Converting Sound into Digital Data
Sound is analog. Back in 1980, Sony and Phillips developed a standard way to convert sound into a digital format. The "Red Book" is the official audio CD standard, and it describes how audio sound is converted to digital data with very high fidelity, using pulse code modulation (PCM). You can safely ignore these technical details.
CDs Store Digital Copies of Your Songs - A Lot of Data
CDs hold up to 700 Megabytes of data, which was a LOT of data back in 1980. When your CD player is playing the CDs, it is reading that digital PCM data at a fast rate, to yield that high fidelity CD quality sound.
Song Data with the Best Quality
For the best audio quality of a given song, you want to make an exact copy of that song's PCM digital data from the original CD and put the same PCM data on your newly made CD. The song will be an exact copy of the one on the original CD and sound exactly the same.
Microsoft uses WAV (.wav) and and Apple uses AIFF (.aiff, .aif) to store the PCM data from CDs in files on your computer. The WAV and AIFF are two different formats for storing the same PCM data in a computer file. The data is exactly the same as the original CD data, regardless of whether the file is WAV or AIFF.
The drawback of the WAV and AIFF formats is that they are just as large as the files on your CDs. (There are "lossless" ways to compress your WAV and AIFF files, but that is a topic for another day.)
MP3 and AAC "Lossy Compression" Lowers Audio Quality
Because PCM (WAV and AIFF) files are so huge, people found ways to compress them. MP3 and AAC (Apple) formats were invented to compress digital audio files. They use special algorithms to remove background sound data that you are not likely to hear anyway. It would be like removing a quiet flute when the heavy metal guitarists are rockin' out - you won't hear that the flute is missing.
MP3 and AAC compressions are amazing. MP3 and AAC music sounds
almost as good as the uncompressed original CD, and the files are
much smaller. Because of their powerful compression MP3 and AAC formats enable you to carry an entire collection of CDs on a small storage device/player.
MP3 and AAC compressed formats lose audio quality compared with audio quality of a CD. Some people can't hear the difference, while others find it seriously objectionable. At our ages, I doubt that neither Mal nor I can hear the difference between CD quality and MP3 quality. I suspect that MP3 is good enough for most people - if they can hear a difference, it doesn't matter enough for them to care.
-> The point of this discussion is that if you convert your CD to MP3 (or AAC) format and use those MP3 or AAC files to create a new CD, then the CD will play with lower quality music. There is no way to recover the original CD quality sound that existed before the music was converted to MP3 or AAC format. The data was lost when the MP3 or AAC compression took place.
Some CD Players Play Only Audio CDs. Other Players Can Play MP3 (and AAC) on "Data CDs"
Some CD players can play only ordinary audio CDs. That's it. They know nothing about MP3 or AAC or other audio formats. More modern players can recognize data CDs with MP3, AAC, and other audio file types and play them like audio CDs.
CHOICES:
- Make Ordinary Audio CDs
1. Use software to copy the songs from your CDs to your computer in WAV, AIFF, or another "lossless" audio format.
2. Use the same or different software to organize the songs into "CD size" groupings (can't exceed 700 Mbytes).
3. Burn each group onto its own CD.
- Pros:
- Best audio quality, exactly the same as on the original CDs.
- Plays on any CD player, even the oldest ones.
- You get the songs you want in the order you want them. You can make your own mixes.
- Cons: Each CD holds about an hour's worth of music, same as commercial CDs.
- Make MP3 (or AAC?) Data CDs or USB Flash Drives
1. Confirm that your player can accept compressed music file format (e.g., MP3).
2. Use software to copy the songs from your CDs to your computer in MP3 (or AAC?) format. Recommended: MP3 is more commonly used.
3. Use the same or different software to organize the songs. Because they are compressed, you can fit many MP3 songs on a single CD or flash drive. Be sure that your player is compatible with the file format (and directory structure) you choose.
4. Burn the files onto a CD or copy them onto a USB flash drive.
- Pros:
- You can fit many songs on a single CD or flash drive. Perhaps your entire collection of music.
- You get the songs you want, organized how you like them.
- Cons:
- May not work on your older player.
- Audio quality is lower. Whether you can hear the difference is debatable, especially for old farts like Mal and me.
Which Software Do You Recommend?
Great question. I wish I could help more here. I use a Mac with iTunes. (I also have a special program for burning all kinds of CDs and DVDs. I wish I could recommend it, but no longer. In case anyone cares, it is Roxio's Toast Titanium - NOT recommended any longer.)
There must be many programs for Windows - both free and commercial. Some capabilities are built-in to Windows as well. Other than the Windows version of iTunes (free), I do not know what to recommend. If you use iTunes on Windows, be sure you use popular Windows formats like MP3, not Apple formats like AAC.
I can't recommend anything specific for Linux. I use Linux, but not for audio stuff like this.
Search for "Ripping CDs" and "Make Audio CDs" as a start.