"I felt gypped when..."

[RedWolfRacer]

Pardon me for the somewhat ethical slur ("gypped" for those who didn't get it) in the title.

I just got a new CD-RW drive and it works great for a few days. The software, "Nero", that came with it also came with a relatively poorly translated booklet for the drive. For the first few days I was very excited that I could now use this software and working drive to rip mp3s from the discs I own to put them on my new-ish PSP. Well...once I got to my favorite album of all time--Alice in Chains' Unplugged Live album--the software comes up with an error reading "Cannot open audio file! ...Operation completed succesfully." WTF?? If that's not a contradiction, I don't know what is! I tested other CDs and found them all to be equally unsuccesful. Methinks maybe the software had a limited number of albums that it could encode to mp3 and yet in ALL of the files that came with the software, none mentioned anywhere that this would be the case.

Here I sit with a 100 USD Memory Stick for my PSP, said PSP, and empty pockets. Looks like I'll have to go and spend some invisible cash on a new mp3 decoding/encoding program. :-/

Tell me your story of "I got gypped when..." Should be a bit of a fun Q&A type thing, too.

 

[VT]

Download WinAMP or MusicMatch Jukebox.

 

[standard235]

Screw what he said.

Get dBPowerAmp for everything. Trully a great program.

 

[RedWolfRacer]

Download WinAMP or MusicMatch Jukebox.

I have WinAmp, but it costs money to get it to encode mp3s. I may check out this other program as well as the later above-mentioned one.

But out of curiosity, my PS2 and my old CD-R drive both had problems with disc trays opening. Is this a coincidence or is this normal for CD drives nowadays?

 

[LoudMusic]

"Gyped" (variations on spelling) is a racial slur for Gypsy, meaning "to steal" or "commit fraud". Comes from the common act of Gypsies and their felonious activities. Being Hungarian, from the land of the Gypsy, I am only mildly offended. When I'm most offended is when people don't even realize the true meaning of the word they're using.

And I'll second VTGT07, with the addition of iTunes. Even though it's bloaty on Windows, it still works well.

 

[standard235]

WHy do you people just skip what I said.

 

[dbartucci]

"Gyped" (variations on spelling) is a racial slur for Gypsy, meaning "to steal" or "commit fraud". Comes from the common act of Gypsies and their felonious activities. Being Hungarian, from the land of the Gypsy, I am only mildly offended. When I'm most offended is when people don't even realize the true meaning of the word they're using.

I thought Gypsies were primarily Romanian. In any event, are you Roma?

 

[standard235]

:d

 

[Shannon]

Why pay for ripping software? Exact Audio Copy is completely free. I'd also recommend you couple EAC with the LAME MP3 encoder, which is also completely free (3.96.1 recommended).

The only problem is EAC has a steep lurning curve. The next best in the line of ripping tools is CDex (also completely free!).

 

[RedWolfRacer]

WHy do you people just skip what I said.

Actually I picked up the dbpower amp encoder program. THe only problem is that the mp3 encoder isn't free even though it uses LAME. It's a nice program though the db Audio Player (in the default skin) is a bit difficult to use looking at Winamp as a comparable player. Though the two programs are both under 2mb so the download was quick and painless for my shoddy dial-up!

I also regret using the term "gypped" for the side-conversations. LOL

 

[GilesGuthrie]

I thought Gypsies were primarily Romanian. In any event, are you Roma?

No, that misunderstanding comes from the fact that the gypsies are "Romany people". They do come from Prussia, now Hungary. LM is, as is often the case, correct.

iTunes is great for ripping CDs, but is only really worthwhile if you are using an iPod. DBPowerAmp is what I used to use before I got an iPod.