This has become quite popular of late due to the high availability of
MP3s on the Internet (Napster,
MP3.com, etc...) and the cheap
prices of CD burners.
What you're going to need to convert .MP3 files into .WAV files is a piece of
software (which is FREE of charge) call WinAmp. This is a popular software
MP3 player, and can do many things by means of 'plug-ins'. This is exactly
what we're going to do, use a plug-in to convert your MP3s into WAVs.
WinAmp can be downloaded off the WWW via it's website at
www.winamp.com. As of the
writing of this document (12/11/2000), the current version of WinAmp is 2.7.
The directions in the document may apply towards older versions of WinAmp,
but some things have changed since the 2.6X versions, so be wary. It's OK
to go ahead and upgrade, WinAmp is easy to upgrade, and will keep all your
current settings!
To do this, click on the icon in the upper-hand corner of the main WinAmp
window (this is the window with the Rewind, Play, Pause, Stop, & fast-forward
buttons, as well as the volume control and stuff). This little icon is yellow
and it looks like a sound wave. You should get a grey drop-down menu. One of the
lines on this menu should say "Options" with an arrow next to it pointing to the
right. Click on this line ("Options"). Another grey drown-down menu
should appear. The first line of this menu should read "Preferences".
Click on this line ("Preferences").
A window should pop up with the title at the top reading "WinAmp Preferences".
If so you're in good shape. If not, try the last two paragraphs again.
There should be two white boxes in this window. On the left side you have a
menu. One section of the menu (near the middle) should read 'Plug-ins'.
Under this option there should be 'Input' and 'Output'. We want
the one that says 'Output'. Go ahead and click on 'Output'.
The white box to the right should read 'Output plug-ins', and it'll
list some different plug-ins in there. One of the plug-ins should read
'Nullsoft Disk Writer plug-in vX.Y (OUT_DISK.DLL)'. The 'X.Y' is
the version number. Mine says '1.0', yours could say something else.
Go ahead and click on this ('Nullsoft Disk Writer plug-in vX.Y (OUT_DISK.DLL)').
Just click on it once, all we want to do is highlight it (i.e. put the blue line on
it).
OK so far? Hope so! If you have any problems, just take a deep breath, quit WinAmp
and start over! Sometimes you just gotta quit and try it again!!!
At the bottom of the window there should be two buttons, 'Configure'
and 'About'. We want the one that says 'Configure'... click on
it.
The only thing you have to do to configure this is to select a place to put your
.WAV files when they are corrected. I usually just put them in the same directory
as my .MP3 files. Other people like to place them in a different directory. In any
case, you have to tell WinAmp where you want them.
A window should pop up which is titled 'Select Directory'. This should
display all your drives on your computer. Go ahead and find the folder
(usually under your 'C:' drive) where you want to place the .WAV files.
Once you've got the directory where you want your .WAV files stored highlighted,
click on the 'OK' button.
That window should disappear and bring you back to the 'WinAmp Preferences' window.
Now click the 'Close' button near the bottom-left on the window.
This should bring you back to the main WinAmp screen.
OK so far? Hope so! Remember, if you're lost, just close WinAmp and start again!
So you've got your MP3 in the WinAmp playlist. You've configured WinAmp to
convert these to .WAVs (that's what you just got done doing). Now we're
ready to do it!
This part is easy. Just hit the 'Play' button. WinAmp will look as
if it's playing the song, but you will not hear any sound. Instead
of playing the song through the speakers, it's putting it on the disk.
This process depends on the speed of your machine. If you've got a Pentium
133Mhz machine, this could take a little while. But if you've got a
Pentium III 500Mhz with 64MB or more RAM, it can be VERY quick!
While it's converting it should display it's position in the box on the left
side of the window. when it's done, that box should go blank.
If you've followed everything correctly, then you're done! This .MP3 file
has been converted to a .WAV file!
WinAmp can also do more than one song at a time. In fact, it will cycle
through whatever is listed in the playlist.
IMPORTANT NOTE: When converting .MP3s to .WAVs, be sure that WinAmp
is NOT set to repeat! If WinAmp is set to automatically repeat through the
playlist, then it will keep trying to convert the same songs over and over
again!!!
OK, now you've got a .WAV file you can use to burn to an audio CD. But now
you want to set up WinAmp so it can play the MP3 again through the speakers.
Easy! Click on the icon the upper-left hand corner again (the one that looks
like a sound wave), click on 'Options' and then 'Preferences'.
Then click on 'Output' in the left white box. Then click on
'Nullsoft waveOut plug-in vX.Y (OUT_WAVE.DLL)' in the right white
box. Click on the 'Close' button.
Now you should be all set!!!