please educate me: .WMA & .MP3 issues

[MGood777]

I am just starting to "get into" the whole MP3-sharing thing. I have two questions...

1. What's the best file sharing service? I've heard of Morpheus, Bearshare, and WinMX. Are they the new Napsters? Any others? Is there one that's better than all the others?

2. I've imported a few of my own CD's just for myself to listen to, but I used Media Player and now I've got WMA files. How can I convert those to MP3, and should I get another utility to rip from CDs straight to MP3 format? Any suggestions on what application to use for that kind of thing?

As always...Thanks in advance!

[lil Jimmie]

I personally like WinMX better that the others and as far as WMA is concerned, well about all I know is the file extension. I only use the mp3 format and use a program called CDEX for ripping.

HTH

[reboot]

I like Bearshare for peer-peer sharing, no servers to connect to manually.
I second the motion on CDEX, it's simply the best.

[MGood777]

Let me add this question to my original request...

What's the best application to use for burning CDs???

Thanks!

[Gintaras]

Originally posted by MGood777 What's the best application to use for burning CDs??? Thanks!

EZ CD Creator 4 (not 5 which isn't good) or Nero.
If you want to install both- 1st EZCD Cr.4, then Nero.

[audiyoda]

Originally posted by MGood777 How can I convert those to MP3, and should I get another utility to rip from CDs straight to MP3 format? Any suggestions on what application to use for that kind of thing?

This is Micky$oft at it's best -- they want that WMA format to be the defactor but the millions of mp3 downloaders won't have any of that. And the best part -- the few people that have written programs to do what you want have met the M$ legal team and have been told under no uncertain terms that they are not authorized to backwards compile M$ code (have to to make it all work). So corrently, there are no 'usable' WMA to mp3 converters. There is a plug-in for WinAmp to play WMA files, you could then use WinAmp to save the file as mp3 -- but there will be a significant lose of quality.

-Craig

[RayH]

Morpheus..............I still use WinAmp! Rip w/Adaptec 4.x

[Charliey]

I use Grokster (Fasttrack network, same as kazaa and morpheus), and i like it alot.

i use cdex for ripping, winamp for playing, and nero for burning.