How can I create MP3-CDs from WinAmp playlists?

August 30, 2004 2:30 PM

Is there anything good out there which will let me create MP3-CDs from WinAmp playlists?
posted by feelinglistless to Computers & Internet (9 answers total)

I have run into the same problem, and so far the closest I have gotten to a workable solution is to have my roommate write a small program that reads my winamp playlist file, copies all the files (while adding the playlist number, so they're in the right order) to another folder, and from there I just drag and drop into Nero. I would gladly share his program with you were it not for the fact that it is entirely user-unfriendly, and required him to personally run me through a demonstration. Very quick and dirty, but it works.

(I realize that this is not exactly what you are asking for, but I'm just kind of throwing out ideas. I am quite interested to see if any better/quicker answers come up as a result of this thread.)
posted by Monster_Zero at 3:18 PM on August 30, 2004

The problem that stops me is that no two mp3s out there have the same volume level. To make a CD that doesn't go LOUD, soft, BLASTING, inaudible, from song to song, every mp3 has to be volume-normalized first before burning. And that involves so much manual work that actually burning the thing manually fades into insignificance.When you make a mix CD, you're actually doing a job of mastering (though not, sadly, one that will make you any money.)
posted by jfuller at 3:35 PM on August 30, 2004

iTunes? It has normalising (I can't remember the real name, and it needs to pre-scan tunes), not 100% sure it burns with it but that seems like the kind of thing they get right.

If you drag and drop a winamp playlist onto it it should be happy.
posted by Flat Feet Pete at 3:53 PM on August 30, 2004

There's a program called MP3Gain which will take your directory of soon-to-be-burned-MP3s and normalize them without any manual work. Google knows where it is.
posted by Jairus at 4:53 PM on August 30, 2004

You can save the list as an .m3u file (list opts (in the bottom right corner of the playlist in the standard skin) -> save list) from winamp. Nero can read these in when you're selecting mp3s to make an audio CD.
posted by Gary at 6:01 PM on August 30, 2004

Are you talking about making an normal "audio" CD, i.e. a CD that can be played back on a standard stereo, or a CD containing the MP3 files themselves? If it is a normal audio CD, then I believe that NERO already does this. Just open an audio CD for writing and drag the playlist file to the NERO CD content window. Works for me.
posted by phatboy at 6:04 PM on August 30, 2004

Burrrn is a free audio burning program that supports many formats and importing of .m3u and .pls playlists. It also has Replaygain support for true loudness normalization (same technique as MP3Gain Jairus mentioned above).
posted by zsazsa at 8:49 PM on August 30, 2004

Confirming that Nero now reads .m3u's.

It didn't for a long time though, and I was always at a loss how to do this - I used to end up using the .wav writer in winamp and playing the playlist out to a temporary directory - this meant I could also use a compressor to level the volumes, and even a crossfader to make mix CDs...

Now though (thanks phatboy), yeah - just do it in Nero, and use the Nero Normalisation filter to get the levels, erm, level...
posted by benzo8 at 2:29 AM on August 31, 2004

Response by poster: Just tried the Nero method and Eureka! Thanks all.
posted by feelinglistless at 2:24 PM on August 31, 2004