Audio Encoding Goodness: Embrace "CD to Mobile"

[Darius Wey]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.handango.com/ampp/store/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=311&productId=146539&productType=2' target='_blank'>http://www.handango.com/ampp/store/...9&productType=2</a><br /><br /></div><i>"CD to Mobile is a desktop PC application for your Pocket PC and Smartphone. "CD to Mobile" is compatible with any Windows powered Mobile device - Pocket PC or Windows Smartphone."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/wey-20041223-CDToMobile.gif" /><br /><br />The folk who make the popular PocketMusic Player have put their minds together to deliver a brand new product designed to ease the process of transferring music from CD to Pocket PC. "CD to Mobile" supports the encoding of CDs to the well-known MP3, WMA, OGG, and WAV formats, and it also allows you to transfer them straight to your storage card. Simple! Fitted with a host of options to optimise the encoding process, "CD to Mobile" appears to deliver the goods! It is available from <a href="http://www.handango.com/ampp/store/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=311&productId=146539&productType=2">Handango</a> for $24.95. A trial version is also available. [Affiliate]

[silver99]

Maybe I'm missing something here but it seems awfully ridiculous to charge $24.95 for something that anyone could do for free.

Sure it might have a snazzy interface and be a little more streamlined but I'm pretty happy with the WMP10 for ripping to MP3 or WMA and loading onto a CF or SD is a piece of cake. I'd rather spend the $24.95 to extra storage.

[Darius Wey]

I think you could liken it to a lot of the DVD to PPC applications out there. There are free solutions available, but for those new to the game or for those after an all-in-one, effortless program that does it all in a matter of minutes, this program would deliver the goods. Some may spend that bit of money purely to satisfy the need for simplicity in audio encoding to mobile devices.

[frogblast]

&lt;pedantic>
Editors-In-Training should learn to at least appear not to be sucking up to (potential) advertisers. What you say about this app is all correct. But there is correct, and then there is true: and what's true is that this app, as described, is a rip-off. It's not just that there exist free solutions, but that several free solutions (I'm thinking EAC, CDEx, and dbPowerAMP) are simply the best solutions available at any price. They're not at all hard to use, either. And, like silver99 said, transferring encoded tracks to SD or CF is so easy to do by "hand" that having a program do it automatically is worth exactly nothing.
&lt;/pedantic>

[Kati Compton]

Editors-In-Training should learn to at least appear not to be sucking up to (potential) advertisers
Insulting posts are strongly discouraged here. Please stick to the topic and stop criticizing the staff. If you think it's not worth it, fine. Darius wasn't telling you that *you* have to buy it, merely pointing out why *someone* *might* want to buy it. There's a big difference, and it was part of the discussion, not "sucking up."

[Darius Wey]

snippity-snip-snip-snip

Okay, here are the facts, simple and straight. ;)

Fact: Yes, this application may be $24.95

Fact: Yes, there are free applications out there that do the exact same thing.

Fact: They aren't hard to use as you said.

Fact: Go out and expose yourself to the general community and I'm willing to bet that there is at least one person out there who does not know how to operate these free applications, regardless of their abundant feature set or simplicity of use. If it really were THAT easy for every single person on this planet, I don't think Handango would be tallying up 280 downloads of the application thus far.

Audio encoding is simple. You get a donut for that pointer, but the fact is, not every single person is as technologically minded as some of us. Before you decide to jump on the bandwagon and rant on about sucking up and what not, I think you should assess the facts and think about it a little more.

But anyway, let's get back on topic for the benefit of others, shall we? :)

[sub_tex]

Audio encoding is simple. You get a donut for that pointer...

Zing!

:lol:


That said, I do think this app is a rip off. :)

[Deus]

Rip off is a matter of opinion here.


Some people might find advantages to this.

Me though? I wouldn't spend a cent on this because I find the other options to be for financially feasible. If someone new is willing to read a 5 minute tutorial then they can save themselves $25! If your time is worth more than $25 congrats and are you hiring?!!!!!!! ;)

Remeber. Water is free and people pay $1 a bottle for the stuff!

[Vincent M Ferrari]

I wouldn't buy this period. However, my father who loves tech and is technically not as up to speed as most, would love this.

