Cdex

A little while ago I wrote an eBook on how to install, configure and use CDex. It’s been updated since, and it’s my pleasure to offer this to you as a free, no-strings-attached download. (18 pages, PDF format).

Hunchy’s Insider Guide to CDex

Enjoy, and please let me know of you found this eBook useful (or if you found any mistakes).

photo by RW PhotoBug (CC)

I’m not downplaying the importance of the case, the liner notes or anything else that comes with the CD itself. These all add to the music experience, but the music is THE deal.

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photo by ehnmark (CC)

It also means I need to drag my sorry arse into action and finish all the half-written content I’ve got lying around. So can you guys tell me what it is you want to hear about? Leave a comment, tell me what’s on your mind (mp3-wise), and what you’d like to know first so I can prioritize what gets published.

It also means I had to increase my bandwidth limit on this hosting account, which is no problem as I have one of those master reseller accounts that gives me 50 full cpanel accounts under it, of which this is one. So sorry if you visited & got an error page earlier.

Here’s why.

Audio CDs have error correction. Technically it’s called Cross-Interleaved Reed-Solomon Code, or CIRC for short.

There are two levels of error correction, C1 and C2. C1 corrects bit errors, and C2 corrects frame errors. An audio CD frame hold 192 bits (24 bytes), and there are 98 frames per sector.

The audio data and the error correction data are interleaved, which means they are mixed up in the data stream read by your CD player. The theory is that a surface defect will affect data in a sequence; when your player does its de-interleaving thing on playback, the affected data is out of sequence and there’s a much better chance it can be recreated.

On playback, the CD player is smart enough to de-interleave the data, separate out the audio data and error correction data and, if it finds errors, will use the error correction data to recreate the original audio. If not, it will interpolate between known good samples to get a reasonable value to insert into the audio stream.
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SprookjesBeelden aan Zee

What do you do when there’s a knock at the door at 3am? And the authorities, god bless ‘em, want to take your PC for ‘analysis’?

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Know what they all have in common?

You’d be right if you guessed they ALL play MP3 files.

An MP3 is a file that can be copied, deleted, moved and renamed just like any other file on your PC. But it’s a format that’s exclusively used for audio content, and it’s the out-and-out leader, everywhere in the world, of all other audio file formats. MP3 first, daylight second.

This blog is all about MP3s. I’ll tell you what they are, how to get them, how to organize your MP3 collection on or off your PC, how to play them (wherever you are), and how to archive them for safe keeping and future enjoyment.

MP3 files will be with us for many, many years. There’s a huge volume of material, both legal and illegal, that use the MP3 format, and every portable player supports it. Equally important is the number of software tools to rip CDs to MP3 files, to correctly tag and organize MP3 collections, and to play MP3 files on just about every hifi system, from low-end micro systems to network-aware jukebox systems.

My plan over the next few months is to post in these broad topic areas:

The MP3 Format

I want to cover some background information about the MP3 file format, including a very brief history and some good detail about quality and digital rights management (DRM). I’ll also talk about the alternatives to MP3 - what they are, why they’re better (or worse), when you’d bother to use them, and where you get them from.

Sources of MP3 Files

Where do MP3 files come from? I’ll touch on the legal and illegal sources of MP3 files (note - I am not a lawyer), and the benefits and drawbacks of each. You’ll get good information about how to get the content you want, at the price you want to pay, and the risk you want to bear.

Organizing Your MP3 Collection

It won’t take long for your collection to grow out of control (and that’s a big understatement). I’ll go over details about keeping your MP3 collection correctly tagged and named so you can always find and play exactly what you want… even if your collection is hundreds of gigabytes and thousands of CDs in size.

Playing Your MP3s

It’s not much fun having to sit at your PC to enjoy that massive collection you’ve built. I’ll show you how to burn custom CDs and DVDs to take your music anywhere you want, how to use and organize your music on portable MP3 players, and how to connect your home stereo so you can stream music all over the house.

Archiving Your Collection (and any other digital data you value)

Before long you’ll need to think real hard about how to protect your collection against hard disk failure, theft and honest accidents (like erasure). There’s some really good tools to safely archive your collection to DVDs in a way that pretty much guarantees readability decades from now.

The Toolbox

Throughout this blog you’ll see references to software that makes the MP3 experience a whole lot easier. Some is freeware, and some is commercial software. Links and descriptions will gathered together in this section for easy reference, and there’s a link at the top of every page so you can find it fast.

Glossary of MP3 Terms

Confused about an MP3 term or acronym? I’ll put up a section, also accessible at the top of every page, that pulls them together for convenience and reference.

So that’s the plan. These posts will be forming the guts of an eBook - read about that project here - and I’ve put together a sweet offer that I hope you check out.

Sorta disruptive, wouldn’t you say? Maybe I’m a closet anarchist.

But there’s one other thing I want this blog to do. And that’s to pay its way, and to pay for my MP3 addiction along the way. There’s three ways this will happen.

Advertising

First up, on the blog pages there will be adverts that take you to various (relevant) offers on the web. If you click on these and end up buying something, I get a cut. If that bugs you, don’t click on the advert. All the information on this blog is still available to you, for free.

Affiliate Links

Second, in some posts (not many) there will be affiliate links to some product or another. Here’s an example:

Ipower Web Hosting (aff link)

Affiliate links have a tag that identifies me as the referrer; if you click the link and buy something, I get a cut. I will clearly identify an affiliate link, plus I will give an alternative non-affiliate link to the same product. Here’s the alternative to the same offer:

Ipower Web Hosting (non-aff link)

You make the choice. Obviously I would prefer to make money, and the cost is the same to you; but it’s your choice and I won’t try to hide the true nature of the link.

The eBook

Finally, all these posts are being collected, expanded, massaged and formatted into the basis of an eBook on MP3. Hell, may even end up as one of those paper things you get at Borders. But it will contain a lot of information about the legal and illegal (in most countries) use of MP3s - finding, downloading and uploading, organizing, playing and archiving them.

You probably guessed the eBook will cost money. Well, yes, it will. But here’s the kicker. I am actively seeking input from readers of this blog. I want the eBook to be the best it can be, and I figure it’s a good idea to solicit suggestions about content and format from you. To encourage this, I’ve put a deal together that may interest you, and it’s detailed on this page.