iTunes MP3 Conversion Question

SINC · Mar 29th, 2007, 10:41 AM

I have collected a large number of old time radio shows in MP3 format kept in iTunes. (Things like The Shadow and Boston Blackie)

I have an older friend who is confined to his home and does not have a computer, nor an MP3 player. I wish to make a CD of these old shows for his listening enjoyment, but I'm not sure how to convert the files to some other audio format that would play on his simple "boom box" style CD player.

Any assistance in making this possible would be greatly appreciated as it would give my friend many hours of pleasure.

Unless of course it is not possible, but I think someone here will know a way from my experience with the wide knowledge of ehMacers.

Bjornbro · Mar 29th, 2007, 10:57 AM

SINC,

iTunes does this for you on the fly.

Go to (iTunes') Preferences -> Advanced -> Burning

Click the button beside "Audio CD" and burn away.

Be aware audio CDs have a time limit. You simply can't fit a two hour show on a CD, so you may have to burn a "Part 1" and "Part 2".

Alternatively, you could burn a .mp3 audio CD if your buddy will buy a cheap .mp3 CD player. That way you can fit like 50 hours on a CD (at a low 32kbps mono bit rate).

I'm a fan of OTR (Old Time Radio) myself. I nearly have 1,300 episodes of the "CBS Radio Mystery Theatre" hosted by E.G. Marshall.

SINC · Mar 29th, 2007, 11:20 AM

I checked my iTunes prefs under advanced and burning and the Audio CD button was clicked, but I don't know how to burn anything from iTunes.

I always burn CDs using Toast 7 which has a similar button. If I use that button, can I just drag the MP3 files into Toast and burn a CD that way?

Bjornbro · Mar 29th, 2007, 11:29 AM

Ah! I understand. First, (in iTunes) you need to make a playlist and then drag the .mp3s you want to burn onto that playlist. Top right of the playlist's window, you'll see the "Burn" icon, hit it and you're good to go.

SINC · Mar 29th, 2007, 11:59 AM

Ah, that easy eh? I should have known, after all it IS a Mac.

Thank you kind sir. I appreciate your help.

Nice to know there are other OTR fans among us.

Incidentally, where did you find your "CBS Radio Mystery Theatre" stuff, on the internet?

I enjoy a lot of the stuff here:

http://www.radiolovers.com/

Thanks again.

HowEver · Mar 29th, 2007, 12:53 PM

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Bjornbro · Mar 29th, 2007, 01:03 PM

	Quote:			Originally Posted by SINC
	Incidentally, where did you find your "CBS Radio Mystery Theatre" stuff, on the internet?

Believe it or not, I downloaded all of these episodes back in 1998-1999 from a website which is long gone now. They're not "official studio recordings" they're .mp3 copies made from old cassette recordings of the shows' actual radio broadcast. Picture a kid back in the '70s holding a portable AM radio up to the microphone of a cassette recorder, it's that kind of recording. It's relatively poor quality, but since it's mostly spoken word, it's acceptable. It's really fun to hear these episodes today as recorded back then with commercials. Car commercials, beer commercials, it's hilarious!

Nowadays people want you to buy .mp3 CD compilations of the series, although there are still some sites which offer a couple of episodes to download (Google: CBS Radio Mystery Theatre).

Recently, I did find a streaming feed on Live365, but you have to listen to whatever episode happens to be playing (no control over which episode you can listen to).

Bjornbro · Mar 29th, 2007, 01:18 PM

Whoops! You might get better results if you Google: CBS Radio Mystery Theater. They're American don't cha know....

irontree · Apr 2nd, 2007, 10:11 AM

Also in the radio section in iTunes you can find some streams (Talk/SpokenWord section)