$25 for an app to take away the process of copying files to memory cards for people that know nothing about file management (usually the types that say if I put something here, can I open it in word?) is fine with me.

People who don't need it will ignore it. People who do will love it.

Think folks; how many apps are there for tweaking registry settings? We know how to do it, and aren't afraid of a few registry edits, but other people like these nice little all in ones.

[JayM]

Rip off? “To each is own”..I see some potential here if it works like I'm understanding it to. 8O

If anybody has used this I have two questions?

This will move audio files right into the storage card?

Also will it do any type of media library type management or is it just a converter of files? Say I have all my MP3's and I pick which ones I want (after they've been encoded on my hard dive) and sync those?

I'm test stuff out for syncing podcast.


Thanks,
JayM

[ctmagnus]

My one issue with this app: Price. However, I have an issue with 99% of Pocket PC applications that cost more than $20, and at $20 they'd have to be good. I'd buy this without a second thought if it was closer to $15 regardless of the fact that there are any number of other apps that can do for free what this one does for (atm) $20.

[frogblast]

Okay, Darius. I'll concede that there is a market for hand-holding apps like the topic of this discussion. Meaning, there are indeed PPC users who haven't a clue how to transfer files from desktop hard disk to removable storage...although if that's the case then quite how they manage to use a computer at all is somewhat mystifying to me, no disrespect intended.

Now comes the question: for whose benefit is this web site intended? If for that of users, including clueless ones, then how would this site better serve said users: by recommending a $25 app that rips &amp; encodes CDs and transfers the resulting files to an SD card, or by teaching those users how do it for free?

If anyone's interested, I'll be glad to post such a tutorial right here in this thread. ;-)

[frogblast]

*Sigh*. Never mind. I retract my previous post. Being new to this site, I didn't fully understand what Pocket PC Thoughts is all about. After looking a little more closely, now I do understand: it's some kind of fancy promo site for PPC hardware/software vendors. Since that's what it is and you make no bones about it, my comments were obviously out of order. What was I thinking.

[Pat Logsdon]

Oh-kay then. Frogblast, I'm assuming that you run all of your programs from a command line, right? Because anyone who doesn't do that all the time MUST be a retard. :roll: As I see it, the bottom line here is that this program is a nice looking way to automate a several-step workflow. That's all.

People have been paying to make things easier since money was invented, and it's not going to stop just because it offends you. If you don't like it, don't buy it. If you think you've got a better way of doing things, by all means, post your steps in a new thread and let people decide which method they want to use. Just please try not to be insulting.

Now, back on topic - has anyone installed this and tried it out?

[Darius Wey]

Okay, Darius. I'll concede that there is a market for hand-holding apps like the topic of this discussion. Meaning, there are indeed PPC users who haven't a clue how to transfer files from desktop hard disk to removable storage...although if that's the case then quite how they manage to use a computer at all is somewhat mystifying to me, no disrespect intended.

Unless you're in their shoes, I think it's fair to accept that such scenarios occur. Granted: audio encoding is a breeze for you, for me, for some others, but not *everyone* sees it in that light. There wouldn't be a market for this application otherwise.

Now comes the question: for whose benefit is this web site intended? If for that of users, including clueless ones, then how would this site better serve said users: by recommending a $25 app that rips &amp; encodes CDs and transfers the resulting files to an SD card, or by teaching those users how do it for free?

Pocket PC Thoughts is a community website. We deliver daily news, views, rants and raves, and as far as I'm concerned, this thread falls into one of those categories. Just because we publish a post which features an application valued at $24.95, it does not necessarily mean that we recommend it and are forcing you to buy it. That's your perception, but for the majority of the community members here, they understand that this is just another news announcement, and those interested in the application can buy it if they wish. We've certainly given tips on how to use free applications before.

*Sigh*. Never mind. I retract my previous post. Being new to this site, I didn't fully understand what Pocket PC Thoughts is all about. After looking a little more closely, now I do understand: it's some kind of fancy promo site for PPC hardware/software vendors. Since that's what it is and you make no bones about it, my comments were obviously out of order. What was I thinking.

Pocket PC Thoughts is a community site, not a dedicated fancy promotion site. There's a difference. The latter would hardly feature abundant community discussion in the forums.

