determines how big the files are.
Ripping a CD on my 2.6 GHz Pentium 4 takes 5-10 minutes.
I just transferred a fairly full CD (1:07, 20 tracks) of 100 kb/s files to my player in about 10 seconds.
The easiest way(I am assuming you have a pc running Windows XP or Vista) is to use Windows media player, as it is probably already on your pc. Start the program, then choose the rip tab. make sure you are connected to the internet(to get the tag info). Click on the rip tab again, and choose format mp3, then click on rip again and choose the bitrate(I recommend you choose 192 or 256). You can similarly choose other options, such as where on your pc the mp3 files are stored. Later select the files to be copied using windows explorer. right click, then click on copy, then right click on the player’s music folder in windows explorer and click on paste.
Thank you guys! Great inputs. At least I know from where to start. What bitrate should i choose?
How do you sort music? Per albums? Can I create folder in Sansa with the name of each album I rip?
I use 256 kbps for great sound quality. The player will hold only half the music at 256 kbps than it will at 128 kbps. I don’t like the sound quality at 128 kbps though. 192 kbps is a compromise between the two. At 256 kbps, I usually can’t hear the difference between the CD and mp3 file when using my portable headphones.
WMA uses more power during playback, so battery life is shorter with it. That is why I use mp3. There is also variable bitrate, although the version of Windows Media Player I have will only rip variable bitrate with WMA and not mp3. Variable bitrate might save a bit of space compared to constant bitrate, but probably uses more battery power, and the player is more likely to have issues when using variable bitrate files, so I just use 256 kbps constant bitrate mp3.
Thank you. I appreciate it very much. What version of Cdex shoud I use: unicode or not unicode?
The Fuze sorts by ID3 tags, not by folders. That is why you need to be connected to the net while ripping CDs. Windows Media Player will automatically use the net and get the song titles, Album name, artist name, etc. for your music. Most of the time this works okay, but sometimes there are mistakes in some tags, or the CD info can’t be found, and you need to edit the tags. MP3Tag is a good free program for editing tags.
@jason08 wrote:
Thank you guys! Great inputs. At least I know from where to start. What bitrate should i choose?
That’s part of a great, long-running debate… debating sound quality vs. file size, and many other things. I would say this…don’t rip your entire CD colllection into the computer yet…just do some of your favorites. Why? Because a little ways down the road, when you’ve learned more about the whole thing(there’s a lot to learn, believe me) you’ll probably have a better idea of how to answer the size vs. quality debate. I ripped my entire collection _ twice _ while I was still learning, and knowing what I know now, I would do it a little differently…I just decided I’m not going to do it all over again. One thing to consider is that MP3 is universal…will work on any player…beyond that, make some coffee or tea, and read this page:
http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Main\_Page 
Believe me, there’s a lot to digest…enjoy:wink:
@jason08 wrote:
Thank you guys! Great inputs. At least I know from where to start. What bitrate should i choose?
VBR always has made sense to me: use the amount of space (within a range) that is needed at the moment. A seeming good space/quality solution. And with my 192/220 and up range, the sound is great.
… and after ripping your collection twice - what bitrate you’re using now?
… and after ripping your collection twice - what bitrate you’re using now?
I ripped my music just once to 256k bps mp3 and don’t regret it. I did some tests first at 128 kbps, 192 kbps, 256 kbps, and 320 kbps mp3. I found that I could not hear the difference between 320 and 256 kbps. 192 kbps sounded good, but not as good as 256 kbps. Imo 128 kbps was not pleasant. So I decided to use 256 kbps. I could have saved a bit of space using variable bitrate, however I decided that there was more potential for problems using variable bitrate, that battery consumption might be greater using variable bitrate(so shorter run time per charge), and that the space savings wouldn’t be that much anyway using variable bitrate.I chose mp3 rather than wma since battery run time is much greater with mp3(wma takes more processing to decode).
I have had no issue using VBR.
“I have had no issue using VBR”
No one has issues using VBR until they have them. Then they wish they didn’t use VBR.
