Use WMP; Copy CD Collection to Less Physical Storage Devices

Hi:

First time using Windows Media Player, WMP. I want to copy my collection of 32 music-CDs to DVDs and to copy to USB thumb drives . I am uncertain how to proceed.

Goal 1: Burn 32-individual CDs to 4- (or 5-) DVDs; easier storage in my car.


Question 1: How do I use WMP to burn several CDs to a single DVD?
Question 2: Will WMP pause to allow me to insert the next CD?

I think I was in WMP (not in iTunes): When using the Burn tab, I was prompted to select one of two choices on how I want to use the DVD: either [1] like a USB drive, or [2] use with a CD/DVD player.

Question 3: How do I get back to the screen that showed me that prompt for choosing either [1] or [2].

Question 4: I do not know which to choose, [1] or [2]. What should I consider when making this choice?

I presume that my 2013 HONDA ACCORD's audio system is capable of playing CD-music files transferred onto a DVD. I have not tested this yet, because I am not familiar with WMP's method for burning several CDs to DVDs.

If Goal 1 is not possible, then:

Goal 2: Transfer 32-individual CDs to a 32-GB USB thumb drive.

I think one 32-GB USB drive (I have several available) can store my CD-music files, but I am uncertain about the required format and sampling rate to use when ripping to USB. I think the format must be MP3. (I must investigate this further; and read the ACCORD's Owner's Manual.)


Question 5: Since the USB drive is 32-GB, can I use a better format, other than MP3, and a higher sampling rate?
Help! and TNX.

Regards,
VinceB.

I assume that your car player can in fact play MP3s directly from a USB flash drive that you attach to a port in the car player.

Is that correct? If so, there is no overriding reason to get involved with DVD or CD playback in the car at all.

But you could if you insisted. I haven't done it in a while, but I don't think you have to use DVDs. Burned CDs work. If you want more capacity than that, you may be able to use DVDs. I don't know if car players normally accept DVDs. Car players at one time used to be limited to a CD that contained no more than 80 minutes of music. But I think that has changed on recent players to where you can get a few hundred songs in an acceptable format. But I don't know those details because I no longer use discs in my car.

I play directly from a USB flash drive in my car.

General method:

Get the songs on your CDs onto your PC hard drive through "ripping". Get them in mp3 format of a fairly high bit rate--say 192.

2: Copy the songs from your hard drive to the USB flash drive. The flash drive will likely have to be formatted as FAT32.

3: On average, an 8 GB USB flash drive will hold at least 2000 mp3 songs at a 192 bit rate. You have 32 CDs. Maybe they have a total of 600 songs. That would easily fit on a 4 GB flash drive.

I currently have 1800 songs on my car flash drive, but I have had as many as 15,000 songs on it. There is an upper limit to how many songs and how many folders a car player can accept. It varies by brand....Kenwood, Pioneer, JVC, whatever.

You could separate the songs on the flash drive into folders if you want. Or you can just drop them all in the root of the drive without any folder structure.

I don't use a folder structure on my flash drive. They are just in a big pile and I play back in random older only. You may want to play back in some non-random order and you could arrange that through a folder structure. An Elvis folder. A Johnny Cash folder. And so on. You'd then have to use the buttons and knobs on the car unit to switch folders.

Car players have tiny buttons. The controls are subject to sunlight glare. It can be dangerous trying to keep your eyes on the road while fiddling with the buttons. Keep that in mind.

There is no reason to use anything other than mp3s with a decent bit rate...............things like engine noise, wind noise, traffic noise, and the limitations of car speakers are all fighting against you. If you used some ultra high fidelity format, you'd never be able to hear the difference.

I know nothing about WMP's burning capability. I used another program to burn, but I haven't burned anything in 5 years since I went to USB flash drives.

I will do some experimenting here to determine if my HONDA ACCORD audio system:

1. will handle an USB 32-GB drive. I have some smaller USB drives here also, with non-music content at this time.
2. will handle a DVD with MP3 music once I get some songs onto a DVD.

I need to call car dealer to make a service appointment, so perhaps I can get them to answer if the CD player will handle a DVD music collection over the phone, etc.

I will follow your "General method" and use MP3/192-bit sampling rate during my experimentation.

Thank you for your insightful comments.

Stay healthy and safe.

Is your car player branded Honda? If so, it's a near certainty Honda didn't make it, but just put their name on it.

If it's another brand name, go to that company website and research. Even if it is Honda brand, I'd think you can get major insight through google "can I play music from a DVD in my car" or search term like that.

Give considerable thought on how or what you want to play back.

Do you want to hear stuff in a repeated consistent known order, as you typically would on a store-bought CD...........track 1 through track 19? Even though you may not like some of those songs.

Or do you want to simulate your favorite imaginary radio station ever...........it plays only songs you really like, but you never know in what order. Elvis, Cash, Beethoven, Kanye West, Sinatra, Hank Williams, Bob Dylan, George Carlin?

Do you intend to put ALL songs from CD 1 onto the flash drive? Or only certain songs, leaving out the trash?

That will determine how you lay out the USB drive.

I'd be pretty sure your car player can handle a 32 gb flash drive. I had 15000 songs using a 64 gb drive. But it's probably a waste to put a 32 gb drive in the car unless you are talking maybe 6000 or 8000 songs.

It's a major pain to navigate a folder structure on a car player due to small buttons with many different functions, small print on the readout, glare. Or even operate the thing at all. A single button or knob does multiple things, but there are sub-menus----most of which you can't read in sunlight. It would take a long time and repeated use to get it down to memory.

I gave up on the 15000 songs because I went too long without hearing a song I REALLY liked. With 1800, I know I'll never be more than 5 minutes from a true favorite. And I love the idea of not knowing what's next among the 1800....therefore random play.

You may as well confirm you need FAT32 format on the flash drive and know how to do that. That used to be the standard, but may have changed in recent years?

I am hopeful that the Honda dealership is able to answer:
"Will a DVD that has CD audio files on it playback on the Accord's CD player?" and "If yes, is there any limitation to playingback-number of songs?" and "What .........


Well, I just got interrupted by a return-call from dealership tech. He couldn't tell me if my 2013 would playback DVD audio/music, so experimentation with a DVD+RW, which I have available, is the proposed exercise for me to experiment with.


Most all of my CDs contain songs sung by various artists, which is fine with me. At this time, I prefer the personal "customised" radio station approach; I fear that I would become bored with too much music by The Beatles, Elvis, or The Temptations. I will shuffle the song sequence whenever that is possible to simulate a streaming music station.

My Goal #2 has been achieved, at least in part. I am able to use WMP to rip CD music (.cda) files onto my 32-GB (work-in-progress) thumb drive, in the required MP3-format. Playback in my car's audio system appears to be fine.

However, I must think further about how to organize the MP3 files and learn more about what is included as header data (i.e., Album names, Artists' names, and Title of each song) when displayed on the car's screen during a playback sequence.

At present, I have several groups of two, or more, folders under the This PC >Music folder that are derived from a set of CDs that contained the correlated album songs. I would like to combine those into single folders under the This PC >Music folder. Is WMP designed to handle that task such that the two disc album songs are combined into a single folder in This PC >Music. IOW, I want to regroup a two-CD disc album into a single MP3 album on the thumb drive.

VinceB said:

..... so experimentation with a DVD+RW, which I have available, is the proposed exercise for me to experiment with.

I plan to pursue this experimentation when my time permits me to do so.