If anyone's interested, I'll be glad to post such a tutorial right here in this thread. ;-)

Be my guest. Post a new thread and I'm sure the other community members will be able to work out which is the more viable path, but for the benefit of keeping on-topic with discussion in this thread, please tone down the insults.

[frogblast]

Actually, I think I will download the trial and see whether this program actually adds any value. Now, since I love a challenge, I will now post a tutorial on how to rip, encode, and transfer music to a PPC device in a few easy steps.

BTW, you editors, in and out of training, need to stop being so thin-skinned. If someone reads my little posts dispassionately, they will see that there is no insult in any of them--although they might detect a hint of exasperation. :wink: Pat, to suggest that copying files to an SD card using Windows Explorer is of the same level of technical sophistication as using DOS is a bit disingenuous.

And now:

How to Rip, Encode, and Transfer Music from a CD to a PDA Using CDex and Windows Explorer

Although this little tutorial uses CDex for ripping and encoding, other software such as dbPowerAMP (my personal favorite) can be used as easily.

1. Install and launch CDex (http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/).

2. Insert music CD into CD drive.

3. If tracks do not appear in the list, select the correct CD drive in the menu on the toolbar. CDex will automatically query CDDB for track names and other info, so you don't have to enter tags manually.

4. (optional) By default, CDex encodes to 128 kb/s stereo MP3 using the LAME codec. If you want to use a different bitrate or encoder, click the Options menu and then click Settings. Choose an encoder, adjust the bitrate and other settings as you wish, and click OK. (Note: this part of the process could be made easier by a program that used a wizard for compression settings, but only with some loss of control.

5. In the track list, select the tracks you want to rip and encode.

6. Click the button that says "Extract CD Track(s) to Compressed Audio File(s), or press F9.

7. Wait.

8. When CDex is done ripping and encoding your music, open Windows Explorer. Navigate to the folder "my music" in the folder where you installed CDex--for example, "C:\Program Files\CDex\my music".

9. Within this folder you will find a folder named after the artist of the CD, and within that folder, another folder named after the CD title. Inside that folder will be the MP3 files. Depending on whether you want to transfer the whole folder structure, the title folder only, or just the files themselves, select what you want and press Ctrl+C.

10. Insert your SD or CF card in the appropriate drive.

11. Still in Windows Explorer, navigate to that drive and then to whatever folder of it you want to put the music in.

12. Press Ctrl+V. Wait for Windows Explorer to copy the files to the card.

13. Remove the card, insert it into your PPC device, and enjoy.


Now, at this point, some of you people may be snickering and thinking this idiot just proved he's full of ****, because these instructions are obviously way harder than using CD to Mobile (or whatever the heck the product in question is called, I forget by now). Well, I'd like to see how much shorter a tutorial for using that program would be, at the same level of granularity. My guess, maybe 2-3 steps shorter.

[frogblast]

Hmm. I downloaded the CD to Mobile trial and installed it, but I can't use it because it complains that the trial period has expired! Wow, that was fast. I guess I won't be able to comment on its merits (or lack thereof) after all.

[Jason Dunn]

*Sigh*. Never mind. I retract my previous post. Being new to this site, I didn't fully understand what Pocket PC Thoughts is all about. After looking a little more closely, now I do understand: it's some kind of fancy promo site for PPC hardware/software vendors. Since that's what it is and you make no bones about it, my comments were obviously out of order. What was I thinking.

Harsh. 8O I just discovered this thread, and since you're new I'll cut you some flame-bait slack, but the reality is that we perform a valuable service for the Pocket PC community: we post on apps that developers create, some of them commercial, some of them free. That drives visitors to the developer Web sites, allowing them traffic/downloads/sales. That keeps them motivated to develop applications, which Pocket PC users need.

I'd say, statistically, about 1 in 100 of the apps that we post on are from advertisers, so it's less of a conspiracy theory thank you think. ;-)

I'm also more than happy to publish Step by Step articles, so if you want to have us publish some content that you write, assuming the quality is up to snuff, I'd be happy to talk with you about that.

One of my resolutions in 2005 is to resist the urge to rush to judgement of others - perhaps you could try the same?