Ask A Geek

Q: I want to download my playlists in winamp to my external hard drive. How can I make this happen?

Q: I have an audio converter that converts between MP3, WMA, and other formats. If I have some songs at 128kbps and convert them to 320kbps does doing this actually raise the quality of the song if I ripped the song to the computer at 128kbps? How can you increase quality if there is only so much given?

A: If we were on a TV show like CSI Miami or NCIS we would be able to increase the sound quality of a 128kbps music file by converting it to 320kbps but in the real world it does not work that way. Once you have ripped your song from your CD and converted it into a digital representation there is no way to increase the sound quality. Converting from 128kbps to 320kbps will just increase the size of your file and you will end up with the same or worse sound quality because converting usually means there is a chance you can lose some quality. The only way to increase your sound quality is to go back to your source, the CD, and rip the music again at a higher quality.

If you have a chance you should do some experimenting. You should rip a few different songs at 320kbps, 192kbps, 128kbps and some of the other bit rates available. Take the time to listen to each of them and see what kind of a difference each bit rate it makes for you so that you can decide what one you like best. Different people have different needs. Personally I’m very happy with 192kbps or 128kbps and can’t really tell the difference.

Q: I have an audio converter that converts between mp3, wma, etc. If I have some songs at 128kbps and raise the bit rate to say 320, does doing this actually raise the quality of the song if I ripped the song to the computer at 128kbps? How can you increase quality if there is only so much given?

Q: I have a Dell PC with a single CD ROM with Adobe Media Player. I have found a site with speeches in MP3 format. Can I burn this onto a CD-R? How do I do it?

Q: I need software for editing audio but I’m not sure which one is the best. I want to be able to change the pitch of vocals or music and I want to be able to change the pace. I also want to be able to cut certain things out add different tunes on top of existing mp3. What is the best free software for doing this audio editing?

Q: I am currently trying to edit an mp3 music file on WavePad Sound editor. I need to know if there is any way possible to separate two sounds from the one track. By this I mean, if the track is made up of guitar and piano sounds but I only want the guitar sound how can I do this and on what software?

Q: How can I convert vinyl records to digital files? Answers I’ve located here are over 2 years old.
I do not want to use inferior turntables like ION. I’d like to use my own turntable and free or economical Software.

Q: When I burn an mp3 CD I use deep burner. I click create a data disc then I click on multi session. When I go to play it in my car stereo only 75% of the tracks work. I was wondering if you cold tell me why this is happening?

Q: How do I put music videos on my SanDisk Sansa Fuse MP3 player? What software do I have to download?

Q: Do you know of any free software to rip CD tracks to hard disk?