[kentamcolin]

I'm looking to order Max McLaen's Bible on CD, which is available as 66 CD's(!)or 7 MP3 CD's. What is the difference? My wife wants to listen in her car, which does not have an MP3 player, but would rather have only 7 discs to worry about instead of 66. Does an MP3 disc even look the same? I suppose I need to check with Volkswagon to see if our car (Passat Wagon with Monsoon radio) has Aux. inputs for an MP3 player. Anyway, please help me (us) understand what MP3 is. Thanks.

 

[agile_one]

kent, here is a brief definition of MP3 you may find useful. There are some links there too.

Basically, MP3 is a compressed format, and true audiphiles consider it lossy, depending on the degree of compression (there are different bitrates of MP3 - more is better, but the tradeoff is file size), it can sound so-so to almost indistinguishable from the source CD.

In the case of spoken material like your Bible, MP3 is ideal, you should discern no difference in sound quality at all. If your Passat system doesn't have aux in, perhaps one of those FM transmitters that use the headphone or line out of an MP3 capable CD player would do the trick?

Good luck.

 

[hciman77]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kentamcolin I'm looking to order Max McLaen's Bible on CD, which is available as 66 CD's(!)or 7 MP3 CD's. What is the difference? My wife wants to listen in her car, which does not have an MP3 player, but would rather have only 7 discs to worry about instead of 66. Does an MP3 disc even look the same? I suppose I need to check with Volkswagon to see if our car (Passat Wagon with Monsoon radio) has Aux. inputs for an MP3 player. Anyway, please help me (us) understand what MP3 is. Thanks.

It is very unlikely that your Car stereo has an aux input, you will know because there will be a hole in the unit 1/8" in diameter marked aux

.When we went looking for such a unit we found only one (an Aiwa), whichwe bought though you can buy Car stereos that play MP3 Cds.

The FM transmitter route suggested would be appropriate as a low cost option.

We use our Mp3 Cd player on long journeys and it save a lot of faffing around swapping discs, quality is fine, for spoken word anything above 64Kbps will be more than adequate. We listen to many audio books on Mp3 and fall asleep to Tolkein or Terry Pratchett nightly.

 

[Aman]

My mother has the monsoon system for her Diesel Passat and she got an iPod and the iTrip. The iTrip transmits mp3 files from an iPod to a radio station, so any fm radio receiver will be able to listen.

It saves lives, I tell ya. Might want to invest in that.

 

[erikzen]

Do you have an MP3 player? Before you can hook it up to your car stereo you'll need a CD player that can read MP3 CDs. Most of the modern ones now can.

Besides the FM transmitters, there are also cassette adapters if your car stereo has a cassette player. I know these days some cars don't play cassettes, although I have 2003 Jetta Wagon and it has a cassette player.

The cassette adapters cost around $10 or less. Again, with spoken word you won't be so worried about audio quality. The adapter should be more than adequate in terms of quality. You just plug the jack of the cassette adapter into the line out or headphone out of your MP3 player and the piece that looks like a cassette just goes into the cassette deck as if you were playing a tape.

 

[jpr703]

Here's the short answer:

MP3 is a form of compression or "digital shorthand" that represents the original music or sounds. MP3s are recorded on a compact disc, just like regular music. They take up less space on the disc, but they dont sound quite as good as uncompressed music.

Most modern CD players will play a compact disc that has MP3s on it. However, some will not. Check your user manual to find out whether or not they'll work in your car.

Hope that helps!

 

[kentamcolin]

Thanks for all the replies. Guess I need to find out if the VW "Monsoon" player plays MP3's. We currently do not have an MP3 player and hadn't planned on buying one. It seems like buying a portable player just to play the Bible CD's would not be good stewardship! If the car's CDP can't do MP3, we'll just get standard CD's.

 

[hciman77]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kentamcolin Thanks for all the replies. Guess I need to find out if the VW "Monsoon" player plays MP3's. We currently do not have an MP3 player and hadn't planned on buying one. It seems like buying a portable player just to play the Bible CD's would not be good stewardship! If the car's CDP can't do MP3, we'll just get standard CD's.

Is there a big price differential between the Audio Cds and the MP3 cds ?

 

[uzziah]

just a thought. wondering how easy it would be to navigate through a cd holding 1/7th of the bible? are you just going to have to do a bunch of skipping to get to where you left off?

this would be my reservation, because once (if) you take the cd out of the player, or turn the player off, it will probably go back to track 01 (i wonder if tracks are by book or what?)

if by book, you'd have to skip to the right book and fast forward like a mad man to the chapter

most likely it is by chapter; and if so you need to skip like a mad man from the beginning

i hope you get my drift

 

[uzziah]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kentamcolin Thanks for all the replies. Guess I need to find out if the VW "Monsoon" player plays MP3's. We currently do not have an MP3 player and hadn't planned on buying one. It seems like buying a portable player just to play the Bible CD's would not be good stewardship! If the car's CDP can't do MP3, we'll just get standard CD's.

she does have a cd player though? does have the "monsoon" system.

if she does have a cd player, the stock one won't play mp3 cd's as a rule.

i.e. just get the regular cd's

 

[kentamcolin]

The stock "Monsoon" radio does have both cassette and CD. I'm just going to get the regular CD version. We wouldn't use an MP3 player for anything else.

 

[PhilS]

I have the Bible on CD (not sure if it is Max McLaen's) and I agree that, while there are a lot of regular CD's, I think it would be easier to use the CD's than 7 MP3 CD's. It's easier to find your place, and also easier to share with others (e.g., your wife, or friends) at the same time. Also, often the CD's break down by a book or two, or three in some cases. Mine came in a nice little leather zippered CD holder that also makes it easy to manage.