How can I best store and reconvert audio books ?

[RussellRay]

Hello all

My daughters have a large collection of books on CD,
"Harry Potter", "Hobbit", "Lord of the Rings" etc.
I want to make backup copies
because they and their friends are sometimes a little careless
and one spoiled CD in a box of 20 or so ruins the whole collection.

Rather than cloning each CD to a backup CD,
I was wondering if there might be a method using the SPEEX.SPX codec.

I've been experimenting a bit and have converted some of the originals
to SPX files, which I can listen to with the dbpa player on the computer
- but what would be the next step if an original CD gets damaged ?
Can I convert and burn from SPX back to "normal" audio on a CD ?

Thanks in advance for tips, from Ray

[xoas]

Re: How can I best store and reconvert audio books ?

You can use dBpowerAMP Music Converter (dMC) to convert from SPX back to WAV and then burn the WAV files to cd. (Alternately, if you have a cd/mp3 player or cd/wma player you could convert the SPX files to this other format and create an mp3 or wma diswc, which would require fewer discs). What I do not know is how much audio information might get lost in this process. You would have to experiment to see whether this would be a problem (this might also depend upon the extent of any music or sound effects that the original audio cd's might contain). Some other user might have had some experience with this but you might also want to just try this with one disc yourself. If the results are unsatisfactory, you might want to consider storing in a different format. Again perhaps another user might have some experience or recommendations in this area.

Good luck and best wishes,
Bill Mikkelsen