newbie needs help

[richards1052]

I'm new to dbpoweramp & need some direction.

I've just realized that all the music I ripped to my hard drive using WMP is now in wma format & as such not accessible to some of those who visit my mp3 blog.

So I'm starting to rip the music over again, but this time into mp3 format. When I slip the cd into the drive it opens db music converter. I tried ripping an entire cd, but once it loads it tells me the rip for the entire album will be 25-30 mins. long.

I tried changing my WMP file format for ripping to mp3, but now I need to download a mp3 codec. SHould I pursue this & purchase a codec or will this be easily doable with db?

I'm using db's default settings I think. BUt they must be set wrong to create such a long rip time. Is there anything I can do to shorten the rip time? Can I change specific config settings to shorten things? When I ripped my cds into wma format an entire album took a few minutes at most.

I tried looking at faqs about the program, but I didn't get far. So I apologize for asking questions that may be covered elsewhere on the site. If you can point out any HELP or faq links I could read as a beginner that'd be helpful.

[ChristinaS]

Re: newbie needs help

I'm new to dbpoweramp & need some direction.

I've just realized that all the music I ripped to my hard drive using WMP is now in wma format & as such not accessible to some of those who visit my mp3 blog.

So I'm starting to rip the music over again, but this time into mp3 format. When I slip the cd into the drive it opens db music converter. I tried ripping an entire cd, but once it loads it tells me the rip for the entire album will be 25-30 mins. long.

I tried changing my WMP file format for ripping to mp3, but now I need to download a mp3 codec. SHould I pursue this & purchase a codec or will this be easily doable with db?

I'm using db's default settings I think. BUt they must be set wrong to create such a long rip time. Is there anything I can do to shorten the rip time? Can I change specific config settings to shorten things? When I ripped my cds into wma format an entire album took a few minutes at most.

I tried looking at faqs about the program, but I didn't get far. So I apologize for asking questions that may be covered elsewhere on the site. If you can point out any HELP or faq links I could read as a beginner that'd be helpful.

Before you undertake to re-convert an entire CD I'll have to ask why you feel that wma files cannot be used on your mp3 blog. I mean, other than the fact they are not mp3's so perhaps the blog's name is misleading, wma files are perfectably playable by Windows Media Player and most other players.

The mp3 codec is included in the older version of dMC (R10) by default. In the new version (R11, I think) it is not because of patent regulations, instead you have to purchase the PowerPack which includes the mp3 codec (but you get it as a free trial version first as well). But it looks liek you already have the mp3 codec, so this is a non-issue at this point.

You can rip tracks from a cd in two ways: using dMC Audio CD Input or using simple dMC from Windows Explorer. In both cases you can select one, several or all tracks to be ripped and what they should be converted to.

dMC Audio CD Input can be adjusted to rip at slow or faster speeds. This is available in dMC Audio CD Input > Options > Drive options. In addition, if you have the Powerpack installed, you can instruct dMC to rip to ram which will work much faster. This option is available in dMC Audio Cd Input when you click on the Poewrpack button,

At this point maybe you'd feel comfortable enough to try your hand at ripping in one of the 2 ways mentioned and converting to mp3. So I won't continue explaining unless you come back and indicate you still have problems.

Good luck.

[richards1052]

Re: newbie needs help

Christina: Someone wrote me an e mail saying they could not access one of my uploaded wma files. I checked & it IS listed as "protected" in my WMP library along with some (but by no means all) of the songs I've ripped from cd. Is there any way to be sure that songs I rip from cds are NOT protected? I'm looking for such a setting in Tools & I don't see it, though the WMP Help says there is a way to set your music to be protected or not protected.

Thanks for your help in this & sorry for being a bit off topic...

[ChristinaS]

Re: newbie needs help

Christina: Someone wrote me an e mail saying they could not access one of my uploaded wma files. I checked & it IS listed as "protected" in my WMP library along with some (but by no means all) of the songs I've ripped from cd. Is there any way to be sure that songs I rip from cds are NOT protected? I'm looking for such a setting in Tools & I don't see it, though the WMP Help says there is a way to set your music to be protected or not protected.

Thanks for your help in this & sorry for being a bit off topic...

Ah, this is a setting which you unfortunately forgot to turn off in WMP when you ripped the cd: to copy protect the files. it's in WMP > Tools > Options> Copy Music > Copy protect music. Thismust have been checked when you did your ripping using WMP. I think it comes as a default setting when you first install WMP.

You can either re-rip to wma using WMP and unchecking this option, or go through the motions of ripping using dMC.

[richards1052]

Re: newbie needs help

Ah, this is a setting which you unfortunately forgot to turn off in WMP when you ripped the cd: to copy protect the files. it's in WMP > Tools > Options> Copy Music > Copy protect music. Thismust have been checked when you did your ripping using WMP. I think it comes as a default setting when you first install WMP.

You can either re-rip to wma using WMP and unchecking this option, or go through the motions of ripping using dMC.

I'm using WMP 10.0 & I can't for the life of me find a "copy protect music" setting where you say it should be, though as I said the WMP Help section agrees with you in stating such a setting exists (rotten MS Help). Are you using an earlier wmp version that might have diff. settings?

Here's what I see: tools/options/rip music. The only setting that might be close is one that says: "prompt me to back up my licenses." I have had that setting checked until tonight, but now I've unchecked it. Would that cause protection to be enabled?

It might be possible that my files which are protected were ripped when I was using an earlier version of wmp.

UPDATE: I figured out what you meant. I was looking at the Rip Library setting for MPEG format. When I changed the setting to WMA variable rate, then I saw the "protect music" setting you mentioned.

Funny thing about this is most of my music is not protected. But all songs recorded recently over a few wk. period seem to have been protected. Perhaps I accidentally clicked on that box & turned that setting on. I certainly didn't mean to or want to.

[ChristinaS]

Re: newbie needs help

I'm using WMP 10.0 & I can't for the life of me find a "copy protect music" setting where you say it should be, though as I said the WMP Help section agrees with you in stating such a setting exists (rotten MS Help). Are you using an earlier wmp version that might have diff. settings?

Here's what I see: tools/options/rip music. The only setting that might be close is one that says: "prompt me to back up my licenses." I have had that setting checked until tonight, but now I've unchecked it. Would that cause protection to be enabled?

It might be possible that my files which are protected were ripped when I was using an earlier version of wmp.

UPDATE: I figured out what you meant. I was looking at the Rip Library setting for MPEG format. When I changed the setting to WMA variable rate, then I saw the "protect music" setting you mentioned.

Funny thing about this is most of my music is not protected. But all songs recorded recently over a few wk. period seem to have been protected. Perhaps I accidentally clicked on that box & turned that setting on. I certainly didn't mean to or want to.

I think probably you've just recently installed WMP 10 and this must have reset that option back to the original (rotten) defaults. And yes, I am still using WMP 9, since I am running W2